Online banking continues to evolve. At first, you could just view account balances. Now you can request wire transfers and open new accounts.
Self-service banking is usually easier and faster, and it costs less for the bank (an employee does not need to sit in front of you, fill out forms, and relay information).
Oddly, some banks and other businesses charge the same price or more for online transactions. It seems like they'd offer a discount because you're doing some of the work, such as data entry, yourself. NetBanker explores this phenomenon after spending too much time at a bank branch.
NetBanker shows that Chase offers a modest discount for online transactions. It may seem crazy to pay anything if you're doing it yourself, but for now I think we'd all be happy if we could do more online. We'd have to pay at the branch anyway, but saving time makes it more bearable.