As a result AOL’s recent announcement, AOL subscribers have a great opportunity
to find cheaper service elsewhere and still keep their AOL E-Mail address.
Although AOL plans to make AOL Mail ad-supported, this is a boon to other ISP’s.
Most ISP’s are offering internet service for a FRACTION of what AOL subscribers
are paying now. In fact, you easily find dialup internet service today for HALF
of what AOL charges. So, why stay with AOL?!?
AOL E-Mail Accounts, Software to Be Free
NEW YORK (AP) -- AOL just gave its customers more reasons to stop paying. In a
strategy shift likely to accelerate the decline in its core Internet access
business, AOL said Wednesday it would give away e-mail accounts and software
previously available only to customers who paid as much as $26 a month.
AOL hopes to chase additional online advertising dollars instead. Encouraged by
such trends as its 40 percent jump in ad revenue in the second quarter, AOL
figures that by making services free, it can prevent users from defecting to
Yahoo Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., which have offered free, ad-supported
e-mail for years. Read the full story…
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http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060802/aol_s_crumbling_walls.html?.v=9]
As AOL subscribers begin to see more ad’s throughout AOL Mail, they’ll begin to
understand how AOL believes they can give these services away. Visiting the AOL
Mail page you’ll be introduced to the basic pitch for AOL’s product, and how it
is free.
• Industry-leading spam and virus protection
• Flexibility to work with Microsoft Outlook® and other e-mail clients that are
IMAP compliant
• Access to the Buddy List® feature, AOL® Address Book, and other free content
from AOL
With AOL Mail these options do come free, however they are no more than industry
standard. Problem is AOL Mail will now more than likely come with an even less
impressive customer service – now that it’s free. AOL lost 976,000 U.S.
subscribers in the past quarter alone. As of June 30, AOL had 17.7 million
subscribers, a 34 percent drop from its peak in September 2002. Why? Because
those people who cancelled their AOL account, are now paying less for internet
service than most of you paid for lunch…while keeping most of the same services!
If you’re switching from AOL, to another Internet service, you can still use
your AOL Mail address. But, here is a checklist of E-Mail features to look for
when subscribing to your new service:
• Extra email addresses
• Email storage space - How much space does your inbox have before incoming email is rejected?
• Use of IMAP email servers
• Email Virus Protection
• Spam Filtering
• Webmail - access to your email address over the Internet
• Size of attachments allowed
