AOL Pulling The Plug On All Broadband Users In 9 States
 

DULLES, Va. - America Online, which earlier this year stopped signing up new broadband customers, is telling existing broadband subscribers in nine Southern states that they must find a new broadband carrier by Jan. 17.

Those customers who do not switch to a new broadband carrier by that date will have their accounts revert to AOL's traditional dialup service, said AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley.

The company has been e-mailing its customers in those nine states that they can switch to high-speed broadband service offered by BellSouth Corp. (BLS) for a special promotional rate.

Most of AOL's 23 million subscribers receive standard dialup service for $24 a month. The company will not disclose how many customers still receive the $54 monthly broadband service, which Bentley acknowledged is relatively expensive compared to other broadband pricing packages now available to consumers.

Bentley said she expects AOL will phase out existing broadband customers in the rest of the country in a similar manner over the next year.

The affected states are Florida, Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.


:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

whys this ?

sell

Yeah, that's like Blockbuster stopping to offer DVDs for rent and offering VCR tapes only.

The brazilian ISP with the biggest paid users base (Terra) climbed their way to the top focusing on broadband.

i bet they will bill those the 54.00 a month fee on dial up for those that make the switch until canceled.:1orglaugh

That really sucks... Hope there is another ISP...

AOL needs to stop mailing all those CD's

Way to many way to often

fuck AOL i get 10 mbps for $50/m from road runner!

WTF? They're getting rid of broadband? Anyone have any idea what the real reason behind this is?

That's thinking outside the box!

I have seen this story everywhere but I never see a reason why. How is it that AO-fuckin-L can't make a profit on this?

Good thing I moved from AOL years ago. :thumbsup

What a lot of people don't know is that AOL Broadband doesn't actually exist. They just repackage broadband services available in your area.

If you sign up for AOL DSL, you are actually getting SBC DSL, Roadrunner or whoever. If you want AOL Broadband Cable, you are actually getting Comcast Internet or whoever. On the box it says AOL, but it's actually not. So this isn't as profitable for them as it may seem. They are likely getting small referral fee's.

Next year they are coming out with a VoIP service, so obviously they are planning on putting a great deal of resources into that. It's still in beta right now. Testing was scheduled to end Dec 31, but I doubt that will happen.

Maybe their contracts weren't renewed.

AOL Service Nov. 12, 2004
Statement From America Online, Inc. Concerning Broadband Service


A story that ran in the Associated Press misconstrues what America Online is doing in nine southern states with its broadband customers.
Two years ago we announced that we were pursuing a new broadband strategy. Where once AOL provided wholesale connectivity plus the AOL service to our customers, now we simply provide the AOL service, which can be added to any DSL or cable connection.

In addition, in the past 12 months, DSL prices have been dropping across the industry. AOL has been working with BellSouth towards an arrangement that takes advantage of these price decreases and enables us to pass them along to our members.

We are contacting existing BellSouth/AOL members who have been receiving a single-price bundle ($54.95) of DSL connectivity and the AOL service directly from America Online, and asking them to migrate to AOL's premium broadband service and a new, unbundled, lower-cost BellSouth FastAccess DSL connection.

Only AOL members subscribing to the AOL bundled DSL service provided by BellSouth are impacted by the change. AOL members receiving broadband services from any other provider [Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable] are not effected in any way by this change and will continue to receive the service they enjoy today.

If customers choose not to continue high-speed service then they can maintain their AOL account over dial-up.




Contact Info:
Anne Bentley, America Online, Inc.
703-265-2825


http://media.timewarner.com/media/ne...e_num=55254272

AOL spends so much money in DC trying to get the Politics the way they want so that they can get rid of the spammers, so they are the only ones spaming, that they have messed up with the customers.

CHEAP

That will be beautiful.

AOL open up wih VoIP and get sued by the TELCO's. Woot 2005 gonna be a fun year:glugglug