Why AOL is the enemy

I had AOL from '94 until I moved out in 2001 and even then my mum kept the account for another year or so. When my mum bought our first modem, it was really a choice between AOL and Compuserve, and AOL had a lot more free areas.

I think AOLs problem was that the internet outgrew it, people started to want networks and broadband, and AOLs little bubble couldn't cope. It was great for what it was though, I really don't remember anyone complaining until suddenly everyone had a pc at home.
 
likwid said:
- forcing users to install terrible software on their computers which used the service you paid for to feed you spam through AOL browser (modified IE)

you could connect without it and use IE

- dishonest charging of payg customers, something like adding 15 seconds then rounding up to the next minute.

O RLY?

- virtually impossible to uninstall there software (adware)

add/remove programs. in what way is it adware?
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well TBH...

you dont have to install ANY software, FROM ANY INTERNET COMPANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

those who are not morons just typed their aol login/pass into the internet explorer dial up connection box and ticked auto connect..

thats for all those who opened AOL to connect and minimised it to use another.....

im just correcting the issues with software, obviously aol still sucks
 
SKaRT said:
I used AOL for a really short period of time before broadband was around (56k) and the worst part by far was the fact it was practically impossible to get any kind of decent ping from their service. Regularly pinging 300+ to UK based servers while other ISPs would have your pings down in the 120-150 regions. Only had to suffer their awful connection for a month or so though, switched to another provider almost instantly after having a connection that bad.
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Their internet presence was in the US - so they pipe you over there only for the connection to come back to the UK.

Excellent if you played on US servers though :)
 
stoofa said:
Before broadband was an option to me I used AOL (reasons to follow) and I'll admit that the service was absolutely fine.
There was never any downtime - it was always available to me when I needed it.

Now to the main reason.
Before broadband it was obviously dial-up.
With "flat rate" dial-up you basically paid a monthly fee for however long you were online for.
However to stop abuse many ISP's forced a disconnection after 1 hour, a few were good enough to give you 2.
Not a major problem, get disconnected, reconnect immediately.

AOL however did not impose such limits - they had an unofficial 8hr connection time (unofficial because I know I remained connected for well over 24hrs in one stint).
Basically if you had ISDN you could get an "always on" 64k connection from AOL.

Yes I had to use the AOL dialler.
However that was a simply matter of launch, connect and minimise.
I could still use IE and I could still use Outlook to send/recieve email via my own domains via POP.

Much of the "AOL Hate" was simple bandgwagon jumping.
Only a very small percentage of AOL bashers ever used the service and really only those that used AOL could really give a fair review of the service.
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I did exactly the same as you, however there was a workaround to use standard diallers, its so long since i did it that i cant remember what it was, but i used to use AOL diallup as you describe but with an ISDN router as an always on 64k connection via NAT the same as we now do with ADSL.
 
Never used AOL, but was a member of CompuServe long before it was bought out by AOL. They used to send out a lot of discs as well. Still remember my first email address - [email protected] :D They did more for the internet than people realise. They created the GIF format, for instance.
 
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I started out on Compuserve, But that became expensive for the habit I had for the Internet back in the day, AOL came along with an unlimited dial up package, so I managed to get my parents to move over to them. It was bad really bad I must say but I'll catch up with that shortly in my post.

We were with AOL for around 6 months, Didn't really complain hard about it, just little phone calls to & from about the issue but it was never resolved. It wasn't too bad at the time though I must say if you just wanted to browse that is!.

When it came to gaming I couldn't even move I remember the CL_Flush_entity_packet error on TFC coming up constantly. So I searched around for another ISP & came across IC24 who were offering free dial-up after 8pm at night. So thats when it came to me using AOL throughout the day until 8pm Browsing/Downloading & then onto IC24 so I could play TFC, Much nicer connection than on AOL thats for sure. I don't know how this worked though.

I never used the AOL program, Always used Netscape or IE.

