I got ICQ pre-AOL, and if they ever mess with it or start charging me to use it, I’m ditching it.
Plus, my ISP is just a connection, nothing was installed on my computer, and if I ever decide to discontinue service, I won’t have to uninstall anything. I have heard AOL has a tendency to take over certain things on computers and trying to get rid of it can be a real nightmare.
No offence, but I don’t see it. In the UK it is not the norm to have freephone internet access. AOL are the only service currently offering reliable freephone access.
Sorry, that should say 24-hour reliable internet service, AFAIK.
Some other providers do offer partial free access (like weekends-only), and there may be other free providers I don’t know about.
I’ve been on AOL for 5-6 years now and have had no serious problems. I do get the occassional double-goodbye send off (maybe 4-5 times a year) or the once-a-month immediate-return-to-the-desktop disappearing act (same frequency), but I’ve tried the free ISP’s and they have sucked to a degree that would make less sane people chuck their computers into the nearest river. Way back in the computer stone age (1990-2) I was on Prodigy. No web access, no chats (I don’t use chat now), sometimes it was so slow you it’d make you scream. At that time, getting connected at 9600 bps was a miracle! IIRC, AOL had about 3 million users as opposed to 1 million for Prodigy (or *P as we called it then).
So until a good free ISP comes along, I’ll stay right where I am.
I know, I caught the mistake.
In the past couple of years, I’ve tried several ISPs. Most were a bugger to connect to, and kept booting me constantly. One service even had a 2-hour limit, after which I was cut off and had to try and log on again. In the end, I went with AOL, and haven’t looked back since. Nothing will ever tempt me to switch. I pay £14.99 each month, no call charges, and it works like a dream. With others ISPs, my phone bill was £150 a month, and the service was crap. It doesn’t take Einstein to figure out where I’m better off.
Some people seem to think that AOL dumbs-down the internet. As far as I’m concerned, it does everything any other ISP can do, and you get member-only areas thrown is as well, should you wish to use them. Tech support is free of charge, whereas some other ISPs I’ve tried charged £1 per minute for the phone call.
I wouldn’t say AOL is aimed at dummies, even though it has this stigma attached to it. In my opinion, it’s the best one to go with if you’re a beginner, but it also does the job for experienced internet users such as myself. Well worth the £14.99 each month. There are some other ISPs now which are compeltely free, but I wouldn’t switch for anything.
I think the problem here is that all of us 'mericans don’t know what “freephone” is.
Now about Welfy’s email comment… AOL email absolutely BITES! I have an AOL account (left over from when my husband worked there, I use it when I travel) but I keep email turned off. Everything is proprietary, there are no filters, nothing. It sucks.
Keep in mine, I have Eudora set to check 4 POP accounts, which amounts to probably 20-odd aliases… and it sorts it all out into about 60 folders by subject/sender/mailing list/what form submitted it/whatever. I would absolutely DIE otherwise, with the volume of mail I get.
I think they mean that in the UK (and a lot of other Euro countries) the norm is to always pay toll charges for dialup to your ISP, even if it’s local – unlike the US’s no-time-limit no-extra-charge local phone connections. Am I close?
Oy vey.
'Bout 8 pm or so, I signed off. Time to put the chillens to bed, you know.
Tried to get back on an hour later & couldn’t. Kept getting a Waol illegal operation message. I hate those.
Ran my Norton Stuff-Fixer program (helpfully installed by xploder), and found out some funky registry thingy was bad or something. It said it repaired it, but I still couldn’t get back on.
SO, I reinstalled AOL. Now everyting seems to be working peachily.
Sigh. I hate it when that happens.
AOL has made a couple of business deals that will keep them afloat for at least a couple of years. For example, there are computer companies that don’t just offer a free year of AOL, they force it down everyone’s throat. You get a free year of AOL with your computer, and after a year of having the same e-mail address, it is a pain in the ass to let everyone know, and to get your address book out of the clutches of the AOL software.
Once off AOL, you actually have to learn what a web address is, and how to tell you are online without the “Welcome” sound telling you. For most computerphobic people, this is almost too much to handle. We all know someone like this.
Personally, I only used AOL for about 2 months back in 1995 when I got my first PC, and then got an ISP. For those of you who think AOL is an ISP, this isn’t exactly correct. It is an OSP (Online Service Provider), as they offer much more than just internet service, and they prove that more isn’t always better.
We used to have AOL, but I got booted a LOT. So, we got rid of it (only took ten minutes to convince the guy to let us off the hook). Anyway, I got a call from AOL recently (they call us every two months or so). I swear, I am not making this up:
ME: Hello?
AOL: May I speak to Mr. _____?
ME: He isn’t in. This is his wife.
AOL: Oh, well that’s great! I’m calling from AOL, and we have a special offer right now…
ME: I’m sorry to interrupt, but we don’t have a computer (NOTE: This wasn’t a lie. At the time he called, we didn’t have a computer)
AOL: Oh, that’s okay. We’re offering free email until March 31st.
