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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

using aol broadband (1 Viewer)

Metermaid

Metermaid

Well-known member
I have just loaded up aol broadband, finally got away from dial up !! I know the whole point is that the connection is always there so does that mean I should leave aol 9 browser logged on as it where and just minimise it - at the moment I am closing it down each time (signing off) and while it is quick to connect it does go through a sort of dial up procedure through the DSL modem they supplied....any thoughts....how do other people on broadband use their broadband browser?

Cheers

Rita
 
Well AOL might be different, but with most BB you don't actually need your browser to be loaded in order to keep the connection live.

Anyway, I choose to stay connected 24/7 (as they say) rather than connecting and disconnecting as required, even if I don't actually have a browser loaded (which is rare, TBH - I actually keep my browser on all the time).
 
Perhaps you should have gone wannado, but I have been AOL for nearly two years now and gone from AOL4 to AOL9 broadband, have had a few problems, but found ways around them using Internet Explorer, but I have had very little spam problems apart from those caused by a disgruntled former employee! I wouldn't say it was the worst but after hearing about some peoples problems I think I have had very good support from them.
I mentioned Wannado as a friend has just switched and seems very happy after using so many ISP's I swear she has done the lot!
 
Steve,

I could have had a pop at AOL - I'm well aware of its reputation and personally I wouldn't have it - but I didn't really think it was appropriate to do that when Rita has just gone "live" with it and is probably not looking for reasons to feel like she's made a bad decision.

Obviously some people (like Nina above) get on well enough with it.
 
been with AOL, for 3 years and have no probs with them. their help line is also very good. Can only speak as i find.
bert.
 
Hi Steve.

I just feel that "AOL is a load of rubbish" isn't the most helpful answer to the question "should I leave my broadband connection connected?"

Maybe it's just me, but I can't see the connection between the question Rita asked, and the thread you linked to.
 
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Aol and Aol is the connection between the threads and whether it answers the question or Not I stand by linking the two, as a matter of fact 1.8 million people have got rid of it this year alone and it has the highest amount of complaints than any other internet provider, it is also being sued by at least a dozen companies for bad practice and not delivering E Mails. CNN is one of those sueing AOL in seattle. People that Join BF NEVER get there connecting mails unless I or other admin re route them through another server, this means if they have there Notification on , it doesnt work. We get Mails daily asking if we could Change the AOL addresses for Hotmail or anything that works.
 
bert said:
been with AOL, for 3 years and have no probs with them. their help line is also very good. Can only speak as i find.
bert.
Click to expand...
I've been with Blueyonder for 18 months and haven't had any problems. No idea whether their helpline is any good - I've never needed to use it! ;)
 
I just realised I never said I dont leave mine on, always shut right down, but my daughter has hers left on all the time, I don't know if her bills are any higher because of it but I feel that all electrical devices should be switched off for safety if nothing else, but then I'n an old fashioned sort. restarting does take a few minutes but then I feel safer that way, so Metermaid, do your own thing, if you wish to shut right down do so, if you wish to keep it on likewise, I have no idea of the difference but you may like to try both and see if leaving on uses any more power, increases telephone bills or not, costs you anymore from your ISP, which I doubt as AOL has one fixed price, but let me know the results, as I would be very interested to know too.
 
We have a router, so that three computers can connect to the web, as well as a wireless connection for a laptop. We leave the router switched on all the time and with the agreement from our ISP it makes no difference to the cost.
 
Just out of interest, what wears a hard disk out faster, switching the computer on and off regularly or leaving it on all the time?
 
Thanks for the input guys (even if it did cause a bit of a disagreement :) ), I have gotten a bit more used to the system now and I am just signing off the browser and minimising it - whether this means the system is less open to virus attacks etc I don't know as the connection to broadband is still live I believe. As to the AOL debate - we would have gone with NTL who were our dial up provider but they told us ASDL broadband was not yet available here - but clearly it is - I hadn't realised AOL were considered worthy of avoiding - we went with them because they promise such high security and after suffering 300+ emails a day - some of it the most appalling filth (and I am pretty broad minded !!) - that was our highest priority. Had a couple of blips because they sent us the free dial up disc until the broadband modem arrived - but we had problems getting them to change our account from dial up to broadband even though the software had loaded up fine and we were accessing via broadband....however they were pretty helpful on the phone line (less so on the online help - the guy said I should upgrade to Platinum !)....anyway once account was modified it seems ok so far......I don't really ask alot mind you - access to BF, Tesco online and e-mail so hopefully I won't be disappointed - I well let you guys know !!

Thanks

Rita
 
Just to say I've been with AOL for a while now, and just got broadband - started off with the Gold package and then upgraded to 1MB last week. There's been the odd glitch over the years, but nothing major, and as was said above, their tech support has been very good on the couple of occasions I've had to contact them. I get ribbed quite a lot for sticking with AOL, but until it stops working for me, I'll stay where I am |=)|

Access to fora etc seems to vary - as Steve said above it can be a problem with some - this one I can post on from within AOL, but do not receive thread notification emails, though I did get the original ones when I signed up with BirdForum with no trouble at all - I would be interested to know whether they were routed through a different server? On a couple of fora I'm a member of, I have to post through IE, so I just have both browsers minimised all the time. I've never had any problems with receiving attachments from people with other ISPs (I'm a translator working from home, so that is a very important consideration!)

Re staying on all the time, that is what I do. I connect about 7.30am and then it's "always on" until I switch the pc off at night. I make sure my AV and firewall are updated regularly, and cross my fingers!
 
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