February 3, 2003

NY Times: As Broadband Gains, the Internet's Snails Fall Back

My spin: I've got dial up in my home office (just for now thank you) and 200kbps going up to 700kbps at my office....that's just great for me!

America Online now has some company in the Internet doghouse. Last week, the company said the number of subscribers to its flagship Internet service, by far the nation's largest, had fallen in the fourth quarter, the first decline in its history, further contributing to the woes of its parent, AOL Time Warner.

But executives at the America Online division can at least find solace that its plight is shared by the other leading dial-up Internet access providers, EarthLink and Microsoft's MSN, which also have shrinking numbers of dial-up subscribers.

The problem is speed. Consumers have been dropping their slow dial-up services and switching to faster service, called broadband. AOL and the other dial-up leaders do offer broadband service, but the latest quarterly results show that consumers are shunning these offers, despite increased promotion. Rather, they are buying broadband services offered by cable and telephone companies.
(full story)

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