I’ve seen this story come up a couple of times now, but a little less than a month ago, Gizmodo’s Dan Nosowitz wrote a story about how NetZero (and presumably its other dial-up Internet competitors) do see bumps in their business when times are tough for people, economically, but as far as marketing to the “mainstream” Internet user, I just don’t see it.
I know enough people who live in rural parts of the country where dial-up or satellite Internet are their only options, and I’m sure that kicking down your satellite access to a ~$10/month fee if you’re in a situation is probably not the end of the world, but beyond that, if you’re “used to” paying somewhere between the $29.95 and $50/month for your Internet service right now, I honestly believe that, in 2009, the high-speed Internet is NOT the #1 thing to be shut off. I’ll gladly check the stats, but even the most long-hauling dial-up customers I know who’ve gone broadband in the last few years are so locked-in nowadays, that they see why I used to complain my head off when trying to look something up for them at their houses.
If this were happening on the reg, it would be a GREAT example of how people don’t value their own time. While I’m not going to attempt calling the Internet / Web access a “utility” in the traditional sense – you know, the things you end up paying on those two “Monopoly” spots on the board – the utility that one gets for high speed Internet vs. dial-up is ridiculous. For one thing, and I don’t give a damn HOW FAST the “speed up” software that’s being offered is, the Internet IS NOT BUILT ANYMORE for dial-up speeds. Check the Web-geography, Rand McNally. Prolly somewhere around the time that broadband penetration reached a certain peak, and that broadband speed got to a certain level, more and more sites just flat out went big. Files are bigger, streaming’s better, and so on. Amusingly, the use of Flash for intros et al actually feels like it’s decreased since then, even though it’s actually *faster* to use now than when I remember the “booming” Flash intro business like 8-9 years ago on the Internet. While that’s gone away, Flash and other technologies have become the meat and potatoes powering your Web experience. Speed up your images, sure, that helps, but it is by no means the same experience.
Don’t people value their time? Seriously. It’s like not getting to fly a different airline that has a direct flight somewhere because said flight is $27 higher than the connection, but the connection has a two-hour layover, and you bill out at $300/hour for your company.
Now let’s take a step back. I’m not at all advocating that the dial-up business doesn’t have its place, that its marketing message will fall completely on deaf ears, and that they haven’t gained business of late. But I’d be curious as to how many people CHOSE to step back their access rather than having only been able to sign up for it after having a home foreclosed on, or been forced to move, or something else of the catastropic nature, etc. Let’s factor those people OUT of the equation for a minute, and then let’s talk about it. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but I just don’t see it. The Internet has become so valuable to our daily lives, in the same way that most people I know can’t live anymore without their cellphones. These are the same people that, 10 years ago, would just meet you by the Burger King in the mall food court, but now call you six times between their car and said food court, just because they don’t see you right away. Does that make it right? Hell no. But this feels like more of “smart” marketing (read: opportunistic – and smart on their part, and I’d do the same) rather than reality.