ME: I just said that I don’t have a computer.
AOL: The offer is free.
ME: I understand that. But without a computer, how do you suppose I would use the internet?
AOL: Well, what we’re offering is free email. That’s different.
ME: I’m pretty sure that you need a computer in order to check email.
AOL: Oh, I see what you’re saying. Well…you could use it at work.
ME: I don’t think my boss would appreciate that.
AOL: Of course…well, you could go to a friend’s house and use their computer.
ME: If I did that, I could just as well use a web-based email service.
AOL: But this is a free offer.
ME: That’s great, but it’s still of no use to me.
AOL: If you change your mind, give us a call at…
ME: (click)
I know, I should have just hung up sooner, but the whole thing was cracking me up. The guy reminded me of Nigel from “This is Spinal Tap”: “But this one goes to eleven.”
Jeanie is my anti-AOL hero.
Yeah, quite close. With most ISPs in Britain (not AOL) you don’t pay a monthly fee to the ISP, but you do have to pay local call rates on your phone bill for the time you spend online.
Well, I don’t know about other ISPs and while I do get fried at AOL for several reasons, it offers the following:
Tech support. I’ve had to use them.
AOL chat – MUCH easier than having to use IRC chat, consisting of robots (?) and special programs and all.
A whole bunch of AOL sites, including free downloads for games that don’t eat up major disk space.
AOL personals with pictures – free.
AOL e-mail.
AOL free upgrades.
AOL auto unzipping utility.
AOL multiple screen names.
AOL member directory and lists.
Free webspace for home pages.
AOL international listings.
Almost idiot proof operation. (I absolutely hate complicated computer stuff because I’m not computer friendly.)
AOL keywords by the thousands.
Digital cities.
AOL news.
AOL sounds.
AOL free utility down loads.
Spam control – sort of.
AOL advice on various subjects.
Free AOL instant messager.
Free AOL online confirmation.
AOL long distance – cheaper than anything else out there.
Easy billing examination.
Scores of AOL channels for various interests.
Free child control.
Free, in most areas, local Internet access numbers. (Several ISPs I checked had no local ones, which meant I’d be charged long distance rates. AOL has two local numbers here, so if one is busy, my system just clicks over to the next and dials in.
Free Personal filling cabinet.
Automatic e-mail recording after reading.
Automatic file upgrades without having to seek them out and download. AOL upgrades from time to time when you sign off or on.
24 hour phone tech support – which got me back on line when I ‘cleaned’ out my crowded HD and accidentally removed a vital AOL Internet program.
Chat monitors – though not very many. The criteria for becoming an AOL monitor is very strict. You can’t have any TOS complaints lodged against you and I have one because I ticked off an idiot on a message board.
AOL ‘prizes’ and discounts. (I don’t buy online, so I don’t qualify.)
And more.
You can track AOL e-mail to an AOL user, see if it’s been read and when or even unsend it so long as it has not been opened.
O.K… I follow that. I guess.
Regardless of whether I know what Freephone means or not, the juxtaposition in that sentence is typical of AOL to those of us accross the pond - “700 hours FREE!!!” Sure, if you decide not to sleep for a month and get jam all your hours in that time.
…Ahh, You know what I meant.
IMHO, AOL has a bad rep because you don’t have to know anything about a computer to use it. Therefore, a lot of people who do use it (not ALL!!) don’t know anything about computers. I tried to help someone download mIRC once. The person didn’t even know how to download. Yes, an AOL user. I’m not surprised that AOL users have a reputation for ignorance. I understand that in the UK it’s your cheapest alternative, but if you have a lot of choice on what to use, I wouldn’t pick AOL.
I have all of the things on Moon Gazers list that I want without needing AOL to get it for me. I’m really happy using a cable connection and Netscape.
I used AOL until my husband and I moved in together. I chucked my pc (his was better) and used the AOL installed on his pc. The problem? I could only sign in as a “guest”- no email, etc. I was still paying $25.00 a month, but was told by tech support that there was no way to merge our accounts- I would have to re-register under a different name or install my own copy of AOL onto his computer and have two seperate progams.
I refuse to believe that we were the first people to encounter this problem, and that’s the best way to solve it??! We both cancelled and went with a local $10.00 ISP- we’ve had no problems at all.
Why don’t some of you use a web-based e-mail service like Hotmail
That way you don’t have to worry about not having an e-mail address or the ‘stigma’ of having an AOL address.
I’m running Cable London’s SurfUnlimited service (part of Telewest, for non-Cable London users). It costs me £10/month for unlimited 24-7 access, and I can use any Telewest POP if the central or outer London ones aren’t at their best. Superb. I know that NTL also do a similar deal, which went up to £15/month this week.