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Original poster

Does anybody else hate AOL?

30 replies

scarymamma · 30/07/2006 08:28

Aaahhhh. For the last 2 months either I haven't been able to connect to AOL or it's chucked me off after between 2 - 20 mins making MN'ing (and all other surfing) virtually impossible (and unbelievably FRUSTRATING).

So, which ISP (broadband) do you have and are they any good?

OP posts:
MrsBadcrumble · 30/07/2006 08:32

Yes, I hate them and I've never even used their service.
Those adverts with that woman and her funny dress. I couldn't look at her or listen to her. DH was the same.
We use Zen and it is expensive but vv good. (Mac, though, not PC, don't know if that makes a difference.)

Gingerbear · 30/07/2006 08:34

I sacked AOL years ago - same reasons, plus an inordinate amount of spam/porn.
Not cheap, but AAISP (as recommended by hub2dee) have been fantastic, and any problems, their technical bods know what they are talking about, and there is always someone to speak to in Bracknell (not Mumbai like Tiscali)

hub2dee · 30/07/2006 08:37

Oh yes, Andrews and Arnold AAISP are very good people. Not the cheapest but a very resilient network with honest and accurate status updates if there's ever any problem with the service. Very clued-up bods on the end of the phone too if you need that.

Didn't realise you were with them, gb !

Gingerbear · 30/07/2006 08:49

it was you that made me do it hub!
(when I bought my new Mac last year)

hub2dee · 30/07/2006 08:55

One man changing the world, one IP addres at a time.

LOL.

Original poster
scarymamma · 30/07/2006 08:59

So, can I use AAISP with a PC? And do you have by any chance a tel. no for them. As I said internet connection dodgy at best of times. Cheers

OP posts:
spangles · 30/07/2006 09:01

I havent had any probs with AOL although I hate their Ads . I had freeserve before AOL and they were a nightmare!

Original poster
scarymamma · 30/07/2006 09:04

Does anybody use Pipex, Virgin or Orange, if so how do you rate them?

OP posts:
Lemmingswife · 30/07/2006 09:04

We are with AOL & haven't had any connection problems, but they did slip up & bill me over £80 in 2 months! I should be paying £18 a month!
I got onto them & they were quite good though & said I would be in credit for the next couple of months.
Now if you ask if I hate TALK TALK, that will be a definite YES!!

Original poster
scarymamma · 30/07/2006 09:05

Lucky you Spangles!! I hadn't had any problems up until Easter and it's been a total mare since then!!!

OP posts:
Gingerbear · 30/07/2006 09:10

01344 400 222 is the no for AAISP Broadband sales (Mon to Fri only though??)

lucykate · 30/07/2006 09:41

we were with talktalk before we moved. they do have a really good deal available, £20.99 a month for broadband, all landline phonecalls both peak and off peak, and it also includes line rental. it covers about 70% of the country but if you are in an area not covered, it goes up to £30.99 a month, which for all that, is still a cheap deal. they are fine until you need to ring customer services, the help line is awful, they put you on hold for ages and are never any help at all. in the year we were with them, we never had any problems though. the problems only arose in moving and trying to transfer the service to our new address.

we always go for a broadband and phone package as we both work from home now.

arfishymeau · 30/07/2006 11:39

OMG AOL is about as evil as they come. They hijack your line to download compulsory software upgrades and big brother you the rest of the time.

Not in the UK any more so can't recommend a decent ISP, but ditch them pronto. They don't deserve your custom. They are strictly speaking for people who can't manage the internet without their hands held (I cite my mother as evidence).

When I was living London (only left last year) I used homechoice. They were brilliant - tv on demand, great 2 Mb link and all for GBP 20 per month.

Carmenere · 30/07/2006 11:52

I F*cking HATE AOL, I've been paying them by direct debit for the past 5 years even though we use Blueyonder (actually we use Firefox). The reason I haven't stopped it is because I use email a lot for work purposes and I can't transfer my address book with out doing it manually and then I would have to contact every one with my new address and it always seemed like too much stress ARRGGGHHHH

SpaceCadet · 30/07/2006 12:20

i was with tiscali, had a thread about them recently..absoloute nightmare..im with aol, have no probs yet but have noticed that all their technical help is located in bangalore or somewhere similiar...groan.

Lemmingswife · 30/07/2006 12:27

Oh tiscali are awful! We were with them until we moved & had no end of nightmares with them!

SpaceCadet · 30/07/2006 12:30

lemmingswife-tiscali continued to bill me for their phone service even after i moved!

Lemmingswife · 30/07/2006 12:37

They are the pits! If you try & phone them to complain, you will have a job getting someone that actually speaks/understands English too!

We moved onto TALK TALK, who never sent us a modem, yet when we tried to cancel, they charged us £70! They are now sending us out bills every month, despite around 20 telephone conversations to explain we left them in January & are now threatening to take us to court!!!

SpaceCadet · 30/07/2006 12:40

yes i had the joy of speaking to someone in a far away call centre who called me a liar! he claimed i was still making calls on a line 170 miles away which had been disconected!
at talk talk, you could try getting in touch with the telephone arbitration(sp) department, offcom will give you the number.

Lemmingswife · 30/07/2006 12:44

Unbelievable! I would NEVER reccomend them to anyone!
Thanks for the suggestion re TALK TALK. We have spoken to several different people (when we finally manage to get through), & they make out the problem is now solved & then we get sent another bloody bill!
Wouldn't reccomend them either!!!

rbj949703 · 30/07/2006 12:49

We use Pipex, absolutely no problems. The one time we thought we had a problem, it wasn't anything to do with their broadband, it was our pc, but the chap we spoke to was very helpful. Even though he shouldn't really have helped us troubleshoot the problem, he was on the phone for about ½ hour helping us.

themoon66 · 30/07/2006 13:40

AOL are nightmare and hijack your computer. It takes forever to get rid of them off there. Tiscali charged us for months after we finished our contract with them.

Now with Eclipse who are ace. No complaints at all.

Original poster
scarymamma · 30/07/2006 18:14

Thanks for the warnings re:Tiscali and TalkTalk - will steer clear of those two, and look into AAISP, Eclipse, Pipex and Blueyonder/Firefox. Thanks everybody.

OP posts:
wordgirl · 30/07/2006 18:52

I keep hearing horror stories about AOL but I have been with them for at least seven years (pre and post broadband) and have never had any problems with them and I don't get any spam at all either.
Am I the world's only satisfied AOL customer?

Neena28 · 30/07/2006 18:55

I like aol too, never had any probs with them except when I switched to broadband but I needed an adapter thing on the phone line and that sorted it immediatley (funnily enough, that it kept kicking me off the internet).

I also have virtually no spam (maybe one thing a month).

All in all very happy to stay put especially as my email address is really simple and the business one is too.