There is a lot of talk here about the frequency of disconnects. This is very puzzling to me. I have had AOL since 1994, and can honestly say that I have probably been disconnected about 10 times since then. Part of the time I was using a different ISP and other times I was using AOL as the ISP, so I can't place all of the blame on AOL. As far as slow response time, I can't say that I have ever experienced a 'wait' so long that I felt the need to complain about it. I've had 3 PC's since then, the first being rather slow and sluggish regardless of whether I was online or not, the second being a bit faster, and my currenty PC is very fast ! Interstingly, I have lived in both large cities and remote areas, and noticed no difference in the service, connection or response of AOL. I'm not sure if people who live in large cities or more rural areas have the problems that everyone else has mentioned, but for me, AOL has served me well.

We had AOL for five years until we switched to cable internet. I wish we had given AOL up earlier because it was a horrible internet service. To begin with the connection was slow, we many times got kicked off, we got a lot a lot of spam despite efforts to stop it. Everytime I tried to install one of their upgrades it would not work. President X-D is right, the you got pictures is just a shoddy attempt into duping the market into thinking this is some great thing AOL invented. Well anyone can send pictures as an attachment in their email. Also one does not need AOL to use their instant messenger. There are some things like messageboards, chatrooms and some websites that are exculsive to AOL but really one is better off without it. There are better internet services out there.

The worst. Connection quality aside, this company panders to stupid people and their ads are proof positive of this. Their endless promoting of all the "great features" on AOL is genuinely disturbing to me. Keywords, music, games, parental controls, email, you've got pictures, etc etc. Excuse me, AOL, but why would you promote a product in such a way that IGNORES the fact that ANY internet user can access those things without using your browser? Why create and sell an internet browser that attaches itself to a large number of Windows applications, causing incredible havok when you attempt to uninstall it? I would think that AOL users would quickly notice that "keywords" are NOT part of the internet and are strictly an AOL concoction; but for some reason, this doesn't sway people from noticing that something is amiss with their provider. Don't even get me started on their shameless instant messenger promotions; sorry, AOL, that was around before you ripped it off. What burned me up the worst was the introduction of the "you've got pictures" idea in their TV ads. These ads made it sound to the novice internet user that AOL was the ONLY way to get pictures in your email. Are you kidding me??! Sending "picture" attachments is almost as old as email itself; AOL apparently has no shame at all in manipulating the uneducated into believing that they invented something that they most certainly did not. Speaking of TV ads, am I the only one who notices the "blank" (stupid and/or gullible) look in the eyes of each and every actor in their ads? Or the condescending tone used by the voice-over people? How can this company continue to promote their browser as being somehow essential to a great internet experience? I have no problem with the idea of internet training wheels (which is exactly what AOL is, I don't remember who coined that phrase), but it is a hideous business practice to talk down to your customers and sell them a product that the busiess IS FULLY AWARE is nothing but a gimmick intended to trap the gullible and keep them trapped. "So easy to use, no wonder it's #1". Actually, since your internet usage is being filtered through their system-dominating browser, AOL makes the internet MORE difficult to use properly; it doesn't make the internet "easy to use" since you are not using the internet properly in the first place by using AOL ("keywords", anyone?). AOL is #1 because they have been around a LOT longer than the rest of the providers. My friend was using AOL back in 1990 and it wasn't exactly new then either. I don't begrudge a company becoming #1 in their market; I normally admire it. However, this company became too big for their britches and are dishonest with their marketing. Any AOL users reading this should take a long look at what AOL is, and have a friend show you how to operate the internet without all the AOL insults to your intelligence.

Most expensive access (if you call AOL the Internet). What you get is tons of ads and annoying pop ups all the time. Lots of graphics that take time to download. Annoying TV ads that lie to you. Bad customer service (to say the least). Ever try to call AOL? The Internet "experience" is bad since you use their network: it's slow and they track your movements all over the place. The question you need to ask is, why spend over $20/month for access when you can pay $9.99?

