American People/Link

American People Link (or PEOPLE/LINK) was an online service headquartered in the Chicago suburbs and operated by American Home Network, Inc (Elizabeth McGinnis, President). It was accessible via the Telenet PC Pursuit packet-switched network, but it is not known whether it had dial-in numbers of its own (the rate plan showing different connect charges for non-PCP logins suggests that it did). The service offered Videotex graphics as well as text data.

Users were known to each other as “Plinkers”, according to a Facebook group dedicated to former members of the service.

Advertising showed an address of 3215 N Frontage Road, Arlington Heights, IL, 60004, however this address is not locatable by Google Maps or other mapping sites. Some advertisements (reproduced below) list the address as being in the Arlington Ridge Office Centre, which is presently located on Wilke Road.

Customer service phone numbers shown in advertising were (800) 524-0100, or (312) 870-5200 for Illinois callers.

An article titled Simpler Network on the Horizon in the January 12, 1985 issue of the UK magazine Personal Computer News mentions the service and notes that it will go online on or around April 1, 1985:

The September 1989 issue of the Southwest Ninety-Niners newsletter mentions a rate restructuring at APL on page 3. The hourly rate for 300, 1200 or 2400 baud service during non-prime hours was reduced from $4.95/hr to $4.50/hr. Prime-time connections were billed at $7.95/hr for 300 and 1200 baud, with 2400 baud service during prime hours incurring a $9.95/hr charge. The new addition to the rate plan was a per-kilobyte download charge (uploads with the XModem protocol remained free):

Some of the services offered by PEOPLE/LINK included:

• PARTYLINE - live chat
• CLUB-LINK - interest groups
• WHO-IS-WHO - user search
• NETMAIL - electronic mail
• PEOPLE-SCAN - bulletin board system
• Games - poker, blackjack, checkers, chess, backgammon and bridge. Service name is not known.