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"AOL, BT or Freeserve...............?"

I am currently using AOL, the one where you pay £14.99 a month and can use it as much as you like. This would be a very good deal if AOL didnt keep crashing.

BT and Freeserve also offer a similar deal and I was wondering whether to change servers?

Around now (12pm) AOL works fine but between 1pm and 7pm its just chaos, because all the Americans come online.

Do you get this problem with BT or Freeserve?

Thanks

Dav1d

BT cuts you off every 2 hours?! That is unacceptable, quite simply. You pay £15 a month (or whatever it is) and you expect a reliable server. I use AOL (can't beat it) and quite often download large files. I simply start the download at 11pm, just before I go to bed, and when I wake-up, it's downloaded an 80meg file and is still connected to the net! Wonderful!
Admittedly, the software is a bit of a system-hog (I upgraded to 384mb of ram to get around this) and crashes on me about once a week, but apart from this, it rocks! Another cool feature which no-one has mentioned is the sms service (keyword:sms) which allows you to send as many text messages as you like for free! Also, there is always an AOL representative available online to help you if you've got a technical problem, and they're good too.
On the subject of online gaming, I use a Diamond SupraExpressi (the internal version) which is about £30 in SR now and it's excellent. On my favourite online game - Counter-Strike, I get a ping of 170 (that's very good for a 56k modem user).
I haven't tried either of the other two ISPs but, if things stay like they are, I have no reason to!

freeserve is good for it's speed , aol is a bit chaos at times and dosent always work , so i have both.

Stick with AOL...you can beat it!

It is a bit slow at times but if you consider BT cuts you off every 2 hours and Frees erve isnt any better then you cant doworse than AOL

I may have to look into buying one of those....

£65 seems pretty cheap if it solves the problem...

hmmmmmm...I'll have to do a bit of research

I use a Diamond Supraexpress 56e that I bought from SR for £65 the other week. It's great, it's fast its neat and it looks good on your desktop. What's more it's external so you can pretend you know what all the flashy little lights mean. Do go for an external modem though, don't ask me why but they're faster and you seem to have less problems with them.

You mentioned modems.... Whats the best one you can get, and how much does it cost?

I'm on BT Surftime and although it takes longer than usual to get connected it seems to work quite well. Mostly my computer jamms instead of BT. Oh, also it's although in the modem as well. If you've got a cheap one liek mine then your stuffed. You won't get a very good connection but if you get a good one like US Robotics which will give good customer service then you will get quite good speeds.

Dav1d: I'd just use Freeola then mate,and if you can wait, use it after 6pm and on Weekends, then you'd probably pay the mimimum possible. Have a look at your next Phone Bill, and add up the cost for each month ... if you find it unber a £5 (net use that is) then go with Freeola, if over, try Freeserve Off-peak, £5.99 a month.

Well I use AOL and it is okay for just surfing the net, but it is not a good thing for online games. This is mainly because of the fact that it is very slow but that may just be my modem. I haven't had too much problems getting connected, but there has been a few cases when I have nearly thrown my modem out of the window. it is also annoying as you have to keep changing your access nun#mbers.

(;o|

All I know is that I've tried all 3 ISP's listed in this topic & I prefer BTinterent. I'm perfectly happy with them.
Everyone has there own opinion & I'm sure plenty of people will disagree with mine.

The only answer is to try them all. BTinternet and Freeserve both have 'pay as you go' options. This way you get to see which you prefer before you start paying a monthly subscription. You may find that AOL is still best suited to your taste.

The choice is yours.