In an age where the average US broadband speed is 11.4 Mbps, some 2.1 million people in the country are still using the decades old AOL dial-up to connect to the Internet.
AOL reported the mind puzzling number in its quarterly earnings last week. About 70 per cent of Americans use broadband that is 200 times faster than AOL's dial-up. However, it seems AOL loyalists prefer to experience the Web like it is 1995. Even smartphones are more than a hundred times faster than AOL's meager 56 Kbps speed, or the lack of it.
A 56 Kbps modem connection means the pictures download top-to-bottom, just extremely slow. Given the present day bombardment of ads, software add-ons, GIFs, auto-play video content, and more interactive sites, it is indeed surprising to see AOL having such a fan following.
Despite the turtle-pace, AOL customers are still paying $20/month on an average for the service, CNN Money reports. The service says that its 2.1 million dial-up customers include some subscribers who are paying reduced monthly fees, and some on free trials.
The mind boggling figure of more than two million subscribers to the slow Internet dial-up connection makes us wonder who the epitome of patience are. A 2009 Pew Research Centre study notes that about 32 per cent of dial-up users couldn't afford to upgrade, while most of the rest believe broadband either wasn't available or they just didn't care to change.
AOL counted 4.6 million dial-up users in 2010, and only 500,000 people or so leave every year. This could mean all the brouhaha about bringing everyone on the Internet, connecting each individual through balloons, developing Internet-based cellular networks is pointless and AOL will continue to thrive for another half-a-decade.
AOL reported the mind puzzling number in its quarterly earnings last week. About 70 per cent of Americans use broadband that is 200 times faster than AOL's dial-up. However, it seems AOL loyalists prefer to experience the Web like it is 1995. Even smartphones are more than a hundred times faster than AOL's meager 56 Kbps speed, or the lack of it.
A 56 Kbps modem connection means the pictures download top-to-bottom, just extremely slow. Given the present day bombardment of ads, software add-ons, GIFs, auto-play video content, and more interactive sites, it is indeed surprising to see AOL having such a fan following.
Despite the turtle-pace, AOL customers are still paying $20/month on an average for the service, CNN Money reports. The service says that its 2.1 million dial-up customers include some subscribers who are paying reduced monthly fees, and some on free trials.
The mind boggling figure of more than two million subscribers to the slow Internet dial-up connection makes us wonder who the epitome of patience are. A 2009 Pew Research Centre study notes that about 32 per cent of dial-up users couldn't afford to upgrade, while most of the rest believe broadband either wasn't available or they just didn't care to change.
AOL counted 4.6 million dial-up users in 2010, and only 500,000 people or so leave every year. This could mean all the brouhaha about bringing everyone on the Internet, connecting each individual through balloons, developing Internet-based cellular networks is pointless and AOL will continue to thrive for another half-a-decade.
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