WWTBAM Bored

HS and GW both use AOL as their primary mail accounts, though GW's use is less frequent. I've kept paying for the overall main account to keep these going, because I've never been able to get a useful answer on whether or not these secondary accounts will disappear if you close out the main account. With a wedding to pay for, I'm looking to cut back on spending wherever possible.

So my question is: If I cancel the main AOL account, will the other mail accounts remain active, or will they also disappear?

Thanks.

Are you or they using AOL's dial-up service to connect? If you're all using another high speed internet service to access AOL, you can stop paying AOL any monthly fee and still keep your AOL addresses. Otherwise, I suspect (but don't know for certain) that closing the main account will automatically close the secondary accounts.

gsabc wrote:HS and GW both use AOL as their primary mail accounts, though GW's use is less frequent. I've kept paying for the overall main account to keep these going, because I've never been able to get a useful answer on whether or not these secondary accounts will disappear if you close out the main account. With a wedding to pay for, I'm looking to cut back on spending wherever possible.

So my question is: If I cancel the main AOL account, will the other mail accounts remain active, or will they also disappear?

Thanks.

You should be able to keep the AOL mail accounts. The drawback is that the free accounts do not get as much storage. (They may not get spam filtering or other protections, but I am not certain of this.) Go to "accounts and billing" under the Help tab, and you can get a better explanation of options.

Added: Yes, Marley is right. You have to have some other kind of internet connection. If you already have a cable connection or DSL through the telephone company in addition to AOL, you are okay.

silvercamaro wrote: You should be able to keep the AOL mail accounts. The drawback is that the free accounts do not get as much storage. (They may not get spam filtering or other protections, but I am not certain of this.)

Yes, the free accounts still get spam filtering (for whatever good it does) and free usage of MacAfee's anti-virus software.

MacAfee started bugging me with notices that their old software is no longer being supported and I'd have to upgrade to some new version that includes a firewall. Since I already use ZoneAlarm for that, I uninstalled MacAfee and switched over to AVG's free anti-virus software.

I was able to keep all seven of my AOL email addresses when I stopped paying for AOL. I use Time Warner cable to access the internet and do not use AOL's dial up service.

Thanks, all. Two clarification requests:

1. HS uses AOL extensively, and never purges his mailbox AFAIK. So when I kill off the primary account, I should tell him to dump some of it to save space?

2. HS and GW will still be able to access their mailboxes through AOL.com. Correct? Same for me on my own current secondary account; I had some issues with the primary and only used it for setting up restrictions and other account jiggery-pokery.

We're saying not to cancel the primary account. Just switch it to the free high-speed access and stop paying for it! Your family's accounts should be unaffected, that way (except that they can't use AOL's dial-up any more).

gsabc wrote:Thanks, all. Two clarification requests:

1. HS uses AOL extensively, and never purges his mailbox AFAIK. So when I kill off the primary account, I should tell him to dump some of it to save space?

2. HS and GW will still be able to access their mailboxes through AOL.com. Correct? Same for me on my own current secondary account; I had some issues with the primary and only used it for setting up restrictions and other account jiggery-pokery.

1. Don't kill off the account, just notify AOL that you want a free account

2. The master account will still have the ability to set up restrictions on the other screennames. For instance, my girls both have parental controls on their AOL accounts. If you choose to, you can also set up restrictions on IE so that children can't bypass AOL controls.

Okay, done. Didn't realize that it was such a simple switchover (he says before they actually stop charging him). Last time I looked at doing it, it was much more complicated. It's still not that easy to find. Thank you again.