After being on the internet for years and never actually trying AOL, I decided to let a friend of mine give me the grand tour. What a disappointment it was too! She uses it because if was the first service she installed and has just never gotten around to getting signed up with another service. But for the life of me I can’t figure out why. You can tell the format of the service is for the beginner on the internet. Which can be good as well as bad. Other services have easy to use formats too, and are a lot cheaper than the over priced, quickly dropped, AOL that I saw. I have another friend that calls AOL America Off Line, because that too is another main problem with AOL, not only will you most in likely get disconnected several times, you’re never sure if you’re actually on the internet or on one of their servers. If you really enjoy the internet, I have to agree with others that have commented on this subject and get someone who is NOT on AOL give you a tour of their service. I have two providers, one is a private ISP and one is another cheaper company and BOTH offer the same pages; what I can access with one, I can access with the other. However, my friend who is on AOL can’t get some of the stuff I send her because she’s on AOL. My advice is to shop around and read around. AOL has been around a long time, and because of that has gained a huge following of mainly dissatisfied people who for one reason or another haven’t changed yet. Also, please realize that you do not have to be with AOL to use their instant messenger program. You can still keep up with your buddies and have a faster, cheaper and more reliable service.

Terrible.

Their software "attaches" itself to your computer and won't let go. It invades other programs. And then when you've finally smartened up and want to dump this garbage, when you try to cancell your service they find all sorts of new ways to extract money from your credit card or your bank account. WARNING: if you are smart, you will avoid AOL. Be afraid, be very afraid, these people hate their customers. The motto at AOL is: The Customer is NEVER right.

I've been using AOL from version 3.0 to 7.0, and it just gets worse and worse every time. It's obviously for the "new" internet user, who might find having 30 some odd icons on their online window to be somehow useful. The dial-up is painfully slow (comparing to other dial-ups such as Earthlink); I've never dealt with the customer service personally, but from what I understand they're less-than efficient with dealing with billing problems. Half of my conversations on the Instant Messages comprised of: "Got Booted?"; "Yeah, again. AOL sucks"; "AOL definately sucks.". Hearing that voice say "Goodbye" can now spark a violent reaction from me; I curse more in one hour in front of the computer when AOL's up than I have in five years of driving. Even when you're not signing directly on to AOL, it still is a pain! I use a cable internet service outside of home (which is now the ONLY time I'm online), and all was good, until recently they've updated their website to mandatorily play some crappy movie, taking up a lot of time to load, and now it's so poorly designed that when you sign on, the screen doesn't change and there is no indication that you've signed on or not! I wouldn't recommend this service to anyone. ADDITION TO ORIGINAL COMMENT: And WHAT is UP with the !@#$ing mandatory pop-ups??? Has AOL lost its mind COMPLETELY??? Who thought THAT was a good idea, to have a huge screen dominate your desktop suddenly with offers you don't want?? Especially since 95% of the pop-up ads are for pop-up stoppers, this makes me incredibly annoyed! It's not worth it!

If you like getting kicked off, your computer locking up, tons of spam, 30 to 40 attempts just to log on, slower than slow connection speeds (even for dialup), the same three answers to any and all tech problems from customer support. Than AOL is for you. And GOOD LUCK your gonna need it.

I have aol, but am in the process of switching to another ISP, AOL, MSN, Earthlink, they are all way too expensive! The fact that the internet has grown by leaps and bounds in the past 5 years, the rates should have dramatically DROPPED, but these clowns keep getting higher and higher, so, I will go elsewhere,as they don't offer anything that I can't get elsewhere for about half the price. My ISP isn't important as long as it is reliable, I just use it as a 'boot' to the internet, so why pay AOL kind of money?

Tried it for less than one month on a free trial and told them no thanks. I was very disappointed. It was slow moving. On the weekends I could forget even trying to go online since it was so busy. You either had a hard time getting on or we were kicked off.that is real maddening. Would not take them up on another offer no matter what they promised.besides from what I can see, some real lowlifes. work for this company.

AOL IS THE WORST ISP I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. MY LOCAL ACCESS NUMBERS HAVE EXTREMELY SPOTTY SERVICE, AND THERE ARE ADS EVERYWHERE. IF I PAY $22.95 A MONTH FOR SERVICE, I DON'T WANT TO SEE ADS!!!! I COULD DIAL IN WITH OTHER END OF THE PHONE CORD UP MY ASS AND I WOULD GET BETTER SERVICE. STAY AWAY FROM AOL!!

possibly the worst isp ..... ever.

