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AOL Subscribers Finding Greener Pastures
Mitch writes "The Register is reporting that America Online has lost close to 2 million customers since September 2003. At the end of September they had 22.7 million customers in the US which was down more than 500,000 since the beginning of the quarter. This news comes one day after it was announced that more than 700 jobs would be cut from Virginia offices by the end of this year."
Since there's two replies already that don't get it, parent is referring to the September that never ended
Here are some news: it seems that AOL is going to cut some jobs in europe (France) too.5 ,39181152,00.htm
http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/business/0,3902071
le souvenir d'une certaine image n'est que le regret d'un certain instant (M.Proust)
AOL offers 5 bucks/mo. for keeping the email add.
A friend of mine finally convinced his parents just last week to get cable modem, because they were actually still paying for a 2nd phone line to use just for AOL...
Yeah I totally forgot that extra cost. That's usually another 10-20 bucks a month for the phone line. So you're paying 35-50 bucks for DIALUP! That's just insane.
My cable bill is $55 and that gets me Roadrunner and basic cable for the month, with 3M down/384k up.
No unauthorized use. Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.
Pretty easy for you. Not for most people. There is nothing wrong with paying people money to take care of what is hard to you and easy for them. That's why AOL has a solid business model and will continue to stay in business, slashdotter elitist snobbery notwithstanding.
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
The best way, by far, to cancel AOL is to incorrectly update your credit card number or expiration date, causing the card to be invalid at the next monthly renewal period. Bingo, instant account cancellation and no more bills for 3 months after you cancel.
Not so true. AOL is the internet for complete morons - they do everything for you from virus protection to including non-standards-compliant hacked web browsers (mostly versions of ie now) so that you get it all in one application. They also have the insufferable "keywords" so that you don't have to use something that takes a little effort. Like Google.
Local cable and telephone companies expect you to do these things yourself because you're a human being that deserves to have choice (and a normal internet access program that doesn't permanently destroy your computer's tcp/ip settings).
As someone who works regularly with people who know little to nothing about computers and technology, I've found that AOL users have absolutely no safe browsing habits to speak of, normally aren't aware that they need a firewall or sometimes even virus protection, and pretty much depend on AOL to do everything for them. I know that's a sweeping generalization, but it's what I've found. On the other hand, even folks who aren't very tech savvy but use a "normal" ISP have at the very least nominal safe browsing habits, and many are quite good at detecting viruses and phishing scams in email and knowing when they shouldn't click on the "yes to install this java package" button.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
I believe you are correct. I guess I wasn't trying to say they should offer a cheap service.
The point was that they have the money, they have the staff, they have little worries of monopoly charges (As there are tens of thousands of mom and pop isps, and AOL certainly doesn't undercut them) and they have the ability to swallow their competitors.
Considering that there are really only two ways to keep your customers (offering better services/pricing or *being their alternative*), and aol has miserably failed on #1 and will likely never succeed, they should look into #2. Based on purely a guess AOL/Timewarner should be able to swallow netzero/peoplepc without looking back.
If I were running a public company, this is an option I would seriously consider. But then again, perhaps that's why I'm not running a public company:)