UPDATE UK ISP AOL Broadband No Longer Available to New Customers

One of the oldest ISP names in the United Kingdom, AOL Broadband (formerly AOL UK), appears to have stopped taking on new Internet and phone customers. Instead the provider’s website now redirects potential subscribers over towards their parent, TalkTalk.

The Carphone Warehouse (CPW) originally won the auction to buy AOL UK’s Internet access business in 2006 for £370 million (note: AOL’s content division remains a separate business). At the time AOL were the UK’s third-largest ISP with around 2.1 million customers (600,000 on dial-up and 1.5 million with broadband) but much has changed since then, including the name becoming “AOL Broadband” instead of just “AOL” or “AOL UK” (apparently to avoid confusion with the content division, but people still get confused).

On March 29th, 2010 CPW and TalkTalk separated (demerged) and the latter became a separate business, which included customers from CPW’s prior acquisitions (e.g. AOL Broadband, Tiscali etc.). But since then TalkTalk has been grabbing all the attention, while AOL Broadband has become the somewhat forgotten child of a once popular name.

Unsurprisingly all these years of neglect have numbed AOL Broadband’s impact on the modern market and during a brief check ISPreview.co.uk noticed that all of the broadband and phone bundles on their website had now been replaced with a redirect promotion for TalkTalk’s service, which starts by saying: “Did you know AOL Broadband is part of The TalkTalk Group?“.

As a result customers looking to take one of AOL Broadband’s packages will now have to either pick TalkTalk or go elsewhere. ISPreview.co.uk understands that AOL Broadband’s existing customers will still be supported, although it’s unclear what the future holds for them and we’re attempting to get a reply from TalkTalk.

It’s worth pointing out that TalkTalk has been attempting to push / nudge potential AOL Broadband users their way for a while but until recently the latter still had their own packages.

UPDATE 11th May 2014

It took several days to finally receive an official response but TalkTalk has now confirmed the development, albeit without adding much detail. But happily existing customers will continue to be supported.

A TalkTalk Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:

“AOL customers are a significant and valued part of our customer base, and we continue to look at ways to help them get the best value. TalkTalk is encouraging these customers to sign up for its services, and is no longer acquiring new customers under the AOL Broadband brand. This does not affect existing AOL customers who can carry on using their broadband and home phone services and accessing technical support in the same way.

Customers signing up with TalkTalk get Britain’s best value broadband and home phone packages and can also access services like TalkTalk TV, Superpowered Fibre Broadband and TalkTalk Mobile. AOL UK is a separate company and continues to provide the AOL desktop software, email and a number of other services.”