Top 23 U.S. ISPs by Subscriber: Q3 2004

In the DSL vs. cable race, the RBOCs are gaining as the FCC's pro-monopoly stance continues to stifle competition.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [November 23, 2004]

Rank	ISP	Subs. (millions)	Date & Source	Market Share
1	America Online (all U.S. AOL brand accounts)	22.8	[November 3, 2004] Trending Schedules	24.0%
2	United Online [3.2 million paid, 2.0 million free dialup, 1.3 million free webhosting]	6.6	[October 27, 2004] SEC Filing	6.9%
3	Comcast (cable broadband)	6.5	[October 27, 2004] Press Release	6.8%
4	EarthLink (DSL, dialup, cable, satellite, webhosting, and PLC)	5.2	[November 9, 2004] SEC Filing	5.7%
5	SBC (DSL only)	4.7	[November 5, 2004] SEC Filing	4.9%
6	Road Runner (cable broadband)	3.9	[November 3, 2004] Trending Schedules	4.1%
7	Verizon (DSL only)	3.3	[October 28, 2004] Press Release	3.5%
8	Cox (cable broadband)	2.4	[October 27, 2004] Press Release	2.5%
9	BellSouth (DSL only)	1.9	[November 2, 2004] SEC Filing	2.0%
10	Charter (cable broadband and 7,300 dialup accounts)	1.8	[November 4, 2004] SEC Filing	1.9%
11	Adelphia (cable broadband)	1.3	Jupiter Research estimate	1.4%
12	Cablevision (cable broadband)	1.3	[November 9, 2004] Press Release	1.3%
13	Qwest (DSL only)	.96	[November 4, 2004] Press Release	1.0%
14	Covad (broadband only)	.52	[November 9, 2004] SEC Filing	0.6%
15	Mediacom (cable broadband)	.35	[November 8, 2004] Press Release	0.4%
16	Insight BB (cable broadband)	.32	[October 29, 2004] Press Release	0.3%
17	ALLTEL (DSL only)	.22	[November 5, 2004] SEC Filing	0.2%
18	Hughes DIRECWAY (satellite broadband)	.20	Jupiter Research estimate	0.2%
19	Citizens (DSL only)	.19	[November 8, 2004] Press Release	0.2%
20	LocalNet (dialup and cable broadband)	.13	[November 17, 2004] Corporate Communications	0.1%
21	Cincinnati Bell (DSL only)	.12	[November 9, 2004] SEC Filing	0.1%
22	CenturyTel (DSL only)	.12	[October 28, 2004] Press Release	0.1%
23	GCI (61,200 cable broadband and 39,900 dialup)	.10	[November 3, 2004] Press Release [.pdf]	0.1%
24	Other U.S. ISPs	29.9		31.5%

We use Jupiter Research estimates for the total number of subscribers in the United States: 81.1 million subscribers, and we also use Jupiter Research estimates elsewhere as noted above. This number does not include: subscribers at work, at universities, or in government. It only includes residential consumer accounts.

All subscriber counts are as of September 30, 2004.

We do not have numbers for ATX, RCN, MSN, and AT&T Worldnet. In addition, Covad and the ILECs did not disclose dialup subscriber numbers (although Charter and others did).

Two ISPs that are restructuring, RCN and ATX, remain off the list. Troubled Internet America, which filed year end results late, is also off the list due to the cutoff point: you need 100,000 subscribers to make the list today.

Although we do report claimed Adelphia numbers, we continue to believe that whoever buys Adelphia will find out how many subscribers they really have.

DIRECWAY broadband has had zero marketing dollars for some time. This is in sharp contrast to United Online, which invested 40 percent of revenues into marketing during the most recent quarter.

We show sources for all numbers. Where the source says "Corporate Communications" we mean that we contacted the company directly. These numbers are less reliable than the other numbers we use.

We try to use numbers in SEC filings. When companies do not declare subscribers in SEC filings, we are forced to use press releases, which are less reliable. Mediacom appeared to suggest in its SEC filing that it has only 197,000 broadband customers, but we used the press release, which clearly states it has 350,000 broadband customers.

We use Jupiter Research estimates for two ISPs and for the total number of U.S. households online. Jupiter Research has additional estimates which are available to research subscribers.

Note that, due to rounding, the market share percentages in this chart will not always add up to exactly 100.0 percent even though they do for Q3, 2004.

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