Problems with AOL Connection

[flowertot]

My mother is having a few problems with AOL Broadband -it won't connect, it only goes as far as checking password then freezes. Have uninstalled all drivers and AOL software and reinstalled it to no avail. Phoned AOL who went through things with me and it seemed to work for a night then went off again. It is now saying that it can't find IP Address, I have advised her to go away from AOL and set up with another Broadband provider - can anyone advise if the problem is with AOL setup or my mother's computer??

Thanks

[blueivy]

My mother is having a few problems with AOL Broadband -it won't connect, it only goes as far as checking password then freezes. Have uninstalled all drivers and AOL software and reinstalled it to no avail. Phoned AOL who went through things with me and it seemed to work for a night then went off again. It is now saying that it can't find IP Address, I have advised her to go away from AOL and set up with another Broadband provider - can anyone advise if the problem is with AOL setup or my mother's computer??

Thanks

Hi flowertot,

I think there is a general consensus among many people that AOL is a dreadful ISP. Their support is often poor. They use dirty tricks to keep you and not let you move away. Anybody involved in IT will also be able to tell you many stories of problems. However this isn't fixing your mothers PC!

I assume it's a USB modem that your mother has? If the login is successful then there isn't any reason why it shouldn't be picking up an IP address - this is AOL's issue and I'd call them again and report the new problem.

I'd advise your mother and anybody else who uses AOL to move away from them. They are a bit like PC World - all sales and no substance.

[flowertot]

Hi flowertot,

I think there is a general consensus among many people that AOL is a dreadful ISP. Their support is often poor. They use dirty tricks to keep you and not let you move away. Anybody involved in IT will also be able to tell you many stories of problems. However this isn't fixing your mothers PC!

I assume it's a USB modem that your mother has? If the login is successful then there isn't any reason why it shouldn't be picking up an IP address - this is AOL's issue and I'd call them again and report the new problem.

I'd advise your mother and anybody else who uses AOL to move away from them. They are a bit like PC World - all sales and no substance.

Many thanks, I will advise her

[jekyll n hyde]

hi there...i may have a solution to your aol problem...if you go to your start menu at the bottom left click on run.....type in msconfig....when that comes up click on the last tab called start up.....click on disable all....close box then restart your comp....when comp restarts if another box appear check the tick and ok......then start your aol software.....hopefully this is of some help....if not please dont hesitate to ask

[octane]

Heres a video to watch regarding canceling an account with AOL click the picture below to watch it.

[blueivy]

Heres a video to watch regarding canceling an account with AOL click the picture below to watch it.

There is a blog entry with two here.

[octane]

yeah theres quite a few vids regarding AOL as well as other isp's. Its just a shame that the support you get from these people when something is wrong is an absolute joke and it takes us guys to help out. Its just as well there is people like us here to help out as we seem to be more clued up than these so-called big corporations when it comes to fault finding

[Rheghead]

I have been with AOL for 10 years and I've had very few probs. The problems that I had were soon solved by their online help that is free which was invariably my own fault.

My mother cancelled her AOL account which was a quick fix issue and now she is with BTbroadband. Now she is having very severe connection problems, she regrets leaving AOL on my sister's advice.

[octane]

well post up her probs cause were all here to help

[blueivy]

yeah theres quite a few vids regarding AOL as well as other isp's. Its just a shame that the support you get from these people when something is wrong is an absolute joke and it takes us guys to help out. Its just as well there is people like us here to help out as we seem to be more clued up than these so-called big corporations when it comes to fault finding

Hi octane,

I was talking to somebody the other day about this exact problem.

The problem with AOL (and other large ISP's) is that they have huge call centres (normally located abroad now but that's another matter). The people you speak to in those call centres could have worked for a bank call centre the week before. All they do is look up the problem in their knowledgebase and tell you what to do. If it falls outside that scope they invariably haven't got a clue.

That's not their fault IMO, it comes down to the ISP's not wanting to train those staff. If you have a higher or highly trained staff then you need to pay them more money. So it's better to keep them untrained and looking at a knowledgebase. In addition these call centres have a huge turn over of staff so again the ISP's don't want to invest time and money in people who are only going to be there 6 months. This is also the ISP's fault IMO as they could make the working conditions better, pay them more money and give them better job satisfaction. Few people actually switch jobs for more money so it's not all about hard cash.

Anyway, that's strayed completely off-topic!

To drag it back on, the only ISp's I hear people be bitter about is AOL and BT - you could argue that's because they are the biggest. You could also argue it's because of their size that they have the problems. 6 and half a dozen.

If you train staff

[sweetpea]

I get this with AOL as well but my soultion is a bit more simplistic. After 2 or 3 calls to different advisers on the line, one told me to pull out the lead on the modem for a min and plug it back in. Problem solved.

[sweetpea]

Forgot to add. I've had BT, Tiscali and now AOL for Broadband and AOL are the fastest.