AOL Subscriber Defections Continue, Top 1 Million

The Washington Post ^ | June 4, 2003 | David A. Vise

[tdadams]

America Online has lost more than 1 million dial-up customers since the dramatic decline in its subscriber base began late last year, sources familiar with the figures said yesterday.

The Dulles-based firm is rapidly losing customers to NetZero and other lower-priced bare-bones Internet services, as well as to higher-priced high-speed cable and telephone providers.

America Online's problems are the "one negative" at AOL Time Warner Inc. these days, according to Wayne H. Pace, the corporation's chief financial officer. Speaking at a media conference this week, Pace said the falloff in subscribers is much steeper than AOL had projected, and he said the only way for the Internet unit to meet cash-flow targets for the year is to cut costs relentlessly.

[RightOnline]

Why anyone would use AOL these days is simply beyond me.

[AlexW]

It would be happy to see AOL just dry up and blow away.

I have a few older (60+) friends use it just because they are new to computers and do not know any better. They do not
get but about half of the emails that I send to them.

[DB]

I agree. $24 a month for slow dialup telephone service is nuts. Then add to that the huge amount of wasted bandwidth/time downloading the endless AOL ads...

[Cincinatus]

My 80-year old mother uses it -- she knows nothing about computers and doesn't really want to know more than necessary to read e-mail from her children and grandchildren.

AOL seems silly to experienced users, but there is still a market out there for an elementary, "user-friendly" internet operating shell.

[mombonn]

Why anyone would use AOL these days is simply beyond me.

I'm still on it at work - we are making a change very soon.

It can't happen soon enough!

[jazzlite]

I had a terrible experience with AOL. I requested a termination of my service from them by letter and by phone and they ignored the request. They kept billing my credit card for the high fee every month. After six months of talking with the credit card people and trying to get through to the AOL people, I cancelled the card to get rid of the charge. My credit card company representative told me they had other clients with this same AOL problem. Just think of the revenue which they received from a refusal to acknowledge service terminations for a few months.

[WSGilcrest]

the only way for the Internet unit to meet cash-flow targets for the year is to cut costs relentlessly.

Well, that oughta bring 'em back!

[ActionNewsBill]

I requested a termination of my service from them by letter and by phone and they ignored the request. They kept billing my credit card for the high fee every month.

I had the same problem, only with my phone bill.

Got a much better deal HERE:

$9.99 Access

[FreedomPoster]

Agreed, but it is the definition of a declining market. They built a product for newbies, and that was great when the market was still expanding. The market in the U.S. is pretty well saturated, and few experienced Internet users want AOL. They didn't adjust their product to keep up with a changing market, and their declining subscribership reflect that reality.

It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch. ;-)

[Psalm 73]

Left AOL about two years' ago - fed up with the barrage of filthy spam, which AOL never helped us with whenever we complained.
Signed on with a Christian ISP, don't need all the bells and whistles - just need access and a (filth and spam-free) mail box.

[mylife]

The only people I know that use AOL are Cyberphobes that just dont understand the internet.

I hate to see AOL go completely out of buisness....those cds they send to me constantly are great for target practice!

[tdadams]

You're exactly right. And I can't help but laugh at the business strategy they're pursuing now - going after the broadband market.

Has it not occured to anyone in the AOL boardroom that AOL is a neatly packaged product for internet neophytes and simpletons, whereas broadband users are early adopters of new technology and are more technologically sophisticated than the average internet user.

That's not exactly a good target for their marketing.

[grania]

AOL seems silly to experienced users, but there is still a market out there for an elementary, "user-friendly" internet operating shell.

I don't want the extra expense of a faster service. When I purchased a new computer last year, I started out with MSN free for six months instead of the cheaper, regional dialup I was using.

I wouldn't switch to AOL, because with MSN I get spectacular service, next to no pop-ups, and pretty fast downloads. What I'm saying...it isn't the dialup that's the problem, it's AOL.

[SixFive175]

I agree. However, I subscribe to AOL.

I have a cable modem, so I subscribe at the cheaper "bring your own provider" rate of $14.95/month. So AOL, to me, is like some paid web site. It's far more useful than any porno site, which also costs about that much.

I mainly use AOL for chat rooms (sometimes), and for things like recipes. I don't use AOL all that often, actually: but it's worth the $14.95/month just to have access.

I also subscribe to AccuWeater Pro, which is about $100/year. I'm a weather nut, though.

However, I have always felt sorry for those who have had AOL as their only provider. Having AOL and a 56K modem is like a Black & White portable TV; whereas I have a Plasma Screen by comparison (cable modem; Internet; new state-of-the-art computer; 21" screen; etc.).

In short: AOL, as a paid web site, isn't bad. But if it was all I had, I'd be better off just going to the public library.

[grumple]

Reasons I left AOL

Spam Mail
Advertising
Liberal News Slant
Memmory Hog
Spam Mail
Unsolicited Instant Messages
Took over my computer
Spam mail
Frequent computer lock ups, easily 70% of reasons for crashing
21.95 a month? Come on...
The gay looking interface...way too many pastels

AOL should have paid me 21.95 for the 15 minutes it took the frickin customer service lady to cancel my account which I eventually had to shout at her to do so after telling her to "cancel my account" about 8 times...she just would not listen...

oh...and did I mention spam mail?

[Alouette]

I think I was one of the first customers to toss AOL. I quit my account after 2 weeks of the "1-month free" intro back in 1994.

[TomSmedley]

I dropped AOL two months ago and they are so desperate for me to stay that they gave me 2 free months to make up my mind. LOL <> Likewise. For me, the last straw was when they lost my web site a couple of times. With hundreds of files I'd painstakingly uploaded one by one using their kludge of an FTP service.

I'm delighted with YAHOO.COM mail, now. They have a much more effective spam filter, and other nifty services as well.

[Publius6961]

Why anyone would use AOL these days is simply beyond me.

Still over 24 million, no?
And Bill Clinton was elected twice.

Some things are simply beyond comprehension.