Top 24 U.S. ISPs by Subscriber: Q3 2005

Pundits note that after a slow Q2, ISP subscriber growth rebounded in Q3, but some ISPs grew faster than others.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [December 22, 2005]

Rank	ISP	Subs. (millions)	Date & Source	Market Share
1	America Online (all U.S. AOL brand accounts)	20.1	[November 2, 2005] Trending Schedules [.pdf]	21.4%
2	Comcast (cable broadband)	8.1	[November 3, 2005] SEC 10-Q	8.7%
3	SBC (DSL only)	6.5	[November 4, 2005] SEC 10-Q	6.9%
4	EarthLink (DSL, dialup, cable, satellite, PLC, and webhosting—SK EarthLink and some other business lines not included)	5.3	[November 9, 2005] SEC 10-Q	5.7%
5	Road Runner (cable broadband)	4.8	[November 2, 2005] Trending Schedules [.pdf]	5.1%
6	Verizon (DSL only)	4.5	[November 8, 2005] SEC 10-Q	4.8%
7	United Online (counting paid dialup only)	3.0	[November 9, 2005] SEC 10-Q	3.2%
8	Cox (cable broadband)	2.9	[December 1 , 2005] Estimate by Kinetic Strategies	3.1%
9	BellSouth (DSL only)	2.7	[October 25, 2005] Press Release	2.9%
10	Charter (cable broadband)	2.1	[November 2, 2005] SEC 10-Q	2.3%
11	Cablevision (cable broadband)	1.6	[November 15, 2005] Press Release	1.7%
12	Qwest (DSL only)	1.3	[November 1, 2005] Press Release	1.4%
13	Sprint (DSL only)	.64	[November 9, 2005] SEC 10-Q	0.7%
14	Covad (broadband only)	.58	[November 9, 2005] SEC 10-Q	0.6%
15	Mediacom (cable broadband, dialup, and SMB broadband)	.45	[November 9, 2005] SEC 10-Q	0.5%
16	Insight BB (cable broadband)	.44	[November 7, 2005] SEC 10-Q	0.5%
17	ALLTEL (DSL only)	.36	[November 8, 2005] SEC 10-Q	0.4%
18	Citizens (DSL only)	.29	[November 2, 2005] Press Release	0.3%
19	Hughes DIRECWAY (satellite broadband)	.26	Jupiter Research preliminary estimate	0.3%
20	LocalNet (dialup)	.26	[December 19, 2005] ISP-Planet article	0.3%
21	RCN (Cable broadband and dialup, including Starpower JV)	.24	[November 9, 2005] SEC 10-Q	0.3%
22	CenturyTel (DSL only)	.21	[October 27, 2005] Press Release [.pdf]	0.2%
23	Cincinnati Bell (DSL only)	.15	[November 8, 2005] Press Release [.xls]	0.2%
24	GCI (cable broadband and dialup in Alaska)	.10	[November 14, 2005] SEC 10-Q	0.1%
25	Other U.S. ISPs	27.0		28.7%

We use Jupiter Research estimates in several areas. The Jupiter Research estimate we use for the total number of subscribers in the United States, 84.0 million subscribers, is a preliminary estimate. Superior data is available to Jupiter Research subscribers. This number does not include: subscribers at work, at universities, or in government. It only includes residential consumer accounts.

About data concerning certain ISPs
We also use a preliminary Jupiter Research estimate for the number of subscribers of Hughes DIRECWAY.

We use an estimate from Kinetic Strategies for Cox subscriber numbers. Kinetic Strategies notes:

In an unusual move, Cox Communications, the third biggest player in the cable modem business, opted against reporting any subscriber results for the third quarter. Cox largely blamed the failure to report on uncertain customer figures from its New Orleans cable system, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in early September. Kinetic Strategies, however, estimates that Cox added about 95,000 broadband customers over the summer to boost its total beyond the 2.9 million level.

Note that Insight Broadband plans to go private, acquired by The Carlyle Group and insiders.

Adelphia has been acquired by Time Warner and Comcast, but we believe that Adelphia subscribers are not yet included in reported numbers.

Methodology
Subscriber counts are as of September 30, 2005, except for LocalNet and DIRECWAY.

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 this quarter.

We do not have numbers for MSN and several others.

We do not show ISPs with fewer than 100,000 subscribers. Although some smaller ISPs, such as Severna Park, Md.-based ToadNet, do disclose subscriber numbers, the vast majority do not.

Thanks to Dave Burstein for pointing out we had missed Sprint.

We show sources for all numbers.

For further information, go to page 2: How We Count >