|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Be a Commerce Partner |
Top 10 U.S. Dialup ISPs
by Paid Subscriber
How will the close of NetZero's merger with Juno Online impact our Top U.S. ISP Ranking? Let's take a look at the numbers from our Q1 2001 data and see whether this deal lands United Online at the bottom or top of the heap.
Managing Editor ISP-Planet [June 11, 2001] |
 |
First, we'll need to hone down our regular Top 20 U.S. ISP Rank by eliminating cable modem and free ISP services. That way, we'll be analyzing narrowband subscriber counts, for the most part. From there, we're only going to count paying subscribers for Juno and NetZero.
This means some of the other ISPs subscriber bases may be bloated with non-paying users currently counted as subscribers. For example, MSN users that subscribed under its 1-year rebated access plan are counted, even though they may not actually pay for the service at this time. This is not a perfect science by any means, but we have to start somewhere, don't we?
|
Rank
|
Dialup
ISP
|
Subscribers
(Dialup millions) |
Date
& Source
|
|
1
|
AOL
Time Warner |
22.7*
|
[Apr.
19, 2001]
AOL TW Reports Strong Growth |
|
2
|
MSN
|
5.0
|
[Apr.
16, 2001]
MSN Shifts Gears, Tops 5M Users |
|
3
|
EarthLink
|
4.8
|
[Apr.
27, 2001]
EarthLink Reports Broadband Boost |
|
4
|
Prodigy (Plus SBC Narrowband) |
3.1
|
[Apr.
2001]
Corporate Press Release |
|
5
|
CompuServe |
3.0
|
[Apr.
19, 2001]
AOL TW Reports Strong Growth |
|
6
|
Gateway.net (AOL Alliance) |
1.7
|
[May
5, 2001]
Corporate
Communications Dept. No New Data
|
|
7
|
AT&T WorldNet |
1.3 |
[May
5, 2001]
Corporate
Communications Dept.: No New Data
|
|
8
|
NetZero+Juno Online |
1.0
(24.5 M±) |
[June
8, 2001]
NetZero, Juno to Merge |
|
9
|
BellSouth |
.655
|
[May
5, 2001]
Corporate
Communications Dept.
|
|
10
|
Verizon |
.525
|
[May 9, 2001] Corporate Communications Dept.: Q1 New Data |
|
|
In
all fairness to NetZero and Juno, let's take a look at the stats,
both in terms of fee-based users and active users. If we look at
active user data gathered during the first quarter of this year
(left), then NetZero and Juno Online combined would be the
second largest dialup ISP in the U.S., when the merger is completed
and the two become United Online. In terms of the number of individuals
that have signed up to use these free-fee hybrids, some 24.5 million
Americans know who NetZero or Juno Online are and what they provide.
Unfortunately, nobody really knows who United Online will be or
what it is capable of becoming. |
|
In
equal fairness to all other dialup ISPs providing fee-based services
in the U.S., we need to rank NetZero+Juno by paying subscribers
(right). As you can see, the soon-to-be United Online now
ranks as the eighth largest dialup ISP in the U.S., which means
the combined fee-paying users of NetZero and Juno Online is enough
to move them past Bell South and Verizon, but not ahead of AT&T
WorldNet services. When last reported NetZero claimed some 116,000
paying subscribers and Juno Online claimed 920,000 paying users.
In order to catch up with market leader America Online, United Online
would have to achieve an transition rate of 92 percent—moving
millions of free clients to fee-based programs. |
Now, we'll just have to wait and see what United Online does with the ability to reach out and activate more than 25 million users. Considering the fact that NetZero and Juno embrace advertisers like no other ISPs, all they have to do now is build an enticing portal to increase web traffic. |
Of course, United Online would only have to convert 14 free users
to paying clients out of every 100 members in order to catch up
with MSN and |
*
|
AOL Time Warner U.S. Subscriber figures reflect the ISP's reported worldwide customer counts, less international subscribers, less Compuserve subscribers, and less Gateway.net subscribers. |
|
±
|
Juno Online and NetZero now report fee-based users. |
|
²
|
U.S. Online population total and market share figures based on information from CyberAtlas Dialup US Online Population Total: 68,481,217 |
—End
| Other Resources: | |
| Subscriber Value by Category | |
| Subscriber Ranking by Country | |
ISP-Planet's
RSS feed