AOL rocks, don't you know! They give me 23 IP addresses so that I can sit at home and vandalize a web-site called RIA. My life is rich with close friends and meaning!!!

I use AOL right now, and I am a very unhappy user. Can I change? No...my parents won't change from AOL DSL until SBC is in our area. It is comign soon...AOL sucks...why am I giving AOL respect? aol, there we go, no caps not even if aol is at the beginning of a sentence. Why do I hate aol so much? It causes many problems with slowing my computer and all of its extra memory and options do no good but lag. When I am downloading from anywhere, aol just hogs up my connection. Playing online games is the worst...my lag goes up! aol sucks the big one, down with aol! They think their special "user-friendly" Interface (look, I capitilized Interface over aol) is really "user-friendly" when it really is "user-retarded". Don't get aol, if you do, try to change it. I threaten my parents to change it with suicide (not really, but I bet it would work). DONT GET aol IT SUCKS!!!

Aol sucks! extremely poor customer service! Dial AOL get India! Not even worth having for free! Too much spam even from AOL. AOL sells members email addresses as per their employees comments! PROBLEMS 24hours a day!

I've never subscribed to it, but from what I've seen of it, it's just a sugar-coated waste of money.

I'm really glad that Im not on AOL. First of all, its way too expensive. The average price is $22.95, which is extrememly too much when there are others out there that cost lest. A know people where the internet connection has just completely stopped; one of them it even happened for days. Instant messaging is no longer nothing special, Juno and NetZero offer it also. With NetZero, for $9.95 per month, you get faster internet than AOL and instant messaging. A lot of people say that AOL is "cool" and "hip". Well, I really could care less how the background looks, I got the internet connection for the internet! I'm sorry, but they flat out lie with thier CD's. They stated that they would not charge for 30 days. I tried it, even though I had to put a credit card # in, and they charged me even though they said that they wouldn't. Outrageous! My mom refused to pay it, but AOL never said anything after that. Ive noticed that the simple Netscape is much easier to use than AOL. In consumer reports, it seems like AOL is always the lowest in customer satisfaction. Thier stock is dropping like a rock, wouldn't be suprised if they went bankrupt.

If everyone hates AOL so much, then why does everyone have it???

Add me to the list of AOL haters.....and I only use for mail (what was i thinking?). Was a Beta tester til I got tired of spending hrs fixing things after each new version HAD to be installed (old version was blocked!). Sure the Buddy List AIM thing is fun but not worth the rest of the aggravation i.e. advertisements, crashes/freezes, CD's in-the-mail, pop-ups etc. And I agree wholeheartedly that AOL seems to be customer unconscious. Heading to Earthlink based on lots of recommendations from friends.

I know a lot of folks complain about AOL, however, I believe that in comparison to others, it is one of the better ISPs available on the market today. There are problems, however. Some compatibility issues seem to exist between AOL, and some web browsers, such as internet explorer. In addition, connections can be latent, and may result in some lost packets. Furthermore, AOLs access numbers are a bit constrained, and the end user must be VERY cautious to check and ensure that "local" access numbers are indeed local, and not considered a long-distance phone call by your regional phone company. I inadvertenly racked up a $1,000.00 phone bill by changing my access number to a number deemed as local by AOL, but not by my phone company. AOL is significantly more expensive than other providers, however, it seems to have a much more robust platform than many other ISPs, and offers many neat features that allow for safe and secure cruising of the internet. Security is paramount at AOL. Customer service is good, however, I have noticed a decrease in service since Steve Case left. Anyway, try AOL. If you don't like it, and simply want chats, go to Yahoo. com. If you simply want e-mail, go to hotmail. com Good luck!

America's #1 at sucking. It's notorius for sucking, no one likes it.. Lets just kill AOL, and stop tehir advertsing, But they do give us free CDs taht are fun to play around with...

