AOL is not free. It's a gimick to trip people. It costs something like $20 a month after you use up the minutes and that does't take all that long. AOL is also EVIL and I'm not kidding when I say that. AOL is a limited option for people who are so short sited they can' even see their own feet. The problem with AOL is that it appears to give the unknowledgeable something that is really cool, when in fact it's a restricted and costly option.
As far as ISP's go, where I am, we have AOL, Net0, Juno, ELink, PeoplePC, for pay Dialup. Our Cable COmpany offers free 64ks cable with all cable subscribers and free dialup if cable isn't avaialbe. we have DSL and Cable service up to 5Mb. Cable is ran by one company so they get away with murder, but then the DSL lines are limited to the newer ares of the city and the surrounding areas as the phone lines are from the 60's.
There was hope for a while with AT&T offering 10mb wireless, but that fell out when AT&T left the state.
My 2 cents.