AOL Falls to Third Largest ISP

By the Betanews Staff | Published May 3, 2007, 2:12 PM

In yet another sign of the ubiquity of broadband, AOL said yesterday it now counts only 12 million subscribers - a far cry from the company's peak of 26.7 million in 2002. AOL is now only the third largest ISP, behind both AT&T with 12.1 million subscribers and Comcast with 12.9 million.

AOL has ceased marketing its dial-up and high-speed Internet services, instead focusing on its advertising-based Web business. The company says 8 million users have signed up to the free offerings, although nearly half are former AOL ISP customers. Still, the company remains upbeat about its progress, saying users are now spending more time on AOL Web properties, meaning advertising revenues should increase.

Comments

Whats more surprising, is that 12 million people still use this garbage. Move on people, allot better isp's out there.

Score: 0

|

Third-biggest is still far too much, but it's already good to see that less clueless Aol users are plaguing the internet now.

Score: 0

|

Correction: AT&T is 1st with 12.9M and Comcast is second with 12.1M.

Score: 0

|

Who in their right mind would want to use AOL? AOL's Open Ride software constantly uses 50-55 percent CPU usage under both Windows XP SP 2 and Windows Vista Home Premium on my laptop which has an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.66 GHz CPU, 2GB DDR2 Dual Channel memory, and ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 PCI-e graphics w/128MB dedicated memory.

Score: 0

|

I thought aol went free for byoa, then dropped to 9.95 for unlimited dial up? No more 25.90 per month for unlimited dail up? So with that in mind technically they should be doing better. I mean the sad thing is I still see netzero advertising pretty heavily on tv. I have no idea how these smaller dail up providers are still around. Also im confused why these 10's of millions of people are still with aol or dial up.

Also this article said 8 million free people signed up? Is this included in that 12 million figure? I would hope not because that sure wouldn't make sense, but if it wasn't then what? They don't count then techincally, I mean they are still gaining ad revenue from them.

Score: 0

|

AOL Broadband. Oh wait, we don't own any cable lines.

Score: 0

|

wow AOL is still an isp?

Score: 0

|

AO who?

Score: 0

|

Third? That high?

Score: 0

|

I still see a bunch of little old ladies that think that broadband access is still too expensive. The fact that they still have millions of members is really a testament of how naive some people are about the alternatives. Most urban areas you can get cheap DSL for less the AOL dialup and the rural areas are better served by regional ISPs.

Score: 0

|

Last Year Ratings; They sure dropped quick.
Tim S
http://www.isp-planet.co...earch/rankings/usa.html

Score: 0

|

That sure puts those numbers in perspective. I can't say that I am surprised though given that ATT and Verizon seem to be heavily promoting their DSL offerings with promotions giving away free modems and a discounted rates for a few months. You would have to be a hermit to be unaware that AOL dialup is a ripoff.

Score: 0

|

Funny thing is that Comcast may be "ok" but AT&T is crap. I'm surprised that Time Warner Cable is not in the top 3.

Score: 0

|

they probably will be ...
support is awesome ... (contrary to that of AOL)

Score: 0

|

Nokia: Android? Are you crazy?

Rumors about new Android devices abound, but Nokia squashes this one.

What's Now: Drenched with 'Purple Ra1n,' iPhone users caught eating 'redsn0w'

Plus: Symantec and McAfee go to war, and what's LucasArts building in its top-secret, moon-shaped orbital facility?

Can Linux do BitLocker better than Windows 7?

Betanews kicks off a new series with a look at how the Linux operating system's FDE stacks up against BitLocker, the Windows feature that today commands a $120 premium.

Firefox 3.5: The need for speed

This has been the big payoff week for Mozilla's developers, who worked overtime to squeeze out the last drop of performance from their new JavaScript engine.

'GeoHot' gets a shower, cleans up nice, reveals new iPhone 3G S jailbreak

Either puberty has been very kind to the author of the new 'Purple Ra1n' jailbreak tool, or George Hotz may also have some adequate Photoshop skills.

Symantec goes live with Norton 2010 betas

Norton Internet Security and Norton Antivirus 2010 are now available for testing.

IE8 WSUS update push to begin August 25

After months of availability to users willing to seek it out, Internet Explorer 8 will be rolled into Windows Server...

In New York, online booze loses a Circuit Court decision

Court worried about gangster influence if liquor purchased directly.

Geeks vs. journalists: A tale of two worldviews

Recovery with Angela Gunn Why geeks think most mainstream journalism is flaky, and why the mainstream thinks geeks are trying to kill them. (They're both right.)

Fire in downtown Seattle data center knocks out businesses, online services

Small fire has global impact with payment centers, city services down.

What's Next: Obama gives 'Einstein' the go-ahead, while China gives 'Green Dam' a thumbs-down

Plus: If you put up a Web site and name it after you and you're a federal judge, you might not want a bunch of weird nudity hanging around on it.

Hybrid satellite cell phones aren't far off

The first satellite in Terrestar's hybrid cellular/satellite phone network has been launched.

VirtualDub 1.9.3 Experimental

July 6 - 1:28 PM ET

CDBurnerXP Pro 4.2.4.1420

July 6 - 1:07 PM ET

AbiWord for Windows 2.7.6 Beta

July 6 - 12:46 PM ET

Notepad++ 5.4.4

July 6 - 12:25 PM ET

KeePass Password Safe (v2.x) 2.0.8

July 6 - 12:04 PM ET

ReactOS 0.3.10

July 6 - 11:43 AM ET

Tux Paint for Windows 0.9.21

July 6 - 11:22 AM ET