I was with AOL several years ago and had a lot of trouble with getting kicked off and continual pop ups. After that time I went to Compuserve which is a good service but doesn't have the technical help I receive with AOL. I am back with AOl and have not had the problems I have had in the past. I am using the 8.0 version and it has places to block out pop ups that work well except for one continual pop up I didn't ever receive before I switched from 7.0 to 8.0. MESSENGER SERVICE pop ups, they drive me crazy. Even with Mcafee Firewall they still show up and AOL has no answers for me. AOL is one of the most expensive services you can purchase so I expect the best from them......GEEEESH, that is not what I am getting. I will continue to reserch other internet services for the sevice I expect at this price.

Truly the over-priced cartoon isp for beginners who just don't know better yet.

I’m not against capitalism as long as it stays reasonably intelligent. But I’ve never been too keen on mega-corporations that go around eating up all the little fish and then belching all over society as though they are a superior entity with a supernatural right to do so. AOL is one of those creepy companies that never seem to get enough power. Besides that they’ve hit a new low with their gross ad featuring a very “satisfied” Sharon Stone. What a skank and what a skanky company for sinking so disgustingly low – just because they can. Yet another reason to add to those of “President-X-D” on why NOT to use this over rated self-satisfied service. There are just too many other fish in the sea.

AOL is not the best internet service by a long shot, and I know there are others out there that are a lot better. But that's what I have now, and I can't complain too much. Of course, I'll admit that I sometimes get bumped off line for no apparent reason, but I just shrug it off, and get back online again. Also, AOL 8.0 has just added the benefit of being able to block the pop-up ads. Thank goodness for that; those pop-ups were starting to annoy me. One thing that's sort of frustrating about AOL is that if I save any documents to my hard drive which contain images, the images don't show up in the saved document. Sometimes the images don't matter, but they do if they are visual aids that help to clarify something, for instance, a diagram or map. I have to use Internet Explorer as a supplemental browser if I want any images to turn out after I've saved a document. But that's my only complaint about AOL thus far; I'm pretty content with it. That doesn't mean that I won't look into getting another internet service sometime in the future. But, I'll stick to AOL for now, as it really isn't that bad, and there always seems to be something new. I have hope that AOL just might improve.

The only thing worse then AOL is no internet at all. I was one of the first AOL'ers (back when they limited you 8 letter screen names and chat rooms were still really cool. :) Even back then AOL was a pain. Now it has evolved into an ultra commericalized internett hell where download time are abismale and you're more likley to be disconnected then anything. And to make it worse, it seems like every month AOL has a new upgrade that you have to spend an hour loading on your computer. I have to proudly admit that I still have AOL 5.0 and ONLY use it b.c I can't bear to part with my email address. The only good piont I will giev AOL is that they let you buy only 5 hrs a month for those of use who can't bear to part with my screen name. AIM is nice too.

Would not once alow me to connect to yahoo.com so I could read my e-mail unless I did two hours of searching first. Did not let me reply to tell them this problem. Also had other problems with them. Funny I latter found out they are associated with yahoo.

AOL is extremely annoying, disconnects a lot, and, if you try to cancel AOL, they will cause you TONS of trouble and try to keep charging you (for a long time) after you've quit using it. Plus it puts a ton of spyware on your computer. It also crashes your computer all the time, and freezes too. Don't use it!

I've had AOL for around 5 and a half years. They are a little better than they were at the beginning because they added more servers. I also like their newsgroup reader. However, that is it. When I send email to other people, apostrophes frequently come across garbled, making my message hard to read. I've been bumped offline *many* a time. Their newsgroup reader was broken for over a week (non AOLers couldn't read messages from AOLers) before it was fixed. The new voices and smiley options are cute for 8.0, but simply not worth the drag. It costs way too much for the quality of service it provides. It's frozen up my computer many a time. I get kicked offline when I use WinMX. The constant popups grate on your nerves after a while. It may be user friendly and good for someone just starting out on the internet, but after 3 months you should be able to tackle the internet on your own. I plan on cancelling the AOL service in a few days and know they'll try to sucker me back. Well too bad AOL! Also their Bring Your Own Internet has risen; it's now around $15 a month. Forget about it! I have AIM so I can still chat with my friends and I can let my email correspondents know my new email address. The "please wait while new files are being downloaded", thus not allowing you to do anything while that goes on is awful. I am online a lot so I notice how often I'm kicked. Forget about leaving it online at night to download a file while you sleep -you'll wake up and you will be offline. I also chat a lot for games and being kicked offline and having to ask the other person to email you the conversation gets annoying. Nearly all the friends I've met on AOL through the years have switched to different ISPs. I'm counting the hours until I'm rid of AOL.

