AOL Broadband Internet Access Plans
Sort By:| Name | Price (per month) |
Download Speed |
Upload Speed |
Download Limit |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AOL
|
Broadband Wireless Up to 8Mbps broadband (speeds may vary depending on where you live and the quality of your telephone line) – includes wireless router worth £50 |
£9.99 | 8000 kbps | kbps | 10 GB | Buy Now |
|
AOL
|
Broadband Wireless Plus Sign up to AOL Broadband from just £19.99 a month and get a FREE laptop! This is a limited offer and only available while stocks last. |
£19.99 | 8000 kbps | kbps | 40 GB | Buy Now |
|
AOL
|
Business Broadband 8000 Recommended for up to 20 users. Great for the larger size business. |
£40.00 | 8000 kbps | kbps | Unlimited | Buy Now |
|
AOL
|
Business 2048 Plus 2048 Kbps broadband with 20:1 contention, static IP address, free domain & free hosting. 2048 Kbps unlimited broadband internet. Low contention - 20:1. Static IP address. 100 MB premium UK web space. Virus & spam protection. |
£49.99 | 2048 kbps | 256 kbps | Unlimited | Buy Now |
View all AOL broadband plans.
AOL began as a short-lived venture called Quantum Computer Services (or QCS), founded by William von Meister. Its sole product was an online service called Gameline for the Atari 2600 video game console after von Meister's idea of buying music on demand was rejected by Warner Brothers. (Klein, 2003) Subscribers bought a modem from the company for $49.95 and paid a one-time $15 setup fee. Gameline permitted subscribers to temporarily download games and keep track of high scores, at a cost of approximately $1 per hour.
In 1983, the company nearly went bankrupt, and an investor in Control Video, Frank Caufield, had a friend of his, Jim Kimsey, brought in as a manufacturing consultant. That same year, Steve Case joined the company as a full-time marketing employee upon the joint recommendations of von Meister and Kimsey. Kimsey went on to become the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the newly renamed Quantum Computer Services in 1985, after von Meister was quietly dropped from the company.
Case himself rose quickly through the ranks; Kimsey promoted him to vice-president of marketing not long after becoming CEO, and later promoted him further to executive vice-president in 1987. Kimsey soon began to groom Case to ascend to the rank of CEO, which he did when Kimsey retired in 1991.
Kimsey changed the company's strategy, and in 1985 launched a sort of mega-BBS for Commodore 64 and 128 computers, originally called Quantum Link ("Q-Link" for short). The Quantum Link software was licensed from PlayNet, Inc. In May 1988, Quantum and Apple launched AppleLink Personal Edition for Apple II and Macintosh computers. After the two companies parted ways in October 1989, Quantum changed the service's name to America Online. In August 1988, Quantum launched PC Link, a service for IBM-compatible PCs developed in a joint venture with the Tandy Corporation.
From the beginning, AOL included online games in its mix of products; many classic and casual games were included in the original PlayNet software system. In the early years of AOL the company introduced many additional innovative online interactive titles and games, including:
Graphical chat environments Habitat (1986-1988) and Club Caribe (1988) from LucasArts,
The first online interactive fiction series QuantumLink Serial by Tracy Reed (1988),
Quantum Space, the first fully automated Play by email game (1989-1991),
The original Dungeons & Dragons title Neverwinter Nights from Stormfront Studios (1991-1997), the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) to depict the adventure with graphics instead of text (1991) and
The first chat room-based text role-playing game Black Bayou (1996-2004), a horror role-playing game from Hecklers Online and ANTAGONIST, Inc.
In February 1991 AOL for DOS was launched using a GeoWorks interface followed a year later by AOL for Windows. In October 1991, Quantum changed its name to America Online. These changes coincided with growth in pay-based BBS services, like Prodigy, CompuServe, and GEnie. AOL discontinued Q-Link and PC Link in the fall of 1994.