Poll: Nearly 60 Pct of Web Surfers Plan to Quit AOL

Reuters ^ | May 21,2002 12:20 PM ET | Reuters

[jern]

Poll: Nearly 60 Pct of Web Surfers Plan to Quit AOL
Tue May 21,12:20 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly 60 percent of Web surfers polled by ChangeWave, an investment and research firm whose clients include hedge funds, said Tuesday they planned to leave America Online for another Internet service.

"The findings of this survey point to a serious and ongoing hemorrhaging of AOL's Internet subscriber base. Among members using AOL as their Internet Service Provider, two out of five rate it unsatisfactory -- by far the highest negative rating of any major ISP specified in the survey," the report said.

The survey comes at a time when AOL Time Warner Inc.'s management is struggling to get the online service "back on track" as it suffers from an anemic advertising climate and slower growth in its dial-up subscriber base.

Of the 402 respondents in the survey, 73 percent were still subscribers and 27 percent had left AOL in the past year.

About 40 percent said they were clearly dissatisfied with the brand, service and customer support. Some members resented the relatively high cost of $23.90 for the service, the report said.

However, 8 percent said a reason for keeping the service was AOL's content, which has been expanded to include everything from CNN and "The Sopranos (news - Y! TV)" to People magazine and music artists like Madonna (news - web sites) and Enya, since the completion of AOL's purchase of Time Warner.

"We have done more than 100 surveys and reports since late 2000 and this survey has the most overwhelming, and negative, response to a company or technology we have ever seen," said Michael Shulman, director of research at ChangeWave, in a research note.

ChangeWave said the situation will worsen as Web surfers move toward high-speed Internet services.

"With roughly half of all those seeking broadband committed to leaving AOL, the company is facing a 10 percent to 25 percent drop per year in its core customer base. Simply put, it is open season on AOL subscribers," the report said.

The company's shares have fallen about 40 percent this year and lost about 70 percent of its market value since AOL agreed to buy Time Warner for $106.2 billion in January 2000. Management has pledged to regain investor credibility and rebuild value, but most investors are waiting on the sidelines to see if the company can win back their trust.

AOL shares fell 20 cents to $19.19 on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) at midday.

AOL Time Warner's new chief executive officer, Richard Parsons, has made getting the online unit "back on track" a top priority and has dispatched Chief Operating Officer Robert Pittman to refocus the unit on the basics.

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.

[RAT Patrol]

Count me among those who plan to leave AOL soon.

[Williams]

Yeah? Just try MSN. Slow email, less content, worse software. Sounds like malarky to me. according to this article 23% of those polled had already switched. Sounds like 7% more plan to, not 30%. I tried to get a $400 rebate by using MSN, and my family made me keep AOL and give up the $$.

[RayChuang88]

I left AOL a LONG time ago. I prefer a real ISP account where all I need to do to log on is just run the Internet Connection Wizard in Windows 98/ME/2000/XP to get me connected without having to use the software provided by the ISP. :-)

[RipSawyer]

I tried AOL once and had to reformat my computer to get it to work properly again. AOL is for people who simply don't know any better.

[Howlin]

I am a former user of AOL, too. However, some people have no other choice.

[Timesink]

This is one of those cases where people talk the talk, but never walk the walk. I can think of at least three friends and two relatives off the top of my head that have been planning on leaving AOL Real Soon Now for the last year and a half.

Inertia is a powerful force. I'd love to see AOL collapse, but I'm not going to bet any money on it.

[Tacis]

I use AOL on a Mac and have for years (1994?) and I am very unhappy with it. The price keeps going up and I know that they are going to try to fund some new silly adventure in M&A with another rate increase. Conect time and cut offs are still a problem. AOL content is garbage and require going through 3, 4, 5 slow loading screens to get to what they've teased me with. And, then, I get junk for months.

But, can anyone suggest a stable, relable alternative?

[Intimidator]

Just get Roadrunner and all will be well. I just switched from dial up MSN(totally wretched) and got Roadrunner(excellent).

[Phantom Lord]

I am a former user of AOL, too. However, some people have no other choice.

Who are these people and why do they have no other choice?

[Diplomat]

peoplepc.com

[Diplomat]

Tell them pfarr@peoplepc.com sent you and I get a free month. They run about $15 a month for unlimited and 2 email accounts. I go for hours without problem. It does have a small install that gives a SINGLE ad every time you log on. Nothing like the nightmare from hell called AOL.

[truth_seeker]

I have two friends who travel the world, on business. Both use AOL because of the dial-in phone numbers for AOL.

For seven years, I have used a small, local ISP. It costs me about $100 per year, if I pay for the entire year. Starting with only local access, they now have phone numbers covering much of the nation's most populous state; where I am most likely to travel. Excellent service.

If I need repair on my computer, they have repair work, at $25 per hour for their subscribers. They really do have real people, at real desks. Also, they are on Main Street, in a town known for Surfing (not the web, however).

[Cicero]

It depends where you live. If you are lucky enough to have a good broadband ISP, then AOL makes no sense.

That's why time is running against AOL. As more and more homes get cable connections, or as satellite technology improves, they will lose their monopoly position. And they haven't much else to offer, but ads.

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

It's not nicknamed "Awful Off Line" for nothing.

I tried it with my first computer and for the first 30 days (a "free" trial offer) I never once was able to connect to "the internet"! Had no problem connecting to their specials, but if you wanted to just surf, fuggetabouit!
Or as that automated twit used to say (every ten minutes!)

Good-Bye!

[Redleg Duke]

Some of us remain because our account includes parents and siblings. And frankly, there isn't a lot of difference except this...just about wherever I go, there is a local AOL access number and if not, there is an 800 number to support email.

Folks whining about AOL are usually whining about Microsoft as well. They may just be part of the great American Whinery.

[ravingnutter]

Hope you didn't put the AOL charges on your credit card...it took me 3 months to get them to stop charging the Company credit card, finally threatened them with the Corporate lawyers. Then they had the nerve to call me a few weeks later to inquire why I had not signed on in quite some time...they sure got an ear full!

[Howlin]

Believe it or not, not everybody in the world is a computer maven, like we are. Plus I bet there are places where it's the only game in town!

[ironman]

Left AOL years ago for a real ISP that would at least dial in at 45K plus. Got a "Free 3 months trial" with new machine at the beginning of the year and they started charging my credit card before the trial ran out. I went ballistic on them, terminated the service, but they wouldn't reverse the charges so I went thru my credit card company to get the charges reversed. No way AOL.

[Donna Lee Nardo]

I just got broadband cable access last month, but I am keeping aol under the "bring your own access" plan until some current projects are finished in a month or so. Believe it or not, the rotten aol system still looses connections under cable! When I had dial up access, this was a major problem; now, with cable access, it is still somewhat of a problem. Surely, it is entirely the unreliability of aol now that I am connecting via cable, because when I access the web directly through Internet Explorer using cable, I never loose a "connection." Makes sense why aol was dubbed "america off line."