You may already be aware of this but the "self install" promotion has been promoted for a number of months by Cox@HOME here in San Diego. When I moved, recently, I took advantage of their offer.
However, I'm not so sure the average Joe wants to take their box apart to install an ethernet card... and their software installation is not bullet-proof either.
There is also a matter of installing a network and getting additional IPs if you want to hook up additional computers in the household. There is limited to no assistance available from @HOME, either on their site or by phone, for this and you are told that @HOME does not support home network installation except to provide the additional IPs.
AOL's AOL Plus service offers additional capabilities and features, but they have the same problems with installation when a customer switches to broadband.
Modems come installed on ALL new computers today, but increasingly, this will be less important, even for fax capability.
AOL is losing market share slowly to other broadband services and the free dial-up services offered by Yahoo, Excite, Netscape (owned by AOL) and a host of others.
AOL is ubiquitous today but the future was never less clear for AOL, and content is the key to their continued success.
@Home has lost it's luster for most investors for a host of reasons, not the least of which is the perception that @Home is being managed by a committee that can't agree upon much of anything, and T, a minority shareholder with majority voting rights, appears to jerk the co and shareholders around with no clear perceived direction.
Management has to come back to the investment community with a CLEAR message about the company's direction does and how it plans to get from here to there.
For me and other shrewd investors, this creates a buying opportunity--the opportunity to purchase a co "on the cheap" which has a great franchise long into the future. The market will recognize @Home's true value, soon. And I'll get paid off many fold.
As always, Back-up the Truck!
--Dave |