What are some features you can get on AOL? Well, it all depends on what kind of person you are. If you go for the following things, you should consider yourself the typical AOL member, and sign on right away. Here are the features: 1) Crappy email service. Software that lags behind "harder" internet programs. 2) SPAM. Never get tired of junk mail? Do you feel that the more mail you get, whether porn ads or "$158 9600 baud modem" ads mean you're a popular person? AOL is for you, then. 3) Chat Room Stupidity. You can choose between any of up to 300 idiots in a chat room, who most likely can't hold a conversation in real life, and have to spend their time in a chat room. Also, you can look forward to being TOSsed or punted for saying something wrong. 4) IMs. Yes, if you like having people be able to message you whenever they want asking you to homosexual cybersex, AOL is for you. 5) More SPAM. Do you like the idea of having an advertisement shoved in your face as soon as you sign on? Do you like having to constantly wait to see "new art" download (which is usually more ads)? Do you like having to click through various commercials for things you never wanted? AOL is for you, then. 6) Stalking. Do you have a sick fetish for raping little children? Do you find it too hard to hang out in front of schools waiting to lure kids to you so you can molest them? Why bother with that?! With AOL's chat rooms, you can pretend to be a 8 year old looking for a friend, even if you're really 43 years old. You can get those kids to tell you anything, even when their parents aren't home. And guess what? You won't have to worry about being caught because AOL's TOS guides don't monitor kids rooms very well, if at all. And if they do catch you, simply change your screen name and try again. Isn't that easy? 7) Control. Don't want to be online very long? Not to worry. AOL will automatically kick you off after 46 minutes of inactivity, or from whenever they start counting. This is usually an annoyance to many people, but after awhile, you'll accept it dumbly, and it won't bother you anymore. This list is just a beginning, but if all of these traits appeal to you, you are an AOLer. Enjoy! After all, 12 million idiots already use it.

It sucks. Why so many people have been suckered into thinking AOL is the way to go is beyond me?? You CAN get anything you have on AOL (including IM service) via other CHEAPER ISP's connections to the net. You just have to know where to find it. Try Netzero?

a good internet provider untill after 2 hours when it disconnects on you. What a ripoff!

I had AOL for about a year and a half. I loved it at first. It was also the first time I had the internet. After awhile I started to hate it. It charged me $28 a month sometimes I couldn't even get on and I always got kicked off. I've tried to cancel twice but they won't let me. The first time they gave me 2 months free they SAID they were going to do the same thing the 2nd time but I still got charged. I have Bellsouth now. It's not the greatest (it could have a little more) but it's way faster and I haven't got kiced off once. I love it.

First of all, it's too expensive. Second, my roommate lost all data on his computer when he tried to install AOL 8.0, it caused his computer's operationg system to crash(he's not the only one I know that this has happened too), and third, when I called AOL to cancel my membership, the guy refused. I asked to speak to his superior. He refused. The best he would do for me is tell me about this place, where supposedly, if you fill out two of these opinion things, you get nine bucks off your monthly bill. That would almost make the cost what AOL is actually worth. But somehow, I have a feeling the bill will come as high as ever with nothing discounted. Do I have to hire an attorney to cancel with these people?!!

Poor email filtering...much junk mail. Get pop ups even when you mark no pop ups. lol

Why get AOL for $20 a month when you can get everything AOL has (AIM; email, address book, calendar, whatever) through the regular internet (i.e. yahoo), for cheaper/at high speed? What does AOL have that is so special? It's slow, and it's not worth it. 'roadrunner' works better for me.

AOL is to ISP's is what the Pinto was to Ford. What a piece of #@$%.

Too many pop-ups, too much spam

AOL is the biggest virus on the internet!

