By Leslie Walker
Thursday, March 2, 2006
With apologies to Paul Simon, I have a few thoughts after reading the gazillion e-mails America Online subscribers sent me last week about moving from dial-up to broadband:
There must be 50 ways to leave your AOL.
You just slip into cable, Mable.
Buy a DSL plan, Fran.
You don't need to delay, Fay.
Just move to broadband.
Hook up Wi-Fi, Di.
You don't need to wonder why.
Just drop your e-mail, Gail.
And get out of jail.
America Online, like a lover fearful of getting dumped for a younger, stronger Internet provider, has been wooing its roughly 14 million dial-up subscribers with ads for "AOL High Speed." Effective March 9, the company is boosting its monthly fee for unlimited dial-up access by $2, to $25.90, the same price as the new high-speed plans AOL is co-marketing with cable and phone companies.
I wrote about AOL's broadband strategy last week and invited AOL members to send their thoughts about whether they think it's worth paying extra for AOL's software once they get a fast Internet connection.
Many wrote that they are confused by AOL's broadband options, unsure how to sign up, angry that their longtime Internet provider is hiking dial-up fees and looking for advice on how to migrate their AOL e-mail to a new address.
Washington area residents in particular complained that AOL's $25.90 broadband bundles are unavailable throughout much of the region, where Comcast is not one of AOL's high-speed partners and Verizon's DSL coverage is still incomplete.
A few Maryland residents said they had ordered the Verizon "AOL High Speed" and had installation appointments made, only to be told when their date arrived that Verizon had "run out of DSL connections." A Verizon spokeswoman confirmed that local DSL demand outstripped supply about a month ago, creating an equipment shortage. That shortage affected a minority of customers and is on the verge of being fixed, Verizon spokeswoman Bobbi Henson said.
The two reasons readers cited most for keeping AOL after switching to broadband were retaining an e-mail address and enjoying the portability of dial-up. Unlike most broadband connections, which are hard-wired to a home or office, AOL's large dial-up network makes it easy to get online from almost anywhere with phone access.
For most AOL subscribers, though, the e-mail address is key. Many wrote to say they'd have little use for AOL if their e-mail identities weren't established there. A few were embarrassed to admit that they had already switched to broadband and kept paying full price to AOL because they didn't know it sells cheaper plans.
And hardly anyone -- including myself -- seemed to know they could continue reading their AOL mail for free, even if they quit AOL and never paid the company another dime. A reader tipped me to this nifty feature.
It dates to last summer when AOL started offering free Web e-mail accounts with Aim.com addresses to users of its instant messenger software. It implemented a feature whereby messages sent to, say, Leslie!@aol.com can be automatically forwarded to Leslie!@aim.com. People can continue reading those messages even if they no longer subscribe to AOL. All they have to do is activate an AIM Web mail account before leaving.
"AOL members will be able to retrieve their e-mail by just continuing to use the AOL Mail button on aol.com and signing in with their regular screen name and password," AOL spokeswoman Anne Bentley explained.
Who knew? AOL doesn't exactly tout that feature, which theoretically makes it easier for people to leave.
Nor does AOL talk much about its cheapest access plan, which costs $4.95 a month but is going up to $6.95 on March 9. AOL didn't mention that 40 percent price hike when I called last week to ask about dial-up price increases. After several readers alerted me, Bentley confirmed it. The cheapie plan provides three hours of dial-up a month and unlimited e-mail usage, though only through the Web mail interface at AOL.com.
AOL has another plan it calls "bring your own access" used by many members who switched to broadband. For $14.95 a month, it provides unlimited e-mail usage and access to AOL content, along with 10 hours of dial-up access. While that plan's price is not changing, some members should be able to negotiate a discount by calling AOL customer service.
Why would AOL haggle? Because its new broadband packages aren't universally available and have thrown a monkey wrench into pricing. You have to realize that those $25.90 broadband plans have two components -- a $14.95 charge by the access provider and $10.95 to AOL.
It would be nice if all AOL members had access to the AOL broadband plans, but they don't. In some areas, broadband isn't available; in others, it's available from only carriers that do not have deals with AOL. The result makes AOL's high-speed pricing vary depending on where users live.
AOL is reacting by selectively lowering prices for customers who buy broadband from other companies and then call to discuss how to keep AOL. Several readers who had purchased broadband on their own told me they persuaded AOL to reduce their bring-your-own-access price to $10.95 a month, the same as if they had bought an AOL High Speed plan.
Bentley said that $10.95 price is available to people who buy broadband from Comcast or Cox, but she couldn't specify under what other conditions members might get the break. "We will work with our members to make sure that they have a good value on the AOL side in terms of price," she said.
Some of AOL's negotiations seem arbitrary.
Mike Martucci of Herndon, for example, wrote that when he called to inquire about canceling AOL and picking up his mail using AIM Web mail, the firm waived his $2 price increase. "They immediately said they would keep my monthly rate at $4.95 because they didn't want to lose me as a customer."
Others told me AOL waived their $2 increase for unlimited dial-up after they complained that AOL broadband wasn't available in their area.
What they may not have realized is that AOL will go lower. It will actually decrease the price for unlimited dial-up to $18 a month for customers who commit for a full year.
Confused yet? I wish I could simplify things, but my advice to AOL members trying to identify their high-speed options is to start by entering their Zip code at this address -- http://www.aol.com/highspeed . AOL will show a list of available broadband partners and prices.
Just remember, nothing's etched in silicon, and there are at least 50 ways to leave your AOL.
Leslie Walker welcomes e-mail atwalkerl@washpost.com.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.