They’ve been running ads out here, promoting huge savings by switching from your expensive cable Internet to cheap, reliable dial-up!
WTF?
Is this a viable sales pitch?
It can be depending on A) How much cable and/or DSL-based internet is in the areas where the ads are being viewed (and for that matter, if they’re available at all), B) If the viewer has no particularly demanding need for the internet and has the patience for a slow connection (i.e. using it only for E-Mail and light surfing), C) Just how cheap NetZero is compared to their high speed counterparts in the areas where the ads are being shown, and D) The household income of the viewers who may not be able to afford anything expensive.
I suspect that one of the reasons NetZero is pushing such ads now is because they want to take advantage of the economic downturn to boost their subscribers by appealing to those looking to save as much as they can without having to give up the internet.
Maybe the ads are different where you are, but all of the NetZero ads I’ve seen are not targeted at cable/DSL users, but at current dial-up users who are paying too much (like AOL subscribers).
Next time you see one of the ads, pay closer attention and see if this is not the case.
Oh, no - that’s why I noticed them. Their whole sales pitch is SAVE $300 PER YEAR OVER CABLE! They even say how much the WHOLE COUNTRY would save if they switched. It just makes me laugh.
Well, a horse and buggy WOULD be cheaper than your car.
Switched from cable down to NetZero, or switched from more expensive dialup to NetZero instead of upgrading to cable?
I’ve not seen this “downgrade your experience to save money” angle to the NetZero ads I’ve encountered but I admittedly pay as little attention to NetZero ads as I can, since I’ve got very reliable, friendly, 99.6% uptime (over the last 6 years) DSL that I have no intention of getting rid of, especially not for dialup. (Though I’ll take FiOS any time now, Verizon!)
Yes.
I’ve had an internet connection for years, but only last month switched to DSL (and that only because I’m doing more and more work from home and need to be able to download large files).
Many people pay way to much for way to much service that they don’t need. If you’re a B-type user as mentioned by Mindfield above, NetZero is perfectly fine. It’s a reasonable cut-back for a non-essential (for most people, anyway).
I’ve seen the ads too, in St. Louis, trying to convince DSL subscribers to save money by switching to dial-up. I wish I could remember all the reasons they listed (besides cost) to try to convince me that dial-up was as good or better than cable (“don’t have to deal with the cable company!” perhaps) or DSL, but I remember thinking the exact same thing as the OP. Sure, I guess if I needed to save 15 bucks a month I could go from 5Mbps back to 56kpbs. I’m sure there’s a specific group they’re targeting, but it’s not me or anyone I know.
I’d have to spend extra money for a landline that I don’t have which would presumably wipe out any savings I got from having incredibly slow useless except in emergencies internet. Nope. I’m sticking with cable. Some things are worth paying for; I’ve got the dirt-cheap that they don’t even advertise service that a former roommate clued me into anyway.
Ditto. My cable internet actually costs less than getting a landline would, and then on top of that, you must add the cost of the NetZero dial-up, so I would be paying more for use of a landline and dial-up than I pay for cable internet. No thanks.
So, I’m the only super-cheapo in the thread, then.
For years I wasn’t willing to spend an additional thirty bucks a month just to have high speed just to read email, surf the Dope, and check my bank balance.
(I don’t have a cell phone, either. And I’m not spending fifty bucks a month just to have one!)
I still choke when my bill comes in. $29.99 a month plus taxes and fees!!! In three months… that’s… that’s… a new pair of boots!
Oh, I can understand not being willing to spend the money on high-speed Internet.
What I can’t see is many people who have high-speed being willing to go back to dial-up just to save $15 a month.
Although I think the target market is still going to have a landline. For me the big advantage of broadband is not the speed (although that’s also nice) but the always on aspect of it. I can’t imagine returning to having to listen to the screech of modems.
Understandable, but with all the taxes and fees, even the cheapest service I found it’d be more like a $30.00 savings. That’s car insurance, or a week’s lunch groceries. I admit, it’s nice being on high speed. Things do go faster. I can be online and get phone calls at the same time. But if my economic situation changed, high speed would be the first thing to go.
But they can pry my cable from my cold, dead hands.
You pay $30 for car insurance? Can I have the name of your carrier please? 
Geico, babee! (40-year-old single woman here. Haven’t had an accident or ticket in 15 years. Drive a brand new garaged Civic with a security system and ABS in a pretty safe part of a pretty safe town.)
Yeah, it’s good to be a middle-aged fuddy duddy. BTW, can anyone get me Nine Inch Nails tickets???
The cable companies and DSL in my area are very slick.
They offer “high speed” for the “cheap” rate of $15/month. But this highspeed is only about twice as fast as dial-up.
You still can’t watch YouTube or even read blogs with it. It’s pretty worthless. The next tier is $25.00/month and it still results in choppy YouTubes.
So you have to spend at least $33.00/month to get the “high speed” that will allow you to watch a YouTube video.
The packages with phone/cable/Internet almost always have these “slow” high speeds.
I use dial up at home and because I don’t download, it’s OK for everything except watching YouTube or a blog that’s full of pictures like PerezHilton
That’s how they sucker you in. They get you in on the cheap and then creep up the rates tier by tier.
I’ve been seeing these ads here in the Philadelphia area. You’re correct that they are aimed at current broadband customers.
Of course, Net Zero (or at least their subsidiary Juno) has no free tech support except online. If their downloaded proprietary dialup software glitches, your only choice to get it working again is to pay an incompetent tech. $1.95 a minute by credit card to give you advice like deleting and reinstalling your operating system. (You could get this for free from them online – if the problem was not that you can’t get online. Prepaid credit cards won’t work either – even though they’d be glad to take your monthly payment with 'em.)
We found the perfect solution to our problems with NetZero – switch to another ISP. We’re convinced that it’s short for “InterNet Access: Zero.”
It’s slightly less painful than thoracic intubation, about on a par with having a sensitive appendage hit repeatedly with a blunt instrument. The interface also is carefully designed to be counterintuitive.
Have I successfully conveyed my level of recommendation for this business yet?
If you just got laid off and you are trying to stretch unemployment as far as it will go, you might decide that always on high speed internet is a luxury.
With unemployment in the U.S. climbing, reminding people that there is a lower cost alternative for their internet connectivity is probably a smart strategy.