Yahoo, SBC seek to convert dial-up to DSL

Yahoo and SBC Communications are making a push to convert more dial-up customers to broadband by launching new tools designed to ease the switch from one provider to another.

Specific details of the new tools were not released Tuesday, but the companies said the tools will be ready in the next few months.

The tools are supposed to make it easier for consumers to transfer their personal information and preferences from their current Internet service provider to the new one, although the tools don't yet work for a switch from one DSL account to another.

"We believe many consumers stay with their current dial-up providers because they're daunted by the process of migrating their personal information," Yahoo Senior Vice President Jim Brock said in a release.

Yahoo and SBC, which launched a co-branded broadband service last month, have offered dial-up Internet service since June.

While Yahoo's ad business has been improving Wall Street is expecting big things from the SBC partnership. Yahoo recently reported that it added 500,000 paid customers from the second quarter to the third quarter, bring its total paid customer base to 1.5 million.