Nearly 60% of Web surfers plan to quit AOL

Reuters via digitalMASS.com ^ | 5/21/02

[GeneD]

NEW YORK

[Arthur McGowan]

I won't even consider using AOL because of their illiterate TV ads. They's had two different ads, with actors reading the same illiterate lines: "If I knew it was this easy, I'd have signed up long ago."

It should, of course, be: "If I had known it was this easy..."

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

BTW, it's sure FUN trying to talk to a living nerd of any kind at aol, isn't it?

There's just something wrong about knowing more about computers than the tech support guy who is supposed to be up to speed on these things. It's like the episode of "The Simpsons" where Homer was getting open heart surgery, and Doctor Nick ("Hey, everybody!") had to look to Lisa for a hint on where to make the incision.

[Psycho_Bunny]

The company has also acknowledged that it needs to clarify its high-speed strategy but has downplayed the urgency after getting into high-speed services, noting that the mass market is unlikely to embrace broadband overnight.

This is truly one of the most idiotic statements ever made by a business.  Ever.

These people deserve bankruptcy.

 

[cgk]

They will offer you free months every time you call to cancel. We tried for SIX months to cancel; they kept just giving us free months instead. I finally just cancelled the credit card, because I was tired of haggling with them over their lousy service and the basic fact that I just wanted to cancel.

Mrs Kus

[A CA Guy]

The ONLY reason to have AOL is if you are an international traveler. You can find world-wide local numbers. Outside of that, with the advertising and poor software, they are a joke.

Can't begin to count how many friends had me remove the AOL software because it crashed their operating systems.

AOL bought Time-Warner (was it?) only because they knew they had no future and hoped to get diversified.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

How can AOL be # 1 if they have to give all those hours away to attract customers?

Possibly the same way Scientologists would sell and re-purchase books 'written' by L. Ron Hubbard, to boost their positions on best-seller lists. I think this particular business model is called 'loss-leading', where you take an initial loss in order to get someone in the door, then you really sock 'em with the hard sell. A more sinister version of this would be the classic bait-and-switch, which is illegal. AOL just overpromises. Like I alluded to earlier, they're like drug dealers. They offer you freebies until you're hooked, then they've got you where they want you, and make it hard for you to let go. I'm dramatizing, of course, but not by much.

[E Rocc]

They could have saved time and money if they just asked me. AOL sucks. It takes minutes to clear off all their marketing pop-ups just to get mail or to a website.

You can turn those off. I'm at work not home, but if I remember right its Preferences, Marketing Preferences, and turn off the "special pop-up members offers" or something like that.

-Eric

[SamAdams76]

AOL is truly a horrid service. I am only familiar with them because I am the "computer guru" in my family and I am always being called upon to assist them when they have problems. They usually end up with AOL because about a half a dozen AOL disks fall into their laps everytime they open up a magazine. However, I try my best to wean them off the service and when I finally do get them connected to a real ISP, they are always ecstatic.

The average AOL user is invariably with AOL user only because they it was the first online service they ever had and they have no idea how much better it is elsewhere.

AOL has always had a problem with people leaving in droves. They were always able to overcome this problem by signing up new users who were getting computers for the very first time. The pool of people who have yet to purchase their first computer is rapidly shrinking and for the first time, the number of people leaving are exceeding the number of people signing on.

It's nothing but downhill from here on out for AOL.

[Focault's Pendulum]

It should, of course, be: "If I had known it was this easy..."

Arthur...shouldn't the copy read

"If I had known I was this easy"....?

[Focault's Pendulum]

But even on the minimum plan ($4.95 a month), I felt like I was wasting my money. Procrastination was the only thing that kept me from dropping it before.

I was exactly like you....until I found my boss's password.

[Ditto]

They were the only local access ISP at the time I went with them...

Same here. With my jerkwater string & tin can phone company, AOL was my only option for an ISP without toll calls ---- until the local cable company upgraded to digital. Wow. What a difference!

If the powers at AOL think broadband is no big deal, they will be bankrupt in another few years. Serves them right the arrogant fools. But those CDs they send all the time do make excellent skeet targets.

[green team 1999]

NRA LAUNCHES NRA ONLINE - THE ULTIMATE PRO-GUN ISP

In an effort to create a high quality Internet Service that helps promote and protect Second Amendment rights, the National Rifle Association has launched NRA Online. The service provides unlimited dial-up access, up to five e-mail addresses, free web hosting and 24 hour live technical support for only $19.95 a month. Covering more than 95% of the U.S.population through more than 1900 local numbers (which will grow to 2300 next month), NRA Online provides nationwide coverage for Freedom-loving Americans. "We're excited about NRA Online," says NRA Treasurer Woody Phillips. "So many people have requested a high-quality, pro-gun alternative to the mass market ISPs that we felt the time was right to launch one. We've spent considerable time building a solution that will be appreciated by our supporters while helping the NRA protect and defend our Constitutional Rights."

