America Online Inc. this week added Charter Communications Inc. to its list of broadband service providers.
Charter, based in St. Louis, joins BellSouth, Time Warner Cable and Verizon in offering the AOL service as part of their high-speed Internet access product. AOL, a Dulles, Va., unit of Time Warner Inc., is marketing the services through a nationwide advertising campaign.
With the exception of BellSouth, current AOL dial-up member can sign up for any of the broadband services for $25.90 a month. BellSouth is charging 29.90 a month.
AOL's aggressive move to broadband follows several years of declining subscribers to its dial-up service, which has suffered as an increasing number of people nationwide move to high-speed connections offered by cable and telephone companies. Last year, 54 percent of online adults accessed the Internet over broadband at home, according to Harris Interactive.
