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AOL to Aggressively Dump Dialup Customers?

7:30 am on July 11, 2006 | Category: Business, Email, Internet, Web Services

As TeleClick first reported last week, AOL is considering a plan to do away with some or all of its subscription-based services, and downsize to become a primarily ad-supported entity.

It is no secret that AOL is doing its best to dump its massive user base of dialup internet subscribers, preferably moving them to its own broadband service, but new details suggest that the ISP giant is perfectly happy to move its customers to any provider.

Sources say that AOL is mulling plans to integrated advertising with its own broadband internet offering, and make it a free service, with no monthly subscription fees. This would allow the company to lay off many of its employees and simplify its business model.

All of the companyâ€™s web services, including content, email, and virus protection would also be offered for free, even to customers who chose to leave AOL for another Internet Service Provider.

This shows that Americaâ€™s biggest ISP really is serious about scrapping its main source of revenue in favor of a completely different business model.

Giving customers the freedom to move to another provider but keep their existing â€˜@aol.comâ€™ email addresses, is designed to keep them â€œin the family,â€ and ensure that they continue visiting the AOL web portal. This would stop the decline in AOL dialup subscribers from damaging the companyâ€™s web presence, and thus its advertising revenues.

â€œNo final decisions have been made, but we are looking at how best to accelerate our growth in online advertising,â€ confirmed an anonymous source from within the company.

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