Light Reading, a quasi media/analyst/report sales group has a rather industry centric viewpoint on the AOL introduction. It's worth a read, but one has to remember that the AOL team can really care less about how the industry regards it's first foray, and are more concerned about consumer reaction.
With three options for on ramp access, one a Motorola Telephone Adapter, the second a wired Linksys Router/TA plus a very hot Netgear wireless router and Telephone Adapter, and a softphone reportedly in the works, AOL has come out of the box with an offering that is geared for the home user.
All the stuff about Sonus and Level3 is nice. AOL couldn't have done it without them, where AT&T went largely their own way, while integrating the Sonus SoftSwitches in along with some others from Nortel and Lucent most likely. What AOL has done is set a blue print for Yahoo, MSN and more than likely Earthlink to join the VoIP party the same way.
Earthlink is most likely the next to jump in, as they were seen huddling with Sonus's CMO Steve Edwards during VON.