Are there that many ignorant people in North America? Or is it the fact they keep giving you a free month if you decide to switch to another company?
I can’t figure this shit out.
Because it’s easy.
It’s easy to use for people who are new to the internet.
I’ve had it for about two years now, and with the exception of the occasional booting, I’ve had no trouble with it. I like it.
Just because I like AOL doesn’t mean I’m ignorant. Just means I like AOL. So what if there’s stuff out there that’s faster/better/won’t boot me? AOL doesn’t give me enough grief to make me really want to change.
In the UK they basically sell themselves as “internet access for dummies”, using cloying family ads to emphasise how friendly, simple and family-oriented are. Bunch of arse, really.
A friend of mine kept getting that. They just wouldn’t let her cut it off, even though she had another ISP and hadn’t been using AOL. Then when she finally did convince someone she was serious about wanting to quit (she had to send a letter by snail mail, which seems ironic to me), they charged her for one of those “free” months anyway.
If you hate it so much, how come you’re using it to post?
It’s easy as hell, that’s why.
You always hear the horror stories about busy signals, and constant boots, but I think for the most part, it’s stable.
Name recognition, name recognition, name recognition.
I don’t undestand why people think AOL is any easier than a real ISP.
Like they said: Easy to use.
I’ve had it for about 4 years now; I don’t feel like switching. The whole email thing is cool. I can’t stand hotmail, yahoo, etc. Half the time they’re down anyway.
I reverted to AOL after two years of various ISP’s that took forever to connect to, were (even) slower, and booted me off constantly. I’ve used several of the free services, and still use Bluelight occasionally. But where I am, AOL NEVER boots me and I connect on the first try.
Oh well, it’s not a boutique ISP, but it is consistent. I don’t use chat or any of their other services, though.
Welfy said it best:
Wait- they offer email?? Sign me up! :rolleyes:
Others have already said it: It’s an easy “in” to this internet thing, and inertia keeps them there. Judging from their commercial, people can be baited fairly easily:
Why should you use aol?
•You can send email!
•You can chat!
•All of some girl’s friends are on it (the girl hired to be in the commercial)
•Tech support
I’m not going to elaborate on that last one, but I’ve heard enough people weigh in on the quality of aol’s “tech support” to make me get down on my knees & pray it never happens to me.
So easy to use, no wonder it’s #1!
Here in the UK, AOL is the only ISP that gives reliable 24-7 0800 (FreeFone) access for a fixed monthly fee. (As far as I know anyway).
I use AOL and won’t stop using it because some people have preconceptions about AOL users.
I’ve vented my anger at AOL before here atg the SDMB. I think it’s so popular because they advertise so much. Every time you turn around (and often when you don’t turn around) there is another pitch for AOL.
As long as this is in MPSIMS, let me reiterate my problems. I know some of you said you like it. That’s fine. But I had nothing but grief with them.
I got my first computer (Windows ME) last October, with a FREE one-year AOL. (Another reason they’re so popular. They get in cohoorts with Dell to offer a year’s free and it’s hard as Hell to get away from them. They give you half a dozen icons on the desktop, etc.) Could not connect, except two times very briefly, despite reconfigurations of my connections. They told me to get another computer - get a 98 or something else.
Went to Earthlink and also could not connect. However, some guy there made a real attempt to connect me. Had the telephone guy out who said nothing wrong with the wire power. Modem was OK by testing. Since I have only one phone line, it was very difficult to test things and get back to the tech person. Earthlink’s guy was very good in calling me back. He gave me another idea and his email address to let him know how it worked. I was to email him if it didn’t. It didn’t work, but unfortunately his email address didn’t work either. I don’t know if that was my fault or his.
So finally I went to cable with good luck. However, just the other day when I got my charge card bill there was the $21 charge from AOL, my one-year free non-provider. I tried calling AOL service, finally got thru, and the lady asked me for my id#, which I have because it’s on the Dell inventory. She then asked me if I had cancelled (my free one-year subscription). Actually, I had tried but could not get thru. She said she’d connect me to cancel. I said please cancel the charge first. “OK. What’s your id#?” Goddamn it! She wasn’t paying any attention when I gave it to her, she was so intent on my canceling. Anyway, she said she’d transfer me to cancel, but she disconnected me. I called again, finally got thru, and was immediately disconnected.
“The Hell with it,” I said, and disputed the charge, and the bank has removed it from my bill. All that grief after I stopped using AOL!
Moderator’s Notes: I guess this ain’t too bad yet. I’ll leave here it in MPSIMS until someone goes completely bonkers. And I’m very sure that’ll happen sometime soon.
I have never used AOL–and I never will, but you know what makes me mad about their tactics? Almost every new piece of software I install asks me if I want to install AOL. I bought the Sims Livin’ Large Expansion Pack and as I was installing it up pops “Would you like to install AOL?” No! Then on certain DVD’s I buy they have a feature called PC Friendly that also asks if I want to install AOL. They’re #1 because they stuff it down people’s throats.
With my regular ISP:[list]
[li]I have email (not Hotmail or Yahoo, either)[/li][li]I can chat (ICQ & IRC)I refuse to install AOL’s IM[/li][li]I can talk to my friends :rolleyes:[/li][li]Great tech support 24/7/365[/li][li]one phone call and my account is cancelled[/li][li]veryeasy to use[/li][li]I never get kicked off[/li]I email pictures and they don’t convert to that dumb .art format no one else can open.
I was about to go bonkers… until I read Boscibo’s post.
You have summed up my thoughts and sentiments to a tee. Thanks.
psst. boscibo, ICQ is owned by AOL now.
You can’t escape them. They’re everywhere.
- Bolding mine -
Am I the only one to see the irony in that sentence?
If that doesn’t explain AOL and their practices, I don’t know what does.
Too funny.
Okay, I used AOL for about 7 years, before finally switching completely to ISP three years ago. I was in sixth grade when we first got AOL, but we’d had computers forever.
AOL is like a gated housing community. Intra-AOL email is very simple, and you can UNSEND the email. There are all sorts information resources and shopping thingy’s, people don’t have to get on the REAL interent and worry about security and such. Parents don’t have to worry about the content of the “sites” their kids might be visiting.
Eventually, I decided that I used the browser to use the real internet more than anything and that I wanted to get rid of AOL. My dad was all for it, but he wanted to make sure I had another email addy before we dropped AOL. I’m not sure what the problem really was, but we couldn’t get another addy on the ISP account my dad had had for a few years. Since we had a really good deal with AOL in terms of fees and such, we kept it around for my email. When I got my email addy at college, we finally dropped AOL for good, and without any hassle. The last year or two we had it, I would log on for at most 10 minutes to do the email thing, and then switch over to Netscape for everything else.