The move was designed to reduce costs associated with the "walled garden" business model by reducing usage of AOL-owned access points and shifting members with high-speed internet access from client-based usage to the more lucrative advertising provider AOL.com. The change from paid to free access was also designed to slow the rate at which members canceled their accounts and defected to Microsoft Hotmail, Yahoo!
The change aimed to reduce costs associated with AOL's "walled garden" business model by reducing reliance on its own access points and shifting high-speed internet users to a more profitable advertising platform. The move also sought to slow down member cancellations and defections to competitors like Microsoft Hotmail and Yahoo!.