If there’s one thing that’s worse than being trapped in AOL dial-up hell, it’s paying even more money to stay there. Dan Frommer at SplatF notes that AOL’s average monthly revenue per dial-up subscriber is now $20.03, which is a 12% year-over-year increase from 2012. One reason why the company might be increasing its prices for users even as its dial-up subscriber numbers dwindle to 2.6 million because the users it has left simply have no alternative other than sticking with its slow, tedious service. AOL’s dial-up subscription business is still the company’s top money-maker so it’s not surprising that it is willing to squeeze ever-more cash out of the comparatively few customers it has left.

Prior to joining BGR as News Editor, Brad Reed spent five years covering the wireless industry for Network World. His first smartphone was a BlackBerry but he has since become a loyal Android user.