This article first appeared on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=37
The death spiral for AOL’s dialup business hit a new low this week, as the company announced it would distribute its access software free of charge in the United States.
AOL will also offer some content and services for free, including e-mail. Some of these services will include advertising, following the model that Yahoo and Google have employed.
The company announced massive layoffs in its operations, primarily in call centers. These layoffs will help compensate for the lost subscriber revenue.
The dialup access business has been in decline for years in the U.S., as residential customers choose faster “always-on” connections like cable modems and DSL. In Hawaii, Time Warner Cable is the dominant provider.
Clearwire has entered the Honolulu market with a wireless broadband service that uses cellular phone signals to provide broadband. This service does not require a fixed-wire installation, and it may be attractive to users who change their residence frequently, such as students.
