why do so many people advise against aol?

I am currently locked into a 1yr aol contract. However, I just ordered a new hp laptop. Should I stay with aol for the remainder of the term and continue with it on my new machine? Is it so bad that I should just suck it up and pay the $25 cancellation fee and just get out? any thoughts?

thanks in advance for any help with this.

marnie

 

AOL often forces the user to use a buggy modified version of either Netscape or MSIE (I'm not sure which browser the current AOL version uses) and then puts all these channels and services and all that crap around that really isnt needed for someone who just wants to use the internet. It's okay to be helpful, with a friendly interface and easy to use services, but AOL (In my opinion) takes that so far to the point where it seems like they control what you do on the net.

I personally cannot stand AOL and would rather have no internet, than have AOL internet.

 

aol is unneccesary. for the same price or less than the cost of a monthly aol subscription you can get a cable or dsl line installed.

also, the same reasons mbrandall mentioned above

 

Thanks for the advice.

If I start out with aol service, can I then later delete it after my contract expires?

marnie

 

Theoretically, yes. But I have heard many, many horror stories of people trying to cancel their AOL service or thinking they've cancelled it yet still having their credit card billed, and jumping through many hoops to do it. From what I hear, it's harder to get out of AOL than it is to get out of the federal penitentiary. Your best bet is never to sign up at all, but if it's too late for that, just get out as quickly as you can. They'll offer you a free month to stay on, etc, etc, etc. Be strong. Be firm. And if you haven't installed it on a new computer and signed up, be sensible.

 

AOL doesn't add much value if you ask me. You pay for their portal software which isn't going to do you much good since all those tools are out on the web for nothing.

 

AOL is expensive and they sell your information. They find ways to get you- like them contracts. Support is also horrible. I call them the DELL of ISP's.

 

You can get dial-up internet for less than $5 a month at the same speed as AOL.

 

ive has some wonderful times with aol (sarcastic) aside from their crappy speeds, bad coustomer service, and buggy software, its just downright expensive. My cable connection is less money then what i was paying for dial-up. The only good thing about AOL is their softy service managers, each time i called up to cancel my service they would keep giving me free hours. All in all i got almost 2 years of free internet from those idiots.

 

AoL used to be the stuff(self edited there) back when dial up was king. They won all kinds of awards and people loved them.

Wow, how times have changed . . . Get out. Get out now. Get out quick. AoL is terrible nowadays. They resort to all the lowdown tactics mentioned above cause they know they are dying.

Their CD's make great coasters though. I have tons of them for my guests to use.