[Jasxh]

Is AOL a really bad isp or is just me and my neighbours who have had problems, and think its useless?

[Advertisements]

They dont have a good reputation from what ive heard, but ive never used them(for that reason) so cant give any specifics from myself.

[warriorscot]

They dont have a good reputation from what ive heard, but ive never used them(for that reason) so cant give any specifics from myself.

[dsenette]

i've never liked AOL...i've used it in the past so i can only speak for very old versions of it....but..from my knowledge of working on other people's machines with more current versions..it's better than it was...but it's still not the best option (IMO)...i really don't like the whole proprietary browser (probably because i'm not used to it)...the software is VERY hard to remove...they're customer support sucks...

[sarahw]

It's not really big in Australia.
All I know is they mass marketed their CD's in countless magazines and mailboxes.
I heard Time Warner wants to dump them.

[Facedown98]

AOL, or should I say AOHELL, this the worst ISP I can find. Their dial-up price is much more expensive than DSL, their tech support is horrible, their software is constantle being reinstalled, it's a pain!

[warriorscot]

Dial up always was more expensive in the long run if you used dial up as much as a DSL you would have a really expensive phone bill.

[dsenette]

Dial up always was more expensive in the long run if you used dial up as much as a DSL you would have a really expensive phone bill.

unless your isp is a local number...in which case it doesn't add to the phone bill at all

in hindsight here (digging up some past stuff)...the actuall worst ISP ever was freeI (was a free internet dialup deal..) LOADED with ads...the browser only allowed for llike....a 4 inch tall browsing window cuz the rest was ads...it was slower than dirt....netzero was about the same when it was free

[Kenny94]

Why people use AOL is beyond me. When you want to cancel AOL, guess what! Watched this video at: http://www.break.com...ex/aolhell.html

How do I cancel my America Online (AOL) account from the Ask Dave Taylor! Tech Support Blog: http://www.askdaveta...ol_account.html "

Friends don't let friends use AOL...

[Johanna]

In the mid nineties, AOL made the Internet accessible for average people. It was easy to get a dial up account and be online using AOL.

A lot has changed since then. AOL has privacy policies that rival Yahoo's for exploitation, their customer service is lousy, canceling an account is a nightmare (I've known people billed for months after they requested a cancellation) The browsing experience is so intrusive that the only way you could like it is to not have ever used anything else. Many commercial emails say "Click here. If you use AOL, cut and paste this link into your browser."

AOL is a good reason to turn off "Autoplay" on cds. If you install programs bundled with AOL you will get icons and shortcuts you don't want, and ICQ will do the same AOL "drive bys".

Despite all of this, AOL still has a chunk of the market share- usually the less computer savvy people. Maybe because it's a familiar trusted name, perhaps it's that Grandma doesn't want to learn anything new, or the traveler likes the instant online convenience wherever there is a phone line. I don't know. Unless someone is dead set on using AOL, I usually try to persuade them to another option.

Johanna
Don't get me started on AOL and Macs, that's a whole other conspiracy.

[Mach]

Y'know... I've been an AOL customer for ages.. Somethin like... 8 years?. Not because I don't know any better, but because I don't find it to be all that bad, overall.
I disliked their dial-up because of drop-offs and whatnot, but on their dsl, I've had little trouble. Less than I can say for my friend and his Verizon DSL. He lost his connection for days at a time. I've only had that happen on two occassions in the 5 years i've had AOL DSL. The downside to having AOL's dsl is that I have to pay 56 bucks a month that I could use towards Comcast's cable internet. It'd be about the same and it's faster, from what I understand. I haven't made the switch, though, in part because i'm lazy, and also because, if it ain't broke, why fix it? I'm content. The speed is faster than what i'd get for Verizon's inexpensive dsl plan, which offered a slower connection speed than what I have now, hence the 15 dollar price tag. With AOL, I get a firewall and mcafee powered virus protection from their safety and security center, too. Yeah, yeah, I know I can buy a mcafee or norton package to take care of those things for me, but aol makes it easy and auto updates for me. And multiple FTP spaces were awesome when I had a website of artwork I made.
I know that AOL is a major resource hog, though. I wouldn't browse with AOL, but rather, open up firefox on the side. It got even better when I bought a router and ultimately did away with having to start and connect aol every time I wanted to be online. Now I don't even have to run it as an application. So less ram is being used and it's working out just right for me.
Their customer service isn't gold star worthy, but they've been helpful for the most part.
So to sum it up, AOL DSL has been good to me. AOL Dial Up left a lot to be desired. But it beat NetZero and Juno...