How to see Connie naked...... (AOL Flat Rate)

Member Name: johnny8977

Product:	AOL Flat Rate
Date:	16/04/02 (332 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: reliable connection, large community

Disadvantages: slow connection, spam, expensive

Whether or not you would find AOL useful as an ISP (Internet Service Provider) depends entirely on what you want from the internet and your level of experience with computers in general, dial-up networking in particular and if you have experience of Internet Explorer and Outlook.

Let me start by saying that I am fairly confident in setting up my own connect to the internet and prefer to use Internet Explorer for my browser and Outlook for my email. If you are like me and are thinking of subscribing to AOL – DON’T! You can’t use any other mail programs, and it makes life very difficult if you don’t want to browse the Net in the AOL application. It messes with any dial up networking connections you my already have set up and treats you like you know nothing at all.

However, if you are new to computers and the Internet, and don’t know the difference between IE and ET, AOL could be for you. If you just want to ‘see’ the Internet and have an email address to write to friends, AOL is the ISP for you. It tries to make your life as simple as possible. This is very frustrating if you know what you’re doing but would help a beginner out a great deal. You basically put the CD into your machine, type in a few details and away you go. There’s no configuring connections or setting up email accounts with POP3 server names here and there. The AOL interface is as simple as possible and if you do have any problems, the helpline is charged at local rate.

But, I would only recommend AOL to very beginners, and then only while you find you feet on the Internet. I have recently cancelled my subscription and started with a new ISP and am getting much faster connections and surfing has become enjoyable again, as opposed to the chore that it sometimes was with AOL. My new ISP is PlusNet if anyone is interested in reading the Ops done on it.

I won’t go into all the technical specifics that no one i
s really interested in (but seem to get gold crowns anyway ;-0) because that won’t help anyone make a decision as to whether get AOL or not. The following table should help –

GOOD POINTS:
Excellent for beginners
Large and active community from chat rooms to AOL instant messaging
Reliable connection for downloading (I could leave it connected all night and not be disconnected)
Free trial easily available

BAD POINTS
Expensive (£14.99 per month for unmetered access, about to go up to £15.99)
Sometimes difficult to connect (not really specific to AOL however)
Spam, Spam, Spam
Nightmare if you want to surf with Internet Explorer
Cannot use any other mail programs and AOL’s is very basic.
Slow connection speeds

So, hopefully I’ve provided a balanced review and people will be able to make a more informed choice as to whether AOL would suit them.

By the way, the title was to get people to read ; )

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