Slashdot Mirror
AOL Not Alone In Subscriber Decline
E-Rock-23 writes "Our registration-hungry friends at the New York Times are running this article with a few more details on the AOL Subscriber Decline, covered in a recent /. post. And it looks like they aren't alone, as Earthlink and MSN are experiencing similar troubles. The article cites a major reason being that users "are buying broadband services offered by cable and telephone companies." Looks like broadband is finally gaining some significant ground with home users..."
In the UK, most people who have broadband service receive it either through as ISP, who in turn use either BT (DSL) or one of the two cable operators, NTL and Telewest (Cable Modem/STB). A lot, like me, probable go direct through the service provider (in my case, NTL).
AOL UK has recently started offering broadband services, through BT, but I've yet to see any figures on how much success they've had with it. MSN UK haven't made any moves on that front yet.
-MT.
I work for a small, privatly owned ISP. I do see alot of our older dial up customers going over the broadband, but more and more, they are cancelling because of lack of money. Even at around $20 a month or so many people see internet access as something extra not something they need.
Maybe this tred will turn around but I doubt it. Even if these customers do get back on firm ground, I see them going with broadband via cable, phone company, or even the electric company long before comming back to a dial up.
It's not so much that people are idiots, though that is often true. A few people I work with have gone to broadband in the last year or so, but didn't want to give up the email addresses they've been using for the last six or seven years. I couldn't justify $25 a month for ONE email address (I pay $15 a month for hosting that comes with unlimited addresses) but that's a personal choice, I guess...
do not read this line twice.
They've got 3 call centers now instead of 7.
Basically, you'll NEVER get through to them now.
20% of their workforce has just been laid off.
Atlanta-based access provider EarthLink (Quote, Company Info) on Tuesday announced it would shut down call center operations in four U.S. cities and lay off about 1,300 employees as part of a cost-cutting move.
With its dial-up subscriber base dwindling, the nation's third largest ISP said it would close its entire call center operations in Dallas, Texas; Sacramento, Calif.; and Seattle, Wash. Additionally, a tech support and customer service center in Pasadena, Calif. would also be shuttered in the latest belt-tightening move.
"We estimate the streamlining of our call centers will reduce annualized operating expenses by more than $20 million," the company said in a brief statement.
Except that your unemployment rates only count those people who are getting unemploymeny compensation. All those who haven't had a job long enough to loose their unemployment benefits are not counted. All those that didn't claim unemployment (generous severence packages and the like) are also not counted. I would venutre to guess unemployment is really easily over 8% if you count all these factors.
Wrong, wrong, and very wrong.
The unemployment rate is determined by a survey that is conducted monthly by the US Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics called the "Current Population Survey". The CPS is in no way linked to unemployment benefits and who is receiving them. You do not have to be claim unemployment to be counted as unemployed in the CPS.
As I used to be a surveyor for the "Senseless Burro" for a large portion of my college career, I know the CPS very, very well. The definition of "unemployed" that gets counted into the unemployment rate is any person who:
1. Is currently unemployed.
2. Has actively looked for work in the past 4 weeks.
3. Is currently available to work.
This includes people who are not working but waiting to be recalled to their former job.
For those of you living outside the US, this same system is used to determine unemployment in Canada, Mexico, Austrailia, Japan, and every country in the European Economic Community.
The
Actually, I bet in this case they're moving from AOL/MSN to Netzero/Juno/etc. that are only $10 a month for basically the same service.
Vote for Pedro