AOL Broadband - any experiences?

[Beefmeister]

As the title says - anyone got any real experiences of AOL Broadband, the 8Mb Wireless service?

They have the free laptop offer with Carphone Warehouse (who now owns AOL) at the moment, and the net reviews are patchy...

So i'm hoping the PH collective might have some experience..

Cheers

[AnthonyC]

I have it at home, to be fair it's pretty good, if not a bit expensive on the deal I am on.

also it was pretty tricky to set up, and if you have to call them it's the usual story of an hour on the phone to India.

Otherwise, no probs.

AC

[Gonewest]

Aol...pretty good,half decent speeds.Use a different browser.

[furtive]

You can't use your own domain to send mail throught their smtp servers and they are generally not very well thought of

[Beefmeister]

I've read that it doesn't automatically log you on when you switch on your PC - is that the case?

Some have also said it takes a while to log on once you start trying?

To be honest just that would be enough to put me off, i want to jump on the PC, go on the net, and be done all as quick as possible most of the time...

[jkennyd]

Big Barge Pole......Thats the first thing that come to mind and the rest is unprintable.

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

AOL. The ISP for people that don't know any better. Avoid.

[PJR]

AOL.. Internet with training wheels on. If that sounds attractive to you, then go for it by all means. If not, then go elsewhere and get a better deal while you are at it.
All the garden gates within 20 miles of where you live still have less catches on than this free laptop offer.

P,

[bigdods]

jkennyd said:

Big Barge Pole......Thats the first thing that come to mind and the rest is unprintable.

+1. I do the odd call out to fix home PC's , mostly its 'the internet just stopped working'. Almost every time I can fix it in <1 hour with a coresponding low charge. AOL is a different kettle of fish. I started charging double rates if the problem involved AOL. Now its the first question I ask. Is it AOL. If the answer is yes then I just turn down the work, its not worth the aggravation.

Its great when it works (if you like to be treated like a child and have no control over anything), but when it goes wrong its a nightmare to troubleshoot.

[jimmyb]

IIRC there is also an issue with it getting into all your software or being unable to remove without a great deal of hassle and trouble.

Whatever the case avoid like the plague.

Ask yourself why they are giving away a free laptop?

[Beefmeister]

Right, well i knew all that anyway, i was just asking for some confirmation.

I shall be avoiding like the plague.

Sky Broadband seems like a spankingly good deal, as does O2 if you're a mobile customer...

[Scraggles]

friend had aol adsl, then bought another PC, could he connect to aol ? not a chance, he would need 2 aol accounts to use both PC's on the lan - this was from tech support

they got mac and went to ZEN

aol are for fkwits who are not sure on the net and want to be cuddled and protected from the net