#AOL did have the best chat rooms in 1997/1998. I soon left for the local telco, because the nearby AOL dial-up number was often congested in the evenings. (Probably “best” because of the users.) Surprisingly, the telco (at the time called #GTE ) used the same dial-up number, but connections usually completed. And instead of 30-something K, the telco usually got about 50k …