aol keeps cutting off

[rubberduck]

i have a strange problem when i am surfing the net i will click on to go on a site and aol will just cut out and off and i have to start aol again only happens now and again but most annoying i am using aol 1mb broadband any help would be appreciated

thanks

[Virgin San]

AOL is a pile of shite, get used to it or get rid of it :)

[Jesterrace]

I have to agree with Virgin San on this one. There is no such thing as good service with AOL. Definitely switch providers.

[aaronjon]

imho,
lets have a bit of help here, are your views due to the experience of using AOL or just hearsay??? we all know how crap Micro$haft is but dont change, likewise AOL offer a good no limit service and may be the s/ware aint up to much but if you are tied into a 12 month contract just to say CRAP, CHANGE ISP, ETC. aint helpful.
sorry for the rant.
i`m on AOL and dont get these problems, suggest using AOL online help or AOL FREEPHONE HELP SERVICE. (how many isp`s have got one of them???).

[Templar]

Considering he is on AOL Broadband, it should NEVER cut out, as he is always connected, which leads me to believe, as the others have said, that the AOL software is CRAP. Try surfing with IE (yes you can) and see if you ever lose the connection. If you do, then your service (cable/DSL) is spotty, and you should give your ISP a call. Otherwise, it's the AOL crap.

[Virgin San]

imho,
lets have a bit of help here, are your views due to the experience of using AOL or just hearsay??? Peoples experiences with the shortcomings of AOL have been discussed time and time again on this and other forums, do a search.

[aaronjon]

thanks virgin san for your second helpful post on this thread, templar also thinks the same BUT he offered some solutions for rubberduck.
seeing as AOL 9 and 1mb connections are only a matter of a few weeks old here in uk then a search seems a bit pointless.

[Virgin San]

thanks virgin san for your second helpful post on this threadIts up to the moderators to criticise the value of my posts, not you. I notice you aren't moaning about Jesterrace's post.

... a search seems a bit pointlessYou specifically asked if peoples dislike for AOL was hearsay or experience, I suggested you do a search because people have posted their experiences.

Stop wittering.

[NotAHacker]

AOL Sucks the big one!!!!:insane:

[nightheart]

First off, AOLHELL is crap. Second, even with broadband from AOL, your connection is not ALWAYS on, you must sign in to "connect", so even surfing with IE, isn't always an option. Your AOL software is most likely just "crapping" out. You can reinstall AOL's crapware, and see if that helps. 9.0 is buggy to say the least, even by AOL standards, and a new isp is recommended. I'm sorry, but no isp should ever require you to install anything other than drivers for your modem. People with AOL seem to have more problems with connecting than any other isp, and that should tell you something. Friends don't let friends use AOL.

[Ogs]

i agree if u want their 'crap', i.e parental conrols and a dodgy version of a browser. shouldnt it be optional to install? and as for having to connect to broadband thats just nutz

[Jesterrace]

imho,
lets have a bit of help here, are your views due to the experience of using AOL or just hearsay??? we all know how crap Micro$haft is but dont change, likewise AOL offer a good no limit service and may be the s/ware aint up to much but if you are tied into a 12 month contract just to say CRAP, CHANGE ISP, ETC. aint helpful.
sorry for the rant.
i`m on AOL and dont get these problems, suggest using AOL online help or AOL FREEPHONE HELP SERVICE. (how many isp`s have got one of them???).
My experience comes from my friend, and several co-workers who use the service. I remember that my friend was D/L something with AOL and had to run to the bathroom, I had to sit by his PC and click or move the mouse every 5 minutes or it would kick him off (yes this was dial-up and not BB) and he was paying $20 a month for that BS. I had a free dial-up service that didn't kick me off that often. Anyways, I know something is up when even my computer illiterate co-workers are dogging on the service which claims to be "noob friendly." I totally understand where you are coming from and I agree that I probably could've tried to be more helpful with my response but when there is so much evidence that AOL is among the worst ISPs out there, I sometimes can't help myself when the solution is so obvious. BTW as for AOL Online help or AOL Freephone help, let me ask you this? How many other ISPs NEED THESE SERVICES. The point is that AOL has so many issues that it is almost a necessity to have these services where with other ISPs it is not. That and tech support is generally not the best place to get help (no matter what you are dealing with). If he is under contract then he should just stick it out and then switch to a decent service when it expires.

[Virgin San]

Just for the sake of stopping any further b1tching - I too am speaking from experience, a number of my own family members, friends and more than a couple of "customers" have had terrible experiences with AOL software and service (and that includes the wonderful FREE phone service which is usually manned by brainless troglodites).

Given these experiences and those which I have frequently read posted in forums such as this (did i mention that?) my conclusion is - AOL is a pile of shite, get used to it or get rid of it.

I hope this response meets the required standards of certain grumpy users who don't recognise a flippant remark when they see one ;)

[aaronjon]

i thank you ALL for your inputs and experiences, i am sorry if anyone was hurt in the making of this post, it was not my intention.
virgin san i just criticised a flippant remark, be it yours or jesterraces or any mod for that matter, grumpy i may be but it got a few more results for US and other potential AOL users, even an unusually short input from notahacker.

[nightheart]

Well I am speaking from personal experiance here. Many, many moons ago, like about 10 yrs ago, AOL was the only "ISP" that had a local access number for where I lived, and I spent hours waiting to connect, only to get knocked off line and wait hours longer. My mother still uses it, and I'm down there at least once a month fixing it, because something went wrong with it again. won't connect, pages don't load up, etc. I've seen AOL ruin internet explorer, and require complete re-installs of it. The AOL adapter that connects it to IE, just adds more holes to an already unsecure browser.

