Blooming AOL !!!!!

[zmerlinz]

i have just signed up with AOL free access (£15 a month UK only), and i am on a local area network at home, and before when i was with another isp we had Internet Connection Sharing and we could all share the connection that the server had, and i asked AOL if there was a way in which all of the people at home on the network (5), could login into AOL with orr without their individual login name, and share the connection, i found the technical support very rude and abrupt and he said NO is there a way, i can't ask AOL now as they have all gone home,

please help this is driving me and my family mad!!

[wey97]

I have found there are many things about AOL that I hate.
No, if all of your family is using the same account, then
you cannot have two or more screen names signed on at once.
I don't think you can do connection sharing either.
It's not that they couldn't program AOL that way, they just
want to be major *****s.

Other AOL quirks:
1) Right clicking is totally disabled
Everything is so dumbed down
2) Ultra slow connection speed/downloads
3) The same annoying sounds all the time "You've got mail!"
What a joke!
4) That annoying banner at the top of my homepage.
5)Too many spam emails are allowed through. I don't know
about other ISP's, but AOL says that they cannot prevent
spams w/ invalid return addresses and say they have been
working on that for about a year now with no progress.
6)If you email customer support, you get this generic email
every time, "Thank you for your input...You're recommendations
will be noted...We are sorry you are having difficulties.
(Yeah, right!)
We will do everything we can to fix it. (Sure)
You get this same generic response everytime you email
customer support.
I would suggest contacting online support, but they are
usually rude or don't have a clue.
I would recommend changing ISP's.

[SteveCRM]

I hate to say it...but I have it (my family is computer illiterate). It kicks me off for no reason sometimes when I try to load a page. All you need is something to connect and a browser, not this whole crappy program. I don't want any of these features, buddy list???? email without internet signatures, that just gets me into bad habbit. Its mainly for people that are just getting online for the first time.

Does anyone know of any other providers? Is earthlink good?

[Visual Programmer]

I use AOL because

1. I can stay in touch with my friends/family with the IMs.
2. AIM kicks you off more often (at least me)
3. it has unlimited email space (but Max for 1 email is 16mb)
4. has channels (news/stocks/etc.
5. All advantage pays me if I'm doing anything on AOL (even IMs)



What I dont like:

1. uploading takes forever, and while its uploading, you can't do anything else
2. if you get kicked off while downloading, the download cancels
3. it freezes a lot


Conclusion:

1. I have a cable modem
2. for downloads i copy and paste the URL to OPERA web browser, and download real fast from there
3. upload big files through the POP3 at aol.com
4. Dont over load it with commands, and dont click on too many places at once
5. dont run more then 10 programs at a time
6. I only pay 10 dollars a month because I connect through LAN


well that's the pluses and minuses of AOL, enjoy




Visual Programmer

I have it as well. But I only use it when I play games. Only reason is because Netzero's banner says "You can run it, but you can't hide" because the game goes over it. I hate Netzero, but I like it more than AOL. AOL sucks! I can't go into Public Chat Rooms because your name gets put on the porn list and you start receiving all this crappy mail. So I don't go in there.

And I hate when AOL deletes mail automatically. You have important mails in there, and you mail box has like 5 pieces of mail and they just delete it like that!

I don't know, there's not much more to say, except, IT SUCKS! But it's just something to connect to when another isp ain't working or something .

[Edited by Matthew Gates on 12-17-2000 at 12:46 AM]

[PJB]

the main problem your having is AOL puts in it's own network protocols, and removing it can be a pain in the ass

ya know, if i knew any programmers i would ask them to write an AOL cleansing utility that completely wipes out AOL from your system and reconfigures everything back to Microsoft specs

Microsoft specs aren't that much better...

[Iain17]

I tried AOL once, and never again. Pinging to games servers was about 4000ms, lol, try playing like that.

/me prsses trigger, 4 seconds later bullet would fire but i am already dead.

[parksie]

I don't know if they're taking anything else, but RedHotAnt are pretty good...although it's about £130 a year .

[Benjamin]

I used AOL for almost 3/4 a year...

after my first windows computer(I had a mac for a while ) I finally convinced my parents to switch to a real ISP...

I hate AOL....

and the morons that voluntarily use it...

I have been in quite a few AOL chat rooms, and the conversations are soooo immature...

here is a "quote" that I saw once, that stuck in my head...

hEy U STuPiD f@gGoT, 1 RuLeZ @Nd U NoT

ARGHHHHHHHH ARRRRRRRRR... I can't stand that ****..

AOL should be banned...

[wey97]

Anybody ever got any porn IMs? Well I haven't, but my
girlfriend does under her screen name on my account.
She swears I'm looking at porn, which whether or not I am
doesn't answer why she gets the IMs and I don't. I think
maybe it's because she has a profile (which is clean) and I
don't have one.
You cannot even notify AOL about this ****! It really
annoys me.

[YoungBuck]

I've used many ISP's including Bellsouth.net, Mindspring, AOL, and a couple more 'name brand' companies, and to be honest they all SUCK!! Slow connection speeds, too much spam, disconnecting for no reason, or just plain not being able to log on are common with all these big name services. Right now though I am using a local ISP and I can truly say that the only problem after a year of using this local company is the line being busy, however I can count the number of times this has happened on one hand. I've heard the same thing from friends of mine all over the country who have switched to local companies. I strongly suggest to anybody that is tired of the problems I mentioned above try a local ISP.

I've been with mindspring for a year, with no problems.... well, I did have an extremely slow connection speed, but I think that was my modem(it's not even a v.90 )


but now I have broadband("MindSpring MAX DSL") and I am really happy... the connection isn't always on, you have to sort of "dial-up" which takes almost no time, and it's never busy... and the speed is awesome..... I usually download at about 150 k/s on average.