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AOL's Quest for Relevancy
New simple deals get massive attention, new price hikes?
by Karl Bode Monday 30-Jan-2006 tags: prices · business
The volume of press AOL is getting for signing rather simple Yahoo-esque co-branded partnerships with major players is staggering. Particularly amusing are reports the company is "expanding its broadband network nationwide", since the move has nothing to do with ATDN. Added reading: AOL users in our forums justify why they use AOL. There's an anonymous AOL employee in our forums whose been claiming for weeks that AOL's planning to raise prices for dial-up & BYOA customers early next week. Dial-up AOL for $25.90?

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woody7
Premium
join:2000-10-13
Torrance, CA

1 edit

hmmmmmmmm............

As I have said before......Just die and go away....;)
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BlooMe


you would have to be a tard to pay that for dialup, no slur inteded on the tards

AnonyAOL

@cox.net

Clarification

I said the email being sent out will be around Feb 6 now informing the people affected that their price will increase during the march billing cycle
caco
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Whittier, AK

1 edit

AOL still deserves the attention.

I believe AOL still has close to 20 million customers. Those are a lot of possible advertising eyeballs. Granted most BBR users see no need for AOL but I'm sure we all know somebody who does. Aol is still the number 1 Isp in the nation, that counts for something.

Romney2012
Defeat Obama 2012-Chg we can believe in
Premium
join:2002-03-03
USA
kudos:4

AOL at $25.90 or Netzero at $9.95

You can get unlimited dial-up access at Netzero for $9.95/mo. Why would anyone continue to use AOL at $25.90/mo.?? To keep their email address, that's why. For a small business, maybe that makes some sense(not much, but a little). But for home users, they must just like to throw their money away.
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bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus

Re: AOL at $25.90 or Netzero at $9.95

Not really if you actually use everything that AOL offers... $25.90 to keep their email address, to have parental controls, their "security center", etc. actually makes sense if the subscriber is using all of those features... Netzero, on the other hand, doesn't offer those at all.

I'm no fan of AOL and its walled garden approach, but the number of features they offer can make the price worth while if you need them.
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Too logical to be a conservative... Too practical to be a liberal... Too realistic to be a Libertarian.
Aleck79

join:2003-07-23
College Station, TX

AOL losses customers every day...

AOL would make a killing if they could just cash in on those 20 Million Dial-up subscribers. I know they are trying to do AOL via roadrunner, which is a great use of all of the resources, but its not being advertised for shit. AOL needs to work on keeping the customers it has, and the only way I see that is converting to broad band.
joshpo

join:2002-09-24
Collingswood, NJ

You can now keep your email

I called yesterday to cancel service for a friend, and the rep informed me (to my surprise) that he would be able to access his same @aol.com email through their webpage after cancellation. There is now no reason to stay with AOL.
Aleck79

join:2003-07-23
College Station, TX

Re: You can now keep your email

there is no way AOL would give you free access to your @aol.com email after you canceled your membership. You probably missheard that you can with a like $5/month fee or something similar.

By the way, AOL's free email service is not on the AOL.com domain, rather it's at aim.com. So that eliminates that as a possible reason.
slcpd6469

join:2003-09-25
Saint Louis, MO

1 edit

Re: You can now keep your email

I haven't paid an AOL bill since version 3.0 was released. They have also never sent me a bill. I can still use all my accounts just fine web-mail or sign on through the program. Its not like I want to use it but I know if Charter goes down I always have a free dial-up back-up. And no its not a aim.com address its ******@aol.com
joshpo

join:2002-09-24
Collingswood, NJ
believe it dude. they have completely seperated the dialup service from the screenname. AOL wants to be another portal just like yahoo etc

aztecnology
O Rly?
Premium
join:2003-02-12
Murrieta, CA

1 edit

?

Why hasn't Time Warner made AOL part of their RoadRunner service...?
Aleck79

join:2003-07-23
College Station, TX

Re: ?

they have to some extent, but have not been promoting it. Whereas they promoted AOL dialup like crazy, I have only heard about Road Runner with AOL on a couple radio commercials and a few web sites.
Goldman

join:2002-06-21
Maumelle, AR
Seems that Time Warner, Roadrunner, and AOL could have combined into a worldwide internet juggernaut. But, in reality they combined names and proceeded to drop the ball. With all the content in the world and the number of subscribers that AOL had they should have been unstoppable.

I'm glad I didn't invest in that disaster.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
kudos:30

Re: ?

It's really astounding, considering the subscriber base and combined resources at their disposal, they they didn't become a broadband god....
Aleck79

join:2003-07-23
College Station, TX

1 edit
yeah, but remember that Time Warner Cable is not available everywhere in the States. I really don't think they need to be raising the price again. All that will do is just piss of more customers that were already pissed off from the previous price increase not very long ago. Find somewhere else you can cut costs, another price increase is suicide.