From a money point of view, I don't understand it. In the US anways, AOL dial-up is by far the most expensive, and their broadband prices are higher than most others. As for AOL's tech support, has anyone actually talked to these idiots? Unless you want to learn how to use AOL pictures or something like that, they are completely useless. The few times I have called them for other people, they have always told me to call microsoft and get them to work it out, because it HAS to be a windows problem.

AOL's buisness design makes no sense either. They own the rights to Netscape and all its flavors, yet their browser runs off of IE. I also read somewhere, not sure where now, that the AOL offices can't use their own software, due to the security flaws, and lack of networking ability. They are selling this crap and don't even use it themselves.

my aol rant its over............

[PhilEnfield]

I have to agree with the majority here ..... AOL is BAD NEWS.

I unscrambled a friend's PC, when he switched from AOL last year. It was one almighty mess to clean up .... ended up reinstalling Windows for him, as it was quicker.

I hate anything that hijacks your machine.

[NotAHacker]

I've gotten to the point that I don't work on pcs with aol on them unless I'm formating them!!! If someone doesn't like like that I look at is as they can't be to bright to be using AOL in the first place :saywhat: and they and their pc is not worth my time!! Hows that for a longer input? :bigthump:
So like I said :director: AOL Sucks the big one!!!!

[PhilEnfield]

:laugh:

[Jesterrace]

Once again, my appologies for the nasty remarks but like just about everyone else here, I cannot fathom why people throw away so much money on AOL when there is SOOO much evidence that there are better services out there. I guess if he is still living with his parents and they are not very computer knowledgeable then I could understand it.

[Virgin San]

We've been so busy bagging AOL (again (http://www.dvdrom-guide.com/forums/showthread.php?p=19745#post19745)) that none of us has actually mentioned that duckies problem "might" be down to an external infection (as opposed to the one he knowingly installed from the AOL disc ;) ) - do you have a firewall, spyware detector and up to date AV software running?

[lastlaugh]

LOL, Hate to be piling on here but, i just had to add my 2 cents. I have to agree with NotaHacker. My first question to anyone who calls me for pc assistance is "Do you have AOL Installed?" If so, I promptly instruct them on how to uninstall it. If they refuse, I refuse to work on it. I have seen so many problems stem from AOLs software that I won't even let my wife check her AOL email address or install AIM on any of my 9 PCs. On top of that, I can tell you that the US Military has banned the use of AOL on Government computers due to their constant monitoring of email, chat, and surfing habits. They have been proven on several occasions to sell their client's information to outside agencies. I handle the network security administration for a 600 man facility, am Network+, Security+, and A+ certified along with several other military certifications (I know several of you on this board have those beat by a mile, but..), and I can tell you, our network and pc problems in general have been cut in half since we stopped our users from using AOL. It gets people online and interested in computers who are otherwise computer illiterate, but then gets them hooked. It doesn't teach them anything about what they are doing because it does everything for them. A very good friend of mine who works as an IT specialist at the Pentagon described AOL perfectly when he said, "If you make computers idiot proof, only idiots will want to use them." I mean no offense by that, but it is true. The vast majority of AOL users are first time computer owners, older people or kids, all of which have very little working knowledge of their computers and even less about how the internet works. The more educated people get about the software side of their computers and how AOL really works, the more they will want to get away from it.

[Virgin San]

Mods, how about a poll for DVDRG users feelings about AOL - orgasmic, satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied, pile of shite - that kind of thing? Perhaps there are some closet supporters out there who aren't posting.

[Elaine]

Done, so don't even try to say that I've never done anything for you, VS. :D Everyone's vote will remain anonymous so there's no fear of flaming. Just vote your experience.

[Virgin San]

Done, so don't even try to say that I've never done anything for you, VS. :D .
SO many possible answers, my head might explode :insane:

Thanks E :)

[NotAHacker]

I'll take a guess and say I know one member who hasn't voted as of yet.:D

[kyle5077]

People, people, people...
I think THIS (http://media.ebaumsworld.com/aol.mov) about sums it up.

[aaronjon]

Have now. lol.

[Virgin San]

Have now. lol.... and yet still no positive votes - I thought you said you didnt have any problems with it m8! Or was it just that you have different problems to ducky?

;)

[Jesterrace]

People, people, people...
I think THIS (http://media.ebaumsworld.com/aol.mov) about sums it up.
That was great. :laugh:

[aaronjon]

no problems with software, just that its not always ON as stated above and that it uses some sort of universal I.D. that some of the d/load sites time out making me have to use I.E. so dissatisfied here.

[Virgin San]

I cannot fathom why people throw away so much money on AOL when there is SOOO much evidence that there are better services out there. I think its down to good marketing and general ignorance. I guess only a small percentage of PC users really know whats out there for them and how to get it - when they switch on their TV they see that bint with the stupid hair telling them how great AOL is and they go out and buy it. Likewise in the stores theres always a big pile of AOL CD's in plain view, not a list of all the better ways to get service. And once they've got the average person hooked, well, its impossible to get the bloody thing off your machine!

For all the things they've got wrong, you've got to take your hat off to AOL in one area - they know how to sell their pile of shite :)

[Jesterrace]

No arguments there. If ever I was to market a bogus product, I would definitely be giving thier advertising department a call. :laugh: