Usually when you think about buying old things on the Internet, sites like eBay come to mind. EarthLink has their sights set on something a little more profitable, though, and have expressed an interest in buying out AOL's dialup service. Though most of us look upon a dialup connection as if it is a relic from a former era, they are still very much in use today and a lot of people depend upon them.

Even so, it is an aging and disappearing technology – and consolidation is often what happens when markets begin to dry up, which may be exactly what EarthLink is after. AOL's parent company, Time Warner, certainly has no affection for dialup – so this actually seems possible. Even if they do merge dial-up with AOL, EarthLink is only looking for short-term revenue. One must wonder what their future plans are.