Time Warner exceeds profit expectations

As a subscriber to Time Warner I have an interest in articles related to the company, and this one reports that the company is showing great profits. This doesn't surprise me, since I've actually seen my bill increase a few cents since the beginning of 2007. The company also acquired new areas, which probably means a reduction in service for their existing customers. The 20,000 subscribers who canceled probably agree.

So far I haven't had many complaints with Time Warner. Their service is fairly reliable, although their installation teams are lousy. They have poor management in that department and overwork their field techs. It took 2 weeks to get my Internet hooked up, and all they had to do was turn it on! The house was already wired. Plus they promised an installation credit for my troubles, you can imagine where that went. It's amazing how even with their fancy computer systems and detailed comments lists on all their customers, any time they offer you a credit any record of the conversation vanishes into a black hole. But then I don't have much faith in utility company service to begin with.

An interesting bit from the article:

AOL announced in October that it would stop charging broadband customers fees for e-mail and other services in order to try and cash in on the growth in online advertising that has boosted the fortunes of companies like Internet search leader Google

October 2006? They should have killed those fees back in 2004 or 2005. AOL became irrelevant after broadband and DSL went mainstream. DSL cost less than AOL's basic unlimited dialup at one point. I think AOL is going to become a sagging liability for TW. It offers nothing and has the reputation of being the "Internet for Idiots". Plus they made just about everyone hate them by being complete jerks to anyone who wanted to cancel (including me when I canceled). AOL already has too much advertising. Back in 2001 when I was a member, every single AOL window had at least 2-3 ads. It's too late for AOL, just sell it off and work on improving your service and lines. Do we really need another Yahoo portal clone?

Some may think AOL is good for Time Warner, but I disagree. AOL's a dinosaur and TW already has its RoadRunner portal. Either drop Roadrunner and adopt AOL as your main portal or just kill of AOL for good. No one will miss it.