October 8, 2001
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: MIKE COOK (888) 336-3318 Ext. 11
(Mt. Vernon, Ohio) - AOL, the market leader with over 20 million subscribers, announced a rate hike by $1.95 at the beginning of the year. Increased prices mean hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for parent company AOL Time Warner Inc. MSN, the second largest U.S. Internet access service provider with more than 4 ½ million customers is guaranteeing their rate only until January 2003 in an apparent attempt to get AOL subscribers to switch.
America Online’s Internet service costs 140% more than rival ISP Copper.Net. “That is truly a remarkable difference,” said Michael Hawk, President of Copper.Net. “Unfortunately, the Copper.Net offering is still a little known secret.”
Copper.Net, a
4-year-old company based in Mount Vernon, Ohio, initially provided
service to Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati, Akron and Lancaster. They’ve just expanded nationwide presence
and still maintain their extremely low pricing. Currently subscribers can pay $9.95 per month or sign up for a
one-year $99 contract, paying only $8.25 a month.
Compared to average dial-up costs like America Online (AOL)
at $23.90 a month and Microsoft Corp.’s MSN at $21.95, Copper.Net, a 56K
dial-up Internet access service saves subscribers a lot of money.
“I think AOL and other large providers gouge their
customers,” said Hawk. “Input costs are
cheap here (in Columbus), but the service is still expensive and going
up!” Copper.Net started with low
pricing and remains low.
Copper.Net’s
secret to success is to keep pricing low with 18 employees, conservative
spending, and mostly word-of-mouth advertising. Old-fashioned banking and additional revenue generated through
Web hosting services with Web site design and development through parent
company ECR Internet Services Inc., help to replace venture capital
dollars.
“You can’t beat Copper.Net’s pricing,” said Diana Barnum,
3-year Hilliard resident subscriber. “I
take my laptop to clients' locations and hook up instantly with Copper.Net.”
“Fast, reliable, and cheap.
It’s a formula that works for us,” said Hawk.