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AOL to Raise Dialup Prices
United Bimmer writes "America Online has announced that it's going to raise the price on dialup users in an attempt to encourage them to upgrade to broadband. The new rates will near $26 a month, already drastically higher than the market norm for dialup access. This will bring the dialup prices to almost the exact same per month as broadband depending on your plan. However through this, they do still offer an unadvertised lower price for those who can't get or don't want broadband can request lower-priced plans, including an unadvertised offering of about $18 with a one-year commitment."
You've Got Inflation!
Less AOL users and more boadband users.. how could it get any better?
So now I can get dial-up for the same low price as broadband? Wait...
Paul: If you're reading this, pick your shoes up out of the hallway. I keep tripping over them. Slob.
The concept of AOL alone was enough to get me to upgrade.
Honesty may be the best policy, but by process of elimination, dishonesty is the second best policy.
you haven't heard of kismet have you ?
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
1. Give crappy dial-up service
2. Give crappy broadband service
3. Increase the price of your crappy dial-up service
4. Profit!!!! Or go out of business.
Another failed attempt to fill in step 3.
Tluin natha Linux xxizzuss uriu olt bwael mon'tun.
AOL is probably leasing bandwidth from your local telco. As far as I know, AOL doesn't have their own infrastructure.
Saturday is April 1. Slashdot will be shut down. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Raising the dialup rates for people by such a huge margin is absolutely asinine, honestly. Then think about the $18/month they would charge for people who cannot get broadband internet is at least 50% a month more expensive than other dial-up providers.
Who in their right mind would even consider paying for AOL dial-up?!
This will certainly chase away many of their current customers. I am unable to get DSL or Cable and Sattelite is way too expensive. If dialup prices are raised by AOL, I'm sure that many will switch to a less expensive ISP.
When I upgrade to broadband, and then cancel my service, will I continue to get billed for it anyway at the braodband rate or at the dial-up rate?
In the USA, we like stuff watered down, like beer, television, and freedom.
As if the AOL customer service was reason enough to avoid it, now they add a whole new insult. Cell phone like plan gouging and hidden pricing with contractual commitments. Of course, on the upside, this will make people switch to a new provider via economic pressure. You have to love natural selection in progress.
Wouldn't it be great if other companies did this?
Golf courses could make the hole smaller to encourage more people to buy Tiger Woods video games.
McDonalds could increase the amount of ice in drinks to make people buy bigger drinks.
Motion Picture creators could degrade the quality of videos to make people move to a new format.
Nike could make their shoes less comfortable and then sell replacement linings.
Is this funny or insightful?
It's probably both.
I don't get it.
Time to add AOL to the list of great moments in pricing failures.
my blog
3: Less AOL users
4: Profit , for the rest of the Internet community at least
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
To be honest, I saw this coming. Not just at AOL, but it is very forseeable that dial-up prices will only go up, and broadband prices will go down, or it will get faster. Just think about it, doesnt dial-up require a dedicated connection? Just like making a phone call? Where adding additional users to a broadband system just eats up more bandwidth from the large and growing pool. AOL might be jumping the gun and doing it before dial-up costs actually rise, but as the telcos lose their traditional phone customers to VoIP, a normal phone line will just get more and more expensive.
Ever heard of AOL-Time Warner? One of the biggest cable companies in the US.
A good case for my point would be Dish Network. As they've started updating their systems for HD, they have given current users free updates for satellite dishes. Without this option, the users could easily re-evaluate their options and check out DirecTV. When Dish finally has a complete HD solution to all their customers, they could very well up the cost of their service and customers would have to accept the fact that they can't afford the initial cost of a new satellite service. Dish Network understands that you have to upgrade some options for free or you lose a permanent revenue source.
Thats just criminal. AOL is no longer the premiere Content Provider. They will Join Qlink in the near future. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QLink
Time Warner is now bundling AOL service with its High Speed service (to raise subscription rate for stock holders?) Everyone knows that you can get dial up as low as $9/month. Not to sound like a broken record, but BroadBand users tend to stear away from AOL - Cutting their own throat.
-- I Dont Deserve A Sig I Have Bad Karma
I have a confession to make; I once tried the AOL free trial. The free trial wasn't woth the cost!
they were always one of the more expensive dialup companies too and it hasn't hurt them any. People who want someone to hold their hand through the whole experience usually don't mind paying more for less.
I would bet that this is part of a larger plan, so people would be more willing to buy and download from the Net movies, music, games, etc. It is not just a push for high speed access, since TimeWarner has fingers into all kinds of media and entertainment .
I saw this article from msn earlier.
