<snip>
source they have where they live is AOL.
This is highly unlikely. There are many dial-up ISPs offering service regionally or nationally. </snip>
Even though this is highly unlikely, it does happen. My grandparents live in a rather isolated area of florida, and aol is the only isp that they can dial into as a local call, any other isp would be a 25 cents per call to connect. <snip>
can someone give me some advice that I can share with them </snip> My personal recommendation would be this: As Gary suggested Try to find another ISP (hopefully it will not be the case that my grandparents have) and dial into the internet on that. If she is looking to talk to all her friends via aol, aol instant messenger IS available for linux and is quite a simple install, and free too. HTH!
Daniel