Edit: Karl, do you think that the structure of the company has anything to do with it? AOL and Time Warner Cable are set up as 2 individual companies, completely autonomous from each other. They just happen to be owned by the same parent company, Time Warner. Also didn't seem like Time Warner, doesn't really look after its 'little brother' AOL.
ricep5
Premium
join:2000-08-07
Jacksonville, FL
"BBR seeking relevancy by disclaiming AOL" should be the next headline.

Perhaps there should be a generic post I could place that tells people that AOL was never and still isn't an ISP. They are a dial up (now broadband) content provider.

I can get AOL dial up in the most remotest regions of the world. I found a AOL POP near a beach in Africa where nothing else existed. On the west coast of Ireland where Eirecom cell service was spotty at best.

Value added content that I pay only 1 fee for. U2 streamed live without drop outs. CNN and ABC News video feeds were always free on AOL, always. Newspaper sites with logins, forget about it!

For families they have a controllable filter with logging so your kid can browse at times you pick and you can check their habits.

Is it all replicable by other means, oh absolutely! But not many can provide all of that with just 1 fee per month and not have to call your techie cousin on the phone to work it out.

AOL actually has a very robust national network backbone. I am not sure why they are "reannoucing" their broadband deals with telcos, they have had them long before the ad campaign started. AFter all its about delivering the content, not building an infrastructure.

Why didn't they merge with TW Cable? Easy, consent decree. AOL-TW was barred from entering the phone business or starting any bb provider services w/o opening their own network first. They chose to partner instead.

Sometimes I wonder what BBR would have to talk about if AOL did die?

Chinabound
Premium
join:2002-12-21
Antioch, IL
kudos:4

Re: "BBR seeking relevancy by disclaiming AOL"

That would be China.
Great post, by the way.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
kudos:30
quote:
Sometimes I wonder what BBR would have to talk about if AOL did die?
The death of AOL.

And then aardvarks. I think the site needs more discussion of aardvarks.

Pathfinder
Dazed Confused
Premium
join:2000-03-26
Mount Vernon, NY
Reviews:
·RoadRunner Cable
·Verizon Online DSL
said by ricep5:

Sometimes I wonder what BBR would have to talk about if AOL did die?
Verizon. Front page 3 times a week. Rehashed over and over and over and over.................................
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
kudos:30

1 edit

Re: "BBR seeking relevancy by disclaiming AOL"

Help us out then and send broadband related news you'd like to see:

»/news

particularly about aardvarks.
ricep5
Premium
join:2000-08-07
Jacksonville, FL

Re: "BBR seeking relevancy by disclaiming AOL"

A simple Google uncovers these gems;

- Blue Aardvark's blog discusses his broadband adventures
- A new podcast is released called "The washing of an aardvark"
- A streaming video is now available on the mating habits of aardvarks in Central America.

Anstel

@comcast.net
Their stock price may suck but they are a juggernaut. The aol properties alone were #3 in the world in hits, behind only Yahoo and Google. MSN is also in the mix there, but they are now the big 4 in advertising $$.

Rob A
Jets AFC Championship
Premium
join:2005-01-17
Pompton Plains, NJ
Reviews:
·Verizon Online DSL

Ridiculous

Do they really expect someone to pay 25.90/month for dialup when they can get something like 768K dsl for 14.95/month, or 3Mbps for 29.95/month? AOL's pricing is crazy, if people really need dialup, they aren't gonna get aol for that price. People would get something cheap since most dialup companies only charge $5-$10/month now.
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x_zao_x

join:2004-06-27
New Martinsville, WV

charter = partner

one of the partners is charter.....we start the project next week...i'm currently in training for it
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Committment To Excellence
plattypus1

join:2005-04-08
Riverside, CA

Re: charter = partner

Ugh. If Charter dares push some AOHell crap down my throat I will take my service to SBC.

My wife's grandmother has MSN/Verizon DSL service, it's terrible. Never know when to log in with @verizon.net or @msn.com account, the email servers are spotty at best, I could go on...

No portals, just give me a pipe!
x_zao_x

join:2004-06-27
New Martinsville, WV

Re: charter = partner

it doesn't target existing HSD customers with charter....AOL is marketing this for brand new HSD customers that live in Charter areas
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x_zao_x

join:2004-06-27
New Martinsville, WV

Re: charter = partner

the offer will be AOL branded 384k HSD for 25.90 for 12 months...then full price. the 3m HSD will be 29.99 for 3 months. you will have full access to anything AOL...the 9.0 SE edition, all that good stuff...

AOL starts the marketing campaign on 2/6...they are teaming up with many broadband providers. Our call center is the only one in the country handling the Charter-AOL partnership
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why keep paying

@comcast.net

Many of the features are FREE

It really does seem pretty stupid to maintain and pay there over-inflated prices. Many of the past AOL subscriber features are now available on the AOL portal, AOL.com. I like their AOL radio and a few of the chat rooms. No need to pay for these services, just use the web site. Tell your family and friends who refuse to give up their wallet sucking AOL account.

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