From that article: "We're doing this because a majority of AOL members will be able to get high-speed connections and access the AOL service for this new price," spokeswoman Anne Bentley said Tuesday. "Hopefully it's an encouragement for them to get high-speed connections."
Although AOL has been shifting its focus to providing free articles, video and other materials on its ad-supported Web sites, the company sees paid broadband accounts as key to making that strategy work.
AOL believes broadband will help boost usage and hence advertising. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, those with broadband at home are 52 percent more likely than dial-up subscribers to use the Internet on a given day, and the typical broadband user spends about 23 percent more time online daily.
They're basically trying to get more people using high speed connections to get more people online and using their services where they get more money for their services and for advertising. It's just a shift to more of an ad-based revenue stream. Makes sense.
www.joshferguson.org
All kidding aside, AOL completly relies on the fact that their customer doesn't know a thing about how computers or the internet actualy work. Just look at their commercials: (talking about their spyblocker or some such) "Because with high speed internet, the intruders come at you faster!" I don't even know where to begin with that statement. But the AOL users just nod knowingly and install more bloatware.
If forums teach us anything, it is that logic and critical thinking should be required courses in the public schools.
AOL is actually being pretty crafty about this.
They know that there's a huge number of subscribers that are scared shitless about leaving the warm embrace of AOL, and they just won't leave. They figure that some folks will upgrade to AOL broadband, and AOL makes more money on this folks. Others will pay double, even triple for phone dial-up. Just to not lose that wonderful interface. They'll even suffer pain, case in point:
I'm seeing this girl that's just scared to death of computers. AOL auto updated to the new version, and just totally screwed her computer in the process. This is not enough to get her to quit AOL. I fix her computer, requiring a complete OS reinstall, and set it to an older less toxic version... her stupid brother pops in an AOL 9.0 CD to upgrade it. It upgrades to 9.0, and then the cheap ass CD shatters from the high rotation rate of her 56x CD-ROM drive immediately post-install - totally destroys it. Then the software again does a number on her computer... and she still will not quit AOL.
Hell, AOL is now learning what drug dealers have know for a while, and are going to make bucks on it.
- Alienating users who simply can't afford broadband
- Alienating users located in places where broadband just can't reach them
But then again, considering that CompUSA employees have loads of trouble getting people to sign up for AOL, that goes far to say just how inferior AOL is and how people using it deserve to pay for their stupidity. Looks like AOL is asking for an even smaller subscription base (or maybe even a death wish)...For now, the local Telco is forced to sell at a discount. This is the same way Speakweasy and other DSL ISP's work. Nobody runs copper to the home for DSL. Even Verizon is switching to Fiber for the last mile these days.
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
AOL offers its own broadband service, and they have for years now. They also offer a whole bunch of multimedia, streaming concerts, music, and access to a lot of news/financial resources that typically you'd have to pay for. I don't use AOL, but I can see why some people stick with it. You get a lot for your money, but you also get a bad rep. Most people on slashdot, though, speak ignorantly of what AOL has to offer. They really have not a clue, and its no better than when a company makes false claims against linux.
Regards,
Steve
Hmmm...let me see....I have a 3Mbit DSL connection giving me downloads at over 300 kb/sec. Err....yep, that's slow. Jeez, there's hardly any difference between this and the 3kb/sec speed I got with dial-up. You're right - let me cancel straight away - I'm being duped.
Dude - get this into your techno-head: the difference between dial-up and DSL can be huge to people interested in using the Internet. The physical reality, or layer, is irrelevent to the majority of these people. They got care a rat's ass about the FCC and spectrum usage.
"I dont think that DSL should even be considered as broadband". In your universe it probably isn't.
A company is going to deliberately overcharge their customers in an attempt to get them to stop using the product.
Read that again.
Perhaps people will begin to understand why:
1. Retail stores deliberately mistreat their customers by having one cashier and 57 "loss prevention" employees.
2. Disney fires 4000 people between nine-figure movie releases, then fires their entire animation division
3. General Motors fires 30,000 people because "nobody is buying cars" We hear the news on the radio in a traffic jam that can be seen from orbit.
4. Half of working-age adults are not employed in full-time permanent jobs.
5. Half of the population is functionally illiterate.
Go back and read about the company that is deliberately overpricing their product to make customers leave.
Go ahead.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
My mother and father-in-law both use AOL. Neither of them can stand open Internet connectivity because it is different, transparent, and doesn't have the lovely ultra-over-crowded Welcome screen. This is not derision, it is a factual observation.