AOL is the worst ISP out there. It's fine if you're learning how to use the internet, but it gets on your nerves after a while. I got DSL service with AT&T cable last summer and it is a great relief. No more junk mail, no more getting kicked off the web because it is "overloaded". Plus it doesn't occupy a phone line while it is being used. There is too much advertising on this. The perception that I got while I used AOL was that it occupied its own little sphere of influence within the web and everything outside was treated with contempt. Why go into the web when you have AOL? I have many reasons which I could rant on and on about.

too much spam. Some of it offensive.

The service was simply "ok" in Colorado, but in the Bay Area, I might as well have not even had an AOL account because I could only get on from 10-2 on weekdays. I would get kicked off about 20 times a day and the rest of the time I simply could not get on. Weekends? Forget about it!

too expensive, stupid software

AOL is terrible. Unfortunately the only thing you associated the internet to throughout the 90's was AOL, which makes it hard on people to switch providers--like its really that hard. AOL sucks. It was incredible that they charged customers for so long by the hour, now that was just ridiculous. If you have aol, leave now!!!

Aohell. User interface may be helpful for those not familiar with the internet, but unnecessary for those who are. Blocks certain sites (such as certain free internet providers' sites and certain e-mail sites). Too controlling. Busy signals. Very difficult to cancel also.

It's currently rated 31 of 32... I'd say that's too high. AOL is a "Training Browser" for people who haven't yet mastered the art of double-clicking. The absolute worst part is the upgrade "feature" that tells you you aren't being billed while it downloads, but you can't close the program and move on to other things until it's done. I can't believe people pay that kind of money to have ads shoved down their throats!

I'll admit. I'm pissed off about AOL services. Whenever their server gets too full, they decide to kick off peole (like me) just to free up some space. Also, whenever you're tryig to give information (like shopping, or geting college grades.), or tryig to log into a website, they'll deny you that right. On the other hand, AOL is the best server out there compared to the lesser known but MORE ANNOYING servers (Netzero with 24/7 advertisement staring you down). Plus, the recent AOL upgrades now make it possible to play other software programs (IMesh, WINMX, etc.). Until someone comes up with a better server, we can only complain and like it.

AOL what can I say about AOL. I delt with AOL for five years before I changed, the service,at least for Me was allways on the slow side forever to download anything. The initial connection to AOL was downright deplorible. On one occasion I let the computer dial AOL 30 times and I still did'nt get on. Called cust care on numerous occasions and it was allways the same old bull. "Try a disk defrag", "Clear your browser" "Try reloading your AOL sofrware". And I was told this among other sugesstions time after time for any problem I had, from lockups to constantly being kicked off. Aol really never worked right for Me. The people at AOL were very nice and did try to be helpfull. I can't blame them for the poor service and totally stupid sugestions aimed at solving My problems. If AOL does not educate there tech support team, how in the hell are they going to educate us. Yes the cust care people were very nice and even tried to be helpfull, and I ca'nt fault them for tring to solve My many AOL problems. I put the blame to the guy's running AOL, if you do not educate your people HOW are they going to educate the customer. Last year I purchased a new computer (Windows XP) and on it was the latest version of AOL (6.0) I do beleive. This version (Allready installed) caused havoc on my new machine, ran when it wanted to, froze up that the only way to get out was to unplug the computer, and did not open or download certian files.Called AOL on four different occasions and got at least four different opinions as to why. After countless hours of frustration and calls to Sony and Microsoft who bolth told Me to call back AOL I did. Then and only then did AOL admit that AOL 6.0 did not work with Windows XP. What about the new 7.0 ver that just came out I asked. "Thats even worse on XP" she told Me. "Try ver 4 or 5 they might work" After that I signed up for MSN, some problems but not like AOL.

AOL is truly terrible!! It seems that AOL is truly one big Spam sandwhich when it comes to all of those nagging commercials that pop up when you use it. Plus, when I'm at work, we leave the tv on CNN Headline News and they play freakin AOL commercials every break and it's getting pretty old. Plus, I'm sick of seeing those damned CDs in the mail and they bait people with free hours. I've got the butterfly (MSN) and I'm ok with that so all I have to say is f*** AOL!!!