View Full Version : OT: AOL Good Idea/Bad Idea?
XRobList
17-01-2001, 08:49
Ive had somepeople say they have to try to connect a couple of times to their 0800 because of engaged tones but they say its minimal but then someone who was talking to yesterday said hes only been able to get on a handfull of times?
Anyone else have an oppinion before I had over my erm "hard earned" cash :E
Ive been using the AOL free trial for nearly 4 weeks now.
At first it was way laggy in AA, but the last 3 weeks have been fine.
I have got the 'engaged' tone just twice since Ive been on, but its automatically dialed the alternative number and hooked up ok each time.
I dont find much difference between BT3 and AOL when playing AA, as far as lag is concerned.
however..aol..NO 2 hour cutoff!
I find that the aol web browser thing seems a mite faster than BT3.
The only thing I dont like about it is that you have to have the AOL browser thingy running all the time.(IE and netscape will work tho).
I think I shall stick with AOL and cancel bt3, as aol doesnt have 2 hour cutoff.
The prices for AOL 24h 7d and the new bt 24h 7d service are the same.
Happy
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 09:39
Happy, AOL went through a few tech probs that first week you were on, was the same for everyone m8 :)
but now, things are running smoooothly, connection has been good these past few nights, very good actually, i'm happy. (not the person :E)
IMHO AOL has always been a good service, it's finally got itself upto scratch performance wise (my claim to fame of having a latency of over 7500 on FA2 :laugh: ) and TBH is really impressing me at the moment.
Happy, you done that privacy preferences thing, and has it slightly stabilised your connection?
regarding the engaged numbers, it happens very rarely (and usually on the 0808 number, as this is the first on the list when you select them, so most people use it as default) there are a good few 0800 24/7 AOL numbers available, just use your noggin when setting AOL up, and you'll have no probs whatsoever.
long live AOL! :D
I tried setting up AOL with my switch card, only to be told
that the 50 free hours dont apply if you use switch. It has to be Visa/Mastercard.
So trashed them and went with NTL :)
24/7 for £9.99 :)
Originally posted by [TSQN] Fu11
Happy, you done that privacy preferences thing, and has it slightly stabilised your connection?
What's that about then?
My connection's usually pretty good; not quite as good as BTFree but playable, and no 2-hour cutoff is a godsend in EQ. Thinking of ditching BT soon, but that'd mean changing email addresses again, which is a pain.
NTL: I'll wait till they've got the cable modems in my area, I think...
Phillie Time
17-01-2001, 10:07
Thinking of ditching BT soon, but that'd mean changing email addresses again, which is a pain.
[/B][/QUOTE]
I've shutdown my BT3 account but kept the mail - the mail is a free service that you can access/send via: http://mail.btinternet.com even if you close your btinternet dialup account.
or I think you can set your mail account to send mail through a non-BT SMTP server (as BT's needs you to be connected).. I need to check on that though - right now I'm downloading my mail like normal but replying using the webmail.
hmmmmmmmmm....
ive been on it for 3 or 4 weeks now and waaaaaaaaaay happy until i reinstalled yesterday after formatting my comp :(, last night my lag was awfully unplayable and i was disconnected quite a few times before i just gave up. I'm not sure what the prob is but i think when i reinstalled AOL from the cd it gave me new numbers to use /me wishes he never formatted now. can someone pls pls pls post their access numbers here so as i can do alittle check to see if thats what the prob is?
Oh ...and can i take this opertunity to ask people to pls add me via icq as i lost most of my numbers during the format.
thanks
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 10:34
Unkempt, think about it, if you've got people flickering on and off your buddy list, people IM-ing you etc etc...
then you're connection is going to suffer a little, on previous versions of AOL, i've had the odd crash or two from AOL giving up from too much incoming crap...
like i said, it doesn't improve the connection as such, more the stability of the whole shebang :)
i also find it works for surfing the net too (i always use proper Ie5), it may be nothing, but i do notice a slight difference... so... :D
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 10:35
and Dilly, at work, so can't help, sorry :(
if you still need them by tonight, lemme know :)
Originally posted by [TSQN] Fu11
Unkempt, think about it, if you've got people flickering on and off your buddy list, people IM-ing you etc etc...
Oh, OK. Since I never use any of that stuff (no 'buddies', havent touches AIM, always connect then minimise the big ugly thing) I should be OK though? Maybe I should actually take a look at it some time.
thanks fu11 :)
can you pls post them in here ?
most appreciated
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 11:06
Unk, i'd still whack all prefs on...
close yourself off from the world and plaaaaaay :D
Dilly, i'll check the nb tonight m8, if nobodies replied, i'd get them for you :)
Its a sad, sad day when BTi is worse than AOL.
/cries.
:(
bti has always been worse than AOL :P
btw, i dont know about games like CS. i dont think its up to scatch when playing those :(
but for web browsing, its certainly the best :)
oh yeah, and if u have a 56k flex modem, use the 56k flex number, rock stable :E
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 12:12
CS is playable over AOL :)
56k dialup, ping varies between 200-250 ish, playable, but not for any competitive standard :)
Now RHA is gone i'm in need of an replacement, now its either gonna be AOL or should I wait for BTI? Anyone know how long its gonna be? (means i can ref for free, and dont have to change my dial-up when i goto ref).
Mark
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 14:17
you can get into 2.3 arenas through AOL :)
You can? htf can u do that?
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 14:54
WP2.3 in open to pretty much every ISP shocker :P
I'll ave to try that out then :/
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 15:34
oh ye of little faith :)
XRobList
17-01-2001, 16:30
muchos thanks for your help everyone, I joined AOL today.
Took me 4 hours :(
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 16:57
Originally posted by XRobList
Took me 4 hours :(
L4M3R!
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 16:58
:laugh:
Well i aint gonna waste my money on your say-so am i now?
[TSQN] Fu11
17-01-2001, 17:07
0800 24/7 No cut off : £15 a month..
waste of money? HA! :P
bt3 64k transfer rate : 7.14kb/sec
aol 64k transfer rate : 1.05kb/sec
um
i'll stick with bt3 cos then I can get on CS..... and use aol in the day :)
I was planning on switching over to AOL, but... Firstly, it doesn't use normal dial-up network protocol - it uses its own software, which seems... odd. Also, according to a friend of mine who uses AOL, the downloaded material (in the cache) isn't locatable on the PC (although I've not verified this). In my opinion, this raiser too many questions regarding the security/privacy standards of AOL, so thanks but no thanks.
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