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AOL Dumping Some Broadband
unsupported writes "Just days after news that AOL will be breaking up into 4 business units, AOL is telling existing broadband customers in 9 Southern states to find a new carrier. This news comes after AOL stopped selling broadband services earlier this year. AOL plans a similar phase out of existing broadband customers for the rest of the country over the next year."
AOL has been losing customers like crazy - in this case, they just have an alternate reason to leave!
We've had some really great times, which is why it hurts me to say this, but I'm dumping you. Don't cry! It's not you, it's me, really. I want to move in some new directions, and I don't think you can go with me. You'll find someone new, I'm sure of it. Everyone I know says "Broadband is great." and they mean it. I know it hurts right now, but it will fade in time.
Love,
AOL
Welcome! You've got [NO CARRIER]
I miss the commercials of people/things going really fast. Too bad they were all a waste.
The affected states are Florida, Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.
They probably just got tired of getting paid in squirrel pelts.
So AOL got into broadband b/c their dialup business was getting spanked by it... and now they are dropping the broadband and riding the 56k modem wave out? WTF???
Do you think that the people getting dumped will also receive CDs offering 3 months free dial-up with AOL? I'd be pissed.
1) Alienate customers from an indeustry segment that's actually gaining customers (as opposed to dialup service that's losing customers)
2) ???
3) Profit!!! All well and good I suppose, less Newbs out there cluttering crap up.
...in bed
It's amazing that people would put up with AOL, but time and time again people have shown that no matter how badly they're treated, they'll hang on to bad relationships (including bad business relationships) without thinking of how bad it could really get.
We all generally have the opinion that AOL is "Evil", but if I had to list ONE GOOD THING about them, it would be that even if I am in Antarctica, I could get a dialup provider via AOL. I think that is the reason for a LOT of their original customer base. When people move to broadband, they probably find that AOL isnt the "internet", and simply leave. It lost its appeal, so this is just AOL going back to doing the one thing they are good for.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Interesting how they chose to redirect all of their broadband customers to Bellsouth instead of their parent company's broadband provider, Time Warner Cable
With everybody preferring broadband over dial up , it seems suicidal to give up all capability in broadband, split and concentrate more on dial up !! Shouldnt AOL being doing things the other way round and try to build up presence in broadband market ?
For like $10 a month, but now they just won't be selling their own broadband. I think they're trying position themselves as a content provider for broadband, rather than a broadband ISP. Amazingly, there are people that will want it.
This doesn't make much sense to me. Doesn't the Time Warner half want to push hi-bandwidth content through to its AOL subscribers? It's much more difficult to do this via 56k. I really don't know much about the merger other than it's not doing so well. But it seems like the two sides aren't really talking.
The reason [aside from the fact that they suck and really amount to traveling the information super highway with training wheels dragging] we dropped our AOL subscription was their incessant advertising to get us to upgrade to aol broadband which they have never delivered in my area. Broadband did become available [some neighborhoods get DSL, we have comcast cable internet pretty much throughout my metro area]. Bottom line: Broadband is killing AOL in my part of New England. If Aol is dumping broadband, its going to hurt them badly in the long run. Even if BB service is costly for them to set up...everybody else [e.g. comcast] raises their rates and gets away with it...breaking even later is better than having no customers.
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
And I wouldn't have to use such a godforsaken slow connection when I visited my parents...
- A
Normally the customers try like hell to get unsubscribed from AOL - apparently, the tables have turned!
Striking fear in the authors of godawful fanfiction, I am here, appearing in darkness, Tuxedo Jack!
So, this means AOL customers might have to switch to RoadRunner?
The Broadband that these people have is ordered via AOL and billed via the broadband provider. The reality is that AOL is telling these folks that they need to establish a direct broadband relationship with Bell South rather than trough AOL. This way the customer brings their own access. It's really better for the user since they won't have to call AOL for broadband connectivity issues. Once the user has Broadband that doesn't requie the use of the AOL client they'll realize that they don't need AOL.
WTF? Who blew it?
Regardless of what people say about the economy, there's a lot of disposable income out there. Surely they could've sold a broadband content service to other people at a bargain, and become the dominant provider like they were for dial-up. Now all that's left is dial-up, fading away...
I guess maybe AOL should get used to finding its home in the lower-middle class bracket... too bad they coulda been a contender elsewhere.
-Rob
Marriage doesn't have to suck!
From the article:
Most of AOL's 23 million subscribers receive standard dialup service for $24 a month.
Why would they get rid of most of their customers? Undoubtedly, this is a decision based on the ROI. Sure, their revenues per subscriber might be higher for broadband, but dial-up may have a higher profit per subscriber.
Because selling the content as an add-on to existing broadband services (Comcast, Verizon DSL, etc) is more lucrative than running their own native ISP.
Sounds like a smart move to me.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
...people think broadband is a southern rock group with chicks.
"What yuh doin' with that thar 'puter, Billy Bob?"
Dear AOL,
As I stated to your telemarketing rep who called me last week, I have DSL and no need for your "value added" content and/or advertising. Also, let me repeat what I said to her to close the conversation: AOL, aside from SCO, is the laughing stock of the IT industry. Every decision you make is simply stupid.
These comments are a result of my being offended by your "Help us make the internet better" ad campaign, which caters to your notoriously unsavvy user base. Here is how you can accomplish this:
The only sensible thing you have done in the past 5 years is seed the Mozilla Foundation. Somehow you managed not to stifle the entire project.
-AOL buys Netscape (possibly to cash-in on the lawsuit against Microsoft)
-AOL buys Nullsoft (maybe AOL wants their own branded media player)
-AOL signs contract with Microsoft to use IE browser (instead of using Netscape's browser that they paid 4.2 billion for)
-AOL lays off Netscape crew, but decides to fund Mozilla
-AOL is shutting down Nullsoft
-AOL is getting out of the broadband ISP business.
Has AOL done anything good in the last few years? What the hell was Time Warner thinking?
-Nick
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
AOL Broadband is not the same as AOL for Broadband. The difference is that AOL for Broadband is a $15/month service that let's users who already have a broadband connection access higher quality content.
AOL Broadband is AOL's attempt at being a DSL provider. It didn't work out. In fact, ditching it is probably a good thing.
Hope that clears things up a bit.
Perhaps by only offering slower connections AOL can further delay their current subsribers discovery of how lackluster the AOL services really are?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
When I think about early broadband access, I think about how it was nice to have an account on a smaller ISP. But then without any warning at all they get gobbled up by a bigger ISP. Sometimes they went under and sold their customers to EarthLink for example, other times they got an offer they couldn't refuse. While this was frustrating, you at the very least didn't typically notice any downtime.
Why wouldn't AOL sell off their unwanted customer base to someone else?
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.