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..."

Comments

Here's a thought -- less disposable income!

[Deagol]

Let's not forget that the economy is in the crapper. The $20-to-$30/month for a dialup subscription can feed a family for a few more days when things get tight.

Yeah, broadband is a nice upgrade. But I bet more people disconnected due to money than the need for speed.

It was simple math for me!

[Marqui]

Although I was with a local ISP, the cost of the 2nd phone line was $25.00 and my ISP was $15.00. Broadband through the cable company was $40.00 so it was a complete wash for a huge increase over 56k, why would I want to stay on dialup? They can thank all the baby bells for not wanting to go the "last mile" to give people a choice of providers.

Stickyness of email address masks the real problem

[jj_johny]

I think that AOL, MSN and every other ISP would have a lot higher churn if it was easy to get stuff forwarded. Since your email address is really the only way that people can get hold of you, it makes the switch difficult. And since every company wants to spend as little as possible on support, there are lots of unhappy people out there who just don't want to go through the hassle.

As a former AOL employee, I still have an AOL account even though I find the service has ticked me off more than a few times but my wife can't really change her email address at this tmie. So we are like so many who just are waiting for the right time.

You can't stop the future, you can only simulate it by stopping progress

Sharing broadband

[roalt]

Another advantage of broadband internet is that it is easy to share it with room-mates or neighbours. (even though it's not always allowed). It's a lot cheaper buying together one large broadband (ADSL or cable) internet connection than all using dial-up.

With the coming of wireless internet, it even becomes simpler to share the net (you don't even have to dig or drill a line in the ground or wall for your ethernet cable). I think this also has some impact on the decline of dial-up subscriptions.