Now onto the final stint of being with AOL. I came across CableInet from a friend of mine. Unlimited dial up & no disconnections. I managed to get the parents to sign up to this, They couldn't see what was wrong with AOL at the time though :P Took a lot of pleading haha.

So after a month or so I was onto cableInet/became blueyonder shortly after, This was worse than AOL! But thankfully because it was part of the Telewest company I had a lot more luck finding the source of the problem which led to it being the Phone line being nackered at Telewests end. After that the dial up was awesome no disconnects.

I only feel that if we'd have found out about the phone line problems when we were on AOL it would have been a nicer experience. But I do think they got too big for their boots. Hated all the CD's they'd send through every week. I would steer clear of them nowadays, But back when the internet was younger, I believe I most likely would have stayed with them until the broadband days if my phone line wasn't broken.

Ouch essay :/

In short, I definitely wouldn't recommend them nowadays & all their advertising was horrid :/
 
Red and White said:
- forcing users to install terrible software on their computers which used the service you paid for to feed you spam through AOL browser (modified IE)

you could connect without it and use IE


- dishonest charging of payg customers, something like adding 15 seconds then rounding up to the next minute.

O RLY?

- virtually impossible to uninstall there software (adware)

add/remove programs. in what way is it adware?
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was it after one of the many lawsuits filed against them they allowed use of another browser?
link
There are literally thousands of forum posts literring the internet of users having problems uninstalling aol software. If downloading pop up advertising in the background doesn't amount to adware then I don't know what adware is

1999; class action lawsuit filed against AOL citing violations of U.S. labor laws


2000; AOL served with an $8 billion lawsuit because its software prevented AOLers from using another ISP.

2000 and 2001; Reports hit the media that AOL shuts it’s doors to “non AOL” email when email servers are busy. AOLers don’t receive the email, and non AOL senders don’t get their email bounced. Non AOL mail is just quietly deleted to maintain “AOL server integrity.”

And did you see the Vincent Ferrari YouTube video? Hilarious. In 2006, he tried to cancel an AOL account that hadn’t been used for years. The conversation was so “good” it was aired on CNBC.

2006, AOL is named #1 in PC World’s list of the 25 worst tech products of all time

December 2006, in order to cut operating costs, AOL decided to cease using American call centers for customer service. Two weeks before Christmas, thousands of workers were told they were being eliminated

September 2007, AOL said they’re moving from Virginia to New York. Part of the “restructuring” included laying off 2,000 people. Employees were told they’d be let go on Dec. 14. Just before Christmas. Again.

October 2007, the last call center in Canada was also shut down. All AOL customer service calls are now handled by people in India, the Philippines, and Argentina.

AOL, once a behemoth boasting 30 million subscribers, has lost roughly 2/3 of their subscribers. As of November, 2007, their customer base had dropped to 10.1 million subscribers.

I’d like to think that AOL’s decline is an example of consumers standing up for what’s right.

I’d like to think that John and Jane Q. Public, incensed by AOL’s constant abuse of the American consumer, has opted not to put money in their pocket.

But it just ain’t so. All is well in AOL world.
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Just to be clear for those of you using AOL now. I have no idea, it might be a great service for all I know. That doesn't stop them having a notoriously poor reputation. As in the post above, PC World awarded them the title of 'worst tech product of all time'.
 
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AOL were great when domestic dialup became popular, especially with early versions of Napster for mp3's :D

Their software started to trip up when they over complicated it and adware and spyware started to hammer the hell out of it. And their broadband dialers were horrendous for all those people using usb broadband modems, BT105 etc. It was hard to uninstall but not impossible if you knew what to take out, but the fact of the matter is most AOL users liked using the AOL software and were reluctant to give it up. Supporting it must have cost them a fortune.
 
Before broadband I had BT dial-up. I used a friends pc with AOL it dial'd up then this AOL window popped up, I closed it and it cut me off the internet, it really annoyed me that this stupid window had to be open. I also remember how the software was like a virus, really hard to remove it all.

No idea what they are like these days.
 
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