One Big Change in the Free ISP World: AOL vs (Juno + Netzero)
Jun 08 '01
The Bottom Line Will purely free ISPs survive? In the past few days, there was major news. Here is the advice from ISP community.
Last night, I was watching the NBA final on TV, and was very surprised that Netzero, a free ISP company, was sponsoring the show. (By the way, the game with Phil and Lakers ended in favor of Phil, as you may know.) The sponsoring fee should not be cheap. Netzero must have spend A LOT of money for advertising their "new" service called Netzero Platinum.
In the year of 2000, before the US stock price crashed, many dot-com companies sponsored big sports events, and showed the potentials for the survival to their investors. Thus I thought something should have been happening to Netzero or the free ISP industry. My guess was right. Today, 06/07/01, I received a newsletter from Netzero which announces that Netzero and Juno decided to go through the strategic merger. (Note: Juno is no longer offering free ISP service.)
Let me copy their newsletter here.
--------------from here--------------
From: Mark Goldston (announcement@netzero.net)
Subject: NetZero Announcement
Date: Thu Jun 07 16:05:00 PDT 2001
Dear NetZero Users,
Earlier today, it was announced that NetZero and Juno Online Services have agreed to a strategic merger. Together we will form a new company, United Online, Inc. This exciting merger will bring together the two clear leaders in the free and value priced Internet access markets to form the second largest Internet access provider in the United States.
While the merger will take a few months to close, be assured that you will continue to receive top quality Internet access from NetZero and your email address will not change. In the future, United Online will unveil new products and services that will further enhance your online experience.
It is important to note that both services, NetZero and Juno, will continue going forward and we will strive to create the best possible Internet access experience for each and every one of you. As a bigger, stronger company with significant resources in capital, technology and people, the new United Online, Inc. will be one of the premier ISP organizations in the world.
We thank you for your continued support and look forward to a very exciting future under the United Online umbrella!
Sincerely,
Mark R. Goldston
Chairman and CEO of NetZero, Inc.
--------------until here--------------
Note: The top free ISP is AOL, though it is not always considered so. The reason is that AOL offers free hours in the first certain days.
Are free ISPs going to die?
Obviously, the strategic merger of Netzero and Juno doesn't imply they have been doing very well in the last several months. Netzero's current focus, as a stand-alone company, is NetZero Platinum which is featured with free, banner free unlimited fast internet access at less than the half price of AOL's paid subscription.
Most of major ISPs decided not to offer completely free internet access service during the last couple of years, because their own analysis showed free ISP service is not enough beneficial for them. Moreover, as a matter of fact, most of ISPs raised their subscription fees.
Initially, free ISPs reacted very carefully, and kept sticking to their business model. In other words, they believed the revenues from banner advertisement would be enough. However, as the newsletter implies, their business model is not strong enough for the survival game in the ISP industry.
Now, the question is about the future of the free ISPs. My instant guess on their future is in favor of their survival. We will be able to keep using free ISPs, as long as the internet is considered to be the good place for marketing/advertisement. However, I am not very sure if we will be able to enjoy the free internet access service that is better than or equivalent to the current one.
As I mentioned above, Netzero's struggles must be very serious. They might be even desperate. Almost all the dot-com companies are now struggling from the reduced advertisement revenues. If the US economy will not bounce back to the boom within a short period, the services by free ISPs will be drastically downgraded.
some advice
My advice for those who are selecting ISPs is the following:
Free ISPs are good. But make sure you don't rely 100% on them. Considering the internet access providers are always available, make sure that your main email account (which you publish to your friends) is not the one at free ISPs.
Usually, ISPs support email forwarding service and POP3 access from outside. If you are extremely eager to save internet access service subscription fees, subscribe extremely cheap one with limited access hours, and publish your email address supplied to your paid account.
In this way, you can always check emails and cruise the internet via free ISPs. Moreover, you can keep the decent quality email account service with one fixed email account, as long as you keep paying. On the top of these, since you don't connect the internet through the paid account, you can save some money.
free ISPs
Before wrapping up this article, let me introduce some free ISPs so that you can save some time (and some money, hopefully) in finding your ISP.
Notice that some of them are not completely free. They offer free service for the first certain period.
GoingPlatinum.com
http://www.goingplatinum.com/
With no banners or ad-bars. Every time you get on the Internet you generate income for the ISP. They will pay you for using their free ISP services and for referring others. You can join for free or pay a small fee to earn money faster.
AOL
http://www.aol.com/
1000 free hours to be used in your first 45 days. To avoid being charged the monthly fee, cancel your membership before trial period ends.
address.com
http://address.com/
No need to click on banners to maintain your connection with this free ISP. USA only.
bluelight.com
http://www.bluelight.com/
Only the first month is free. If you shop through bluelight.com, you can earn more free hours.
Netzero
http://netzero.com/
Free direct access to anywhere on the Internet for a full 40 hours each month. You need to click banner ads to stay online.
DIRECTV DSL
http://www.directvdsl.com/
This is a high-speed DSL service provider. 1-800 number access is available when you are on travel, Only the first month is free. If you decide to keep it, the monthly fee is $49.95. Formerly known as Telocity.com.
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