Is AOL that bad?

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I just got one of them AOL 9.0 Optimized cd's in the mail today, and I got to thinking "Is AOL that bad?"

Whatcha'll think?
 
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I think you should try it and see for yourself if you're that interested... I assume it was a free trial offer CD. Opinions on AOL are going to be all over the place and you'll either get people insulting AOLers (on account of the fact we banned AOL IPs a long time ago if I remember right) or ranting about AOL.
 
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Tsunami said:
I just got one of them AOL 9.0 Optimized cd's in the mail today, and I got to thinking "Is AOL that bad?"

Whatcha'll think?
Let me put it this way, yes.

AOL is the internet for dummies, wait, let me rephrase that, AOL is the internet for dumbasses.

You see all those stupid commercials, like the one with the dad waking his son up at 4am and says "Billy, where's my download manager."

Flash forward, "With AOL, it makes me feel like I'm a genius at the internet, eventhough I'm really just a dumbass at heart." - Dramatization, may have not happened. o_O

AOL is crap, it's an expensive crock of something to call the internet.
 
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for gods sake DONT USE THE DISK!
i know too many people whom have had nothing but problems with it.
if you can get ntl in your area, go for that... i was on freeserve for ages and it was guite good till it utterly DIED on me, and then i got a bill of 10p for each minuit i was online... ouch... then i moved to ntl (broadband) and everythings been great since...
allthough theres a few new companys popping up that look quite good as well.
shop around.
 
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I wasn't planning on keeping it, just something new to tinker with.


I think I'll try it.

lesse, do I just install this......or......what?


Never done this before LOL
 
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ommm! he's gonna get pwned with all the other web retards D:!!

it was ok.. but now its teh pewp, i went for the 15.00 a month with ntl 115k, and im happoh as i can beh! do it tooh
 
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The reason it's so bad is that every mom and dad who knows nothing about the internet or uts use goes for aol because they are parent friendly. With all their child locks, secure browsing and things like that, all the new people to the internet go for it.

Thus, it is very slow.
 
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Ah......hmmmm......



welp, looks like I got a new coaster
 
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The only reason that AOL still exists is because they take advantage of the people's ignorance. The majority of us, at least in the US, really don't know anything about computers or the internet. So the ignorant masses confide in a shiny, convenient service that gives them access to the "Internet".

As a side note: I was kicked off AOL, and not allowed to rejoin. Something about illegal behavior. What a bunch of BS. I'm not biased at all. :rolleyes:
 
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AOL isn't as bad a service as everybody thinks. It's "cool" to hate AOL.

I use my university's DS3 for a connection, but my family also has an AOL account, which I use for email.

The only reason I like AOL at all, is because of it's mail configurations. With an inbox limit of over 20,000 per user, and a maximum file attachment size of 16MB, it's much more generous then most other mail systems.

Also, one good reason (in the past) to use AOL, was it's connection.
AOL's dialup connections were on the average, a little slower then their competitors--but in my experience, they sacrificed speed for stability. You got a constant stream of slow data, basically. Which was good for not de-synchronizing from games like EverQuest, whereas I could get a better speed with earthlink/prodigy internet, but I'd get kicked off all the time, and "hiccups" in the line, where data would just spontaneously stop happened all the time.

With the 'Broadband Age' being as it is, there isn't a real reason to use AOL, unless you want the mail client features, which can be purchased rather cheaply.

AOL has a price for Dialup access which is like 21.95$, a total rip-off, but using the "Bring your own access" plan (i.e., if you have university connections, or work/government connections, etc) you only have to pay less than five dollars per month, which is what my family does.

Overall, if you want broadband, don't get AOL DSL unless it's the only thing. Get cable. Get real DSL. AOL isn't good, but I'm not an Anti-AOL zealot like some.
 
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I HATE AOL CUZ IM COOL! :laff: jk i really dont know anything about AOL really. Ive had it b4 and i was like uhh ok its internet service so im just gonna surf dude! I dont use it anymore cuz i got cable. Also the only thing i can say is that it sucked becuz you had to login and it would take a while to sign on which sucked penis. Another bad thing is that if you get reported then your screwed cuz they automatically kick you. I mean you could even just be doing nothing and youll get kicked and it has a reason for someone else saying some stupid ****. That's all i remember about AOL. The rest is just psh i dont care...although i do miss those lesbian chat rooms... :devgrin: That's all i can say..for now..

-Turtle Power!
 
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AOL has some decent chat features, decent email. It basically paved the way to all the internet language you see before you. On another note, it hogs resources, it interferes with games, and it's bandwidth is severely limited, even with the highspeed broadband. Which isn't even their service, it leeches off of Roadrunner or Earthlink and it does make your bandwidth considerably worse. You also have to run that program whenever you want to go on the internet so it's not, "Always on". Do yourself a favor, get RR or Earthlink and download AIM like the rest of us.


Hey i got kicked off of AOL too:p Ahh the good ol' days
 
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I used AOL way back in the day, at least 7, 8 years ago. The only problem I had with it, is it didn't notify me when the free service was over, and automatically started charging us. Partially our fault, but I wish they'd make it more clear that we ran out of time.
 
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i started off with aol 56k... its wasnt tha bad at the time, its was pretty cool actually. but now that i have broadband and can actually play games online, aol was a stupid waste of money
 
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Bleh, install it if you want. It makes no difference to me. Like Alea said, now a days its the 'cool' thing to hate AOL. It's just internet for the computer illiterate. Try it, I don't think it'll make you a loser. So what if some retard makes fun of you on CS. Your IQ won't suddenly drop by installing it and there is no VooDoo on the damn thing, I don't know why some people make AOL such a big deal, when I used it over 6 years ago it was exactly the same as regular Dial up, suffice the different browser you could do everything else, but whatever, I'm on cable now..
 
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I used AOL up until fairly recently... (end of last summer, not by choice mind you :-/) because my parents were already paying for it for their computer. Besides the ridiculous price, their software is bloated, and clunky, not to mention it installs a ton of unnecessary "features". Oh, and their web browser is worse than IE. -_-

While connected to the internet through AOL's software, I would only get around 2-3 k/s while surfing. After I used Dialguard to retrieve the encrypted forms of my username and password, and I made a new DUN (Dial-up networking) connection, I was able to connect WITHOUT their software (possible with any dialup isp), and I got around 5-6 k/s (double the speed).

I'd say AOL is a turn off due to it's horrendous software, jacked-up price, and slow speeds (if you use their software).
 
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Kurt said:
Oh, and their web browser is worse than IE. -_-
Just f.y.i., AOL software has used Internet Explorer as it's browser since version 3.0.

But we all know how much of an anti-IE guy you are. :p

Ironic how AOL owns Netscape (whose horrible abortion of 'Mozilla' starred in Netscape7, and failed miserably) yet supports IE as it's browser, don't you think?
 
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i was banned from AOL like 5-6 years ago using illegal punters(remember punters!) to mess with people, i used to have a blast, and i rememeber the server channels in the AOL chatrooms which was where they have bots read you a menu of all the warez and illeagal ish they had and you pick whicher ever number you want and they email it to you, those were the days :)
 

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