When my father-in-law moved, he purchased DSL through the local phone company. He loves the speed. We tried to wean him off AOL, but have been unsuccessful. Quoth he, "Web mail is terrible, and Thunderbird is horrible!" [read:it doesn't have my familiar-of-7-years filing cabinet, and I have to actually start an application after he's "started" the internet.] "I don't 'see' the Internet!" [read: He feels warm and comfortable with the AOL main window as the portal, and using all these 'loose' applications gives him no warm fuzzies.]
It isn't that he's not smart (he's got multiple Dr. degrees), it isn't that he doesn't understand... it is how he feels that matters. This is the nut of the AOL user base.
None of my tech-enabled friends uses (or would consider) AOL - I think AOL has become a cultural ubiquity.
A Passionate Independent Musician
That's exactly the idea. AOL wants out of the dial-up business.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
That process is more complicated than you indicate. It's not worth the effort to bother with more more than once.
And I've heard that after having done it 3 times they don't offer you any more free time.
Scott
©20014 angrykeyboarder & Elmer Fudd. All Wights Wesewved
Do I know you?
Second... my parents (mid 50's aged) used to be stuck with a high cost ISP through a deal they got at work. When their contract expired, they switched to your average nation $10 / month dialup ISP (Qwest has decided their neighborhood doesn't warrant DSL, although they live in a suburb and cable is readily available, but overpriced for their budget).
This new ISP, unlike the old expensive one, is awful. Heaven help you if you want to send UDP traffic because it gets dropped, constantly (and on dialup, that is in fact the end of the world). Disconnections every 20 minutes, minimum. Plus, a real PITA interface with 'pop-up' blockers and 'virus scanners' that take down the web connection with frightening frequency while in fact neither blocking popups nor catching viruses and spyware. I know because, as most of you, I get the call to fix it when it is broken, and I *used* to be able to play games like Starcraft (pure UDP) with my little brother, back in the day...
This isn't just a complaint post, though. There's a market hiding in there. Specifically, I would consider recommending an ISP who charged more money in exchange for services that were actually valuable. Like ISP to backbone latency guarantees, or never a dropped packet on their network (which requires quite a bit of expensive redundant hardware and a willingness to not sell all available bandwidth), or any of a host of other non-intrusive services. You want to scan for viruses? Scan the packets before they get to me. A popup blocker? I use a *real* webrowser, I don't need it. Your ridiculous dialer app that wraps internet explorer? Just give me a phone number and an 8 line instruction page for setting up a modem shortcut.
For the right price, it *must* be possible to actually provide a true, clean, non-intrusive high quality connection at the advertised speed. Is that AOL? Probably not. But it if existed, it would be worth considering, even at $26 for dialup. The older I get, the more I am interested in exchanging my money for quality goods and services. I care about price, but I care more about what I'm getting than how much I'm getting it for. I am willing to pay more to avoid having MSN, AOL, Earthlink or any other such ISP manage my broadband connection, from experience with each of those.
Is there such a thing as a 'luxury' ISP? Maybe there should be.
In Soviet Russia, us are belong to all your base.
Things have changed. Although I was happy with my local ISP, SBC DSL is now cheaper (I live in a rural area where a lot of those $10 deals aren't available). Only child still at home is now in college, and she needs better access. We both do some online gaming. I switched to DSL without any regret except the loss of a locally maintained Usenet spool.
Now that I have a nice wireless network set up at home, I have found an added fringe benefit; backup network access through my neighbors who don't share my ideas about security.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Can someone clue me in on where I can get that? I live in a big metro area (Denver) and I'm paying comcast $45 a month for cable internet, and thats with a deduction for owning my own cable modem and another for bundling with their Cable TV service.
I'm not saying AOL is a good value or anything for dialup, but in my experience thats a pretty lowball estimate for "exact same per month as broadband".
I probably use the account once every three or four months at the most, and I even then I access the AOL network through my own separate broadband ISP account. The only time in the past dozen years I've used it for non-testing for any period of time is when the three hurricanes came through central Florida and I was without my broadband connection for a few days.
AOL isn't sparing anyone from the price increase. I *was* paying their obscure $4/mo+hourly plan which I considered fair. But, I received the following e-mail from them the other day:
As you can read in the letter, they're basically justifying raising my monthly fee for items of their service that I never or rarely use or benefit from: reliable Internet service, security features, exclusive content, member service and support.
And now they'll be getting $83/year (nearly all of which is pure profit) from me -- a developer trying to support users of their crappy service. I realize it's not a lot, but that doesn't make it feel like less of a ripoff.
Way to go AOL. You're making it really easy to just give up on you completely.