AOL Still Has 3.5M Dialup Subscribers

I didn't get cable till I was like 20 and I'm 26 now. There are definitely places without cable that you would think would have it.
 
3 million of those are people who are probably still on hold trying to cancel their service. I remember that hell, oh about 18 years ago.
 
This means they are billing 3.5 million customers, not that 3.5 million are actually using the service.
Half these people are probably sitting on hold trying to cancel :)
 
bonus said:
3 million of those are people who are probably still on hold trying to cancel their service. I remember that hell, oh about 18 years ago.
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You beat my post by one minute :(
 
There are still millions of Americans that cannot get broadband, still a market there.

My mother cannot get DSL or Cable or Uverse, she's stuck on dialup or on satellite.
 
nutzo said:
This means they are billing 3.5 million customers, not that 3.5 million are actually using the service.
Half these people are probably sitting on hold trying to cancel :)
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I bet the other have don't know that they don't have to pay AOL to keep their email address.
 
jandar said:
There are still millions of Americans that cannot get broadband, still a market there.

My mother cannot get DSL or Cable or Uverse, she's stuck on dialup or on satellite.
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Does she live in Antarctica?
 
I'll bet those subscribers are in the middle of our country where they're lucky to have phone lines and cell phone reception. Not everyone has access to DSL, cable, or fiber. Heck, 300,000 in Nebraska alone don't have internet access at all. Small towns with a population of a few thousand don't have the network infrastructure to handle more than a few hundred customers at a time.

So, no, this does not surprise me at all.
 
Those 3.5 million must have no other option, because who would use such a garbage, ethically devoid service if they had a choice for something else. The best thing for AOL is to cease existence.
 
People like my stepmother who foolishing still pay AOL.

I get not everyone has broadband and some have to use dialup, but I wouldn't be caught dead using AOL. It isn't 1992 anymore.
 
Some people are convinced that they don't need anything better. My father is still on netzero's 10 free hours a month for example. He may finally get uverse, with 3m DSL thankfully, and I'm hoping that giving him netflix and a roku will get him to keep it.
 
Burticus said:
People like my stepmother who foolishing still pay AOL.

I get not everyone has broadband and some have to use dialup, but I wouldn't be caught dead using AOL. It isn't 1992 anymore.
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Exactly. Even if you don't have broadband access where you live, a very small percentage of the rural population at this point, there's absolutely no reason to use AOL. Even if you live out in the boonies you local telephone company can provide dial-up for a very low price.
 
I think around here it's a 5-10 dollar/month service. Not that many people even need it; because there's cable, dsl, u-verse, long range wireless, mobile broadband, satellite, etc available. Even the people I know out in the sticks can get at least one of these. Minus the satellite; because while anyone can get it, it sucks so bad you're almost better off with dial up.
 
How many people think that Netflix's graph will look like that in a few years?? :p

My bro still uses AOL cuz it's his email address he's been using for years. I don't know what he pays for that, but he doesn't care. *shrug* Some people just don't care if they burn a few bucks just to keep things the same...
 
Jim Robbins said:
My bro still uses AOL cuz it's his email address he's been using for years. I don't know what he pays for that, but he doesn't care. *shrug* Some people just don't care if they burn a few bucks just to keep things the same...
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You can keep your email address for free.
 
Fendrix said:
Does she live in Antarctica?
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In a major metropolitan area, just outside of suburbia. Also cannot get cellular internet, cell signal sucks at her house, towers are far away. Its a pocket that all ISPs have forgotten about. Hell, her crossbox is almost 5 miles away.
 
Why would ones response to this be 'You've got to be kidding me'.

3.5 million sounds acceptable to me given all the people in rural areas where broadband still and may never be an option. Not to mention some people who just check emails and don't need anything better.
 
im not surprise. We get old people in who have highspeed internet and still pay for aol dial up because they don't know that you can get on the internet without aol.
 
I actually still use it for my e-mail adresses. Haven't paid for it for a very long time, but for mail it's not too bad. I see no real need to change it as long as i don't have to pay for it. :p
 
My mother still pays for Netzero because she doesn't want to lose her email address. However, her broadband service as just as slow as dial up. She lives a one traffic light town in Pensylvania.

My mother in law lives in a rural part of Puerto Rico where dial up service is spotty at best. But since she still doesn't have a computer, it don't even matter. For TV, it's satellite of rabbit ears. Guess which one she uses.....
 
it's hard to get high speed internet out in country areas. Some places still don't have it in the city area. For instance I live in Oklahoma City but I can't get Verizon or AT&T high speed internet b/c they don't have it ran on my side of the road. I live in a kind of new place only 8 years old my area but still I live in the city I should get the service. pfft
 
Considering I had to contact AOL three separate times to finally get my account canceled about 10 years ago, these 3.5 million people probably are still trying to cancel theirs.
 
I still know some elderly people that still use AOL. I work in tech support for a company and when they ask why their new computer is so slow accessing the internet, I ask them who their internet provider is and they say AOL. I reply " uh huh. You need to get a new internet provider."
 
So true. I have been trying to cancel my gramps AOL account for years. Finally just had him dispute the charges and wait for AOL to call him. A turnaround is fair play.
 
I agree with the above- my first thought was those are people that forgot to cancel their accounts. My dad lives in a place where dial-up and satellite are his only options.

Gotta love it.
 
My folks place just got rid of dial up last week and got verison wireless but I am heading out to North Dakota for some possible work and the place I am staying at has fiber.:p
 
My parents live in a rural area and they still have 28.8 dialup. It usually connects at 14.4 though. Can't get anything faster, they don't even have cell service out there.
 
A lot of them are stupid old people. (When you get old, you'll be stupid, too.)

AOL works for their email and they don't want to change.
 
I remember the days when I was on dialup with MSN before signing up for cable in 2001. Downloading Windows updates took half of the morning or afternoon depending on when I started. I still vividly remember the day when the cable guy came and installed the AT&T Broadband service. It was so fast compared to dialup that I was amazed at the difference in speed. If I lived in BF Egypt I would either go with a cellular plan on 1XRTT or satellite if it was available. Anything is better than AOL!!
 
Vort Max said:
I remember the days when I was on dialup with MSN before signing up for cable in 2001. Downloading Windows updates took half of the morning or afternoon depending on when I started. I still vividly remember the day when the cable guy came and installed the AT&T Broadband service. It was so fast compared to dialup that I was amazed at the difference in speed. If I lived in BF Egypt I would either go with a cellular plan on 1XRTT or satellite if it was available. Anything is better than AOL!!
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Wireless services aren't available in most areas out there. Satellite is just a joke.

If I still lived out in the middle of nowhere and wanted faster internet i'd just pay the money for ISDN. Fast enough and lowers latency enough to allow one to play modern games online without much issue.
 
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