NRA Online can be downloaded right from the Internet click here to join online in just a few minutes, or a CD can be requested from their toll-free 24 hour hotline, 1-866-602-6402.

[Corin Stormhands]

Nearly 60% of Web surfers plan to quit AOL

Nice to know I'm ahead of the curve...

[Howlin]

Things you can do with AOL disks

• Destroy them - smash, burn, or run over to relieve stress.
  
• Light switch cover.
  
• Chinese throwing stars (tape 2 together).
  
• Clay pigeons for target practice.
  
• Greeting card (bind two together at one end).
  
• Halloween treat (give them away all night long).
  
• Bullet proof vest (arrange together in triple thickness).
  
• Firewood.
  
• Bird house.
  
• Paper weights.
  
• Pen holders (make a box without a top).
  
• Post it-notes holder.
  
• Refrigerator magnet (glue a magnet to the back).
  
• A very sturdy base for putting the motorcycle sidestand on when parking on soft surfaces.
  
• Keep 'em in the trunk for extra traction in the snow.
  
• Solar Eclipse Glasses (open door and look through disk at the sun/moon -actually works).
  
• Placing one in each back pocket helps children who get paddled by the coach. This spreads the force to a wider area.
  
• Make an AOL disk & pasta casserole.
  
• Incense burners (put stick in hole of disk hub and light the incense.
  
• Bug Shield (glue a bunch to the front of your car's hood).
  
• Put them on car windshields at the mall (along with this list).
  
• Melt the plastic of the disks into a giant sculpture.
  
• Hand them out as party favors.
  
• Hidden/spare key holder (crack open 1 side, insert key and then place near door. Completely safe...who would want an AOL disk?)
  
• Vertical blinds.
  
• Be an AOL diskette surgeon and disect a diskette.
  
• Bench press weights (I can press 120).
  
• Grind 'em up and refertilize the front lawn.
  
• The new "Domino's stuffed-crust pizza" filling.
  
• Tell the kids to leave warm milk & AOL disks for Santa.
  
• Brake shoes.
  
• House insulation.
  
• Recycle them for the scrap metal.
  
• Kitchen tile for Bill Gates' new mansion in Seatle (walk all over the competition).
  
• Hockey Puck.
  
• Add water and special plant life to make a Chia-Disk.
  
• Noise maker for your bike spokes (why damage your valuable baseball cards).
  
• Put one on a leash and drag it along as you walk... makes the perfect pet.
  
• Poker chips.
  
• Baseball practice (throw them up in the air and hit them with the bat).
  
• Keychain (Put a key ring through one of the writeprotect holes and you've got a snappy executive bathroom keychain for the office).
  
• Mail to 10 friends-start an AOL chain-letter (add a disk with each link).
  
• Earmuffs (glue some fur on one side, then attach a U-shaped piece of bent coathanger to both disks).
  
• Grind them up to make fake snow.
  
• Earrings (put loop into write-protect hole).
  
• Dental floss (use actual disk).
  
• Use them for zipper pulls (instead of ski lift tickets).
  
• When your collection of disks reaches 52, use them for a deck of cards.
  
• Use them to fill potholes.
  
• Hood ornament.

[Paradox]

AOL sends me free disks all the time, and I thank them for it. I take the nice black cases, carefully remove any stickers, then take out the paper liner underneath the clear plastic outer liner, reverse it to white, then place it back into the case. Voila! A free, sturdy, CD case, for those CD's that you might have burned, or whose cases you have lost.

[GailA]

Volume of customer turn over????????

[John Jamieson]

Walmart Connect by AOL is same thing for $9.94 a month. If you're stuck with AOL because of limited phone areas, switch to www.wmconnect.com, same phone numbers....save about $200 a year. Same bad service.

[afraidfortherepublic]

AOL was a great entry point for new web users. After awhile, they will probably notice that they are still on a tiny little bicycle with training wheels, while the rest of the world is zooming by on motorcycles. AOL will be in huge trouble, especially if they think broadband isn't that important.

And what is better?

And AOL DOES have broadband service. They try to sign me up every day, but I cannot justify the expense. Tell me an equal or better service that I can access both from home and from my computer at work, and I'll switch. I'm a technological dummy, but I like to save money!

[afraidfortherepublic]

MOST people get started with AOL becuause they simply really don't understand the alternatives, many which offer quicker speed or the same speed for less cost.

OK I confess. I was a real dummy when I started with AOL in 1996, but I'm still there and not a whole lot smarter. I don't notice too many pop ups (certainly not as many as on Lucianne! Ugh!)

Do you have another suggestion for a service that I can access both at home and at work? At work we have own own provider, and we use Internet Explorer to access the Web and Outlook for e-mail -- but I can access my AOL account through IE, and that's really convenient.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Why anyone would stick with AOL when highspeed internet service is available at a comparable cost

Where? What is the name of this service?