I am ditching AOL

Just started swapping all my email addresses on various sites over to my hotmail account until I get a new ISP up and running.

Thanks for everybody's help

It was much appreciated

Damian

I didn't think Virgin Media trafficed the bandwidth, i dont tend to have a problem downloading at 1180kb/s with a 20mbps connection.

Virgin DO use traffic shaping so if you're doing a lot of downloading on a certain port or range of ports, they will throttle you :thumbdwn:

Virgin DO use traffic shaping so if you're doing a lot of downloading on a certain port or range of ports, they will throttle you :thumbdwn:

Only until about 9pm though

Then its all good :D

Virgin DO use traffic shaping so if you're doing a lot of downloading on a certain port or range of ports, they will throttle you :thumbdwn:

Strictly it's not shaping, as some pedant pointed out to me online once. They don't shape/prioritise any class of traffic, just throttle the whole lot. I'd rather they shaped P2P traffic alone.

Speak to AOL about using their service with a router (it can be done they just play a bit and then turn the option on) Then get a router and connect with it.

Once you've got the router working on a wired connection take every trace of the sh*tty AOL software and remove it as it's an effing resource waste.

That's a good answer. AOL is considerably less **** that way. It's still **** though.

Quick update:

Been using IE and not firing AOL up, and the fan has never even been on since.

I emailed AOL about the waol.exe and they gave me a list of things to do to rectify the overheating to be fair, but I still wanted to swap ISP's anyway.

I went on a few broadband comparison sites, and did a speed test.

The result was 968kbps and Im paying for 2 meg.

It said that o2, Sky and BE were the best available speedwise in my area, so that made my mind up.

I got a MAC code off AOL, and signed up for o2.

I chose the middle package (upto 20mb) that should be £14ish, but with my o2 discount for being a pay monthly contract holder, Im getting it for just under £10.

I also joined quidco and did it all through them, so hopefully I will get £50 cashback in 2 months time, as well as getting my first 3 months free, free router and free connection on a 12mth contract

o2 said I can receive 18mb with my line (probably way over what I will actually get I know ) but anything will be better than what I was getting with AOL

Anyway, thanks a lot to all those who replied to my plea for help, and especially shark_90 for the heads up about o2 and quidco.

Cheers guys

Damian

Will you still be able to access your aol e-mails via web mail when your account with them is cancelled i.e. do you keep your web mail address?

damo - You will probably actually get 18mbps or more. My line says 11mbps and I get 13-14mbps.

To get the best out of your line you need to make sure that it's wired correctly and if you can use the Master BT socket to plug the router into. I can also highly recommend using a Clarity ADSL faceplate (Google it) on the master socket, boosted my speed by 3mbps

Will you still be able to access your aol e-mails via web mail when your account with them is cancelled i.e. do you keep your web mail address?

Im not really sure mate,

I have swapped everything over to my hotmail account until my o2 one is up and running, but tbh will probably just leave it as it is

Maybe someone else can answer that for you

Damian

I didn't think you got an e-mail account with o2 as you don't with Be.

Yes you do get email with O2.

Got my new router through the post today

Should be online with o2 on the 29th

Cheers

Damian

damo, did you join through quidco? After advising you I switched from Be to O2 (effectively the same ISP!) as O2 is cheaper monthly, I could get the 3 months free and £50 from quidco.. the interesting thing is that it was tracked through quidco at £70!

damo, did you join through quidco? After advising you I switched from Be to O2 (effectively the same ISP!) as O2 is cheaper monthly, I could get the 3 months free and £50 from quidco.. the interesting thing is that it was tracked through quidco at £70!

Yes mate I did

It says £70 on mine too :confused:

Cheers

Damian

Well, I'm not complaining

just make sure aol do not take an extra payment from you. had to threaten legal action to get one returned to me despite going through cancellations and mac code - also moved to 02

I am ditching AOL

Just started swapping all my email addresses on various sites over to my hotmail account until I get a new ISP up and running.

Thanks for everybody's help

It was much appreciated

Damian

You can still use AOL email even though you are on another ISP by going to aol.com and logging on with your old aol screename and password.

damo - You will probably actually get 18mbps or more. My line says 11mbps and I get 13-14mbps.

To get the best out of your line you need to make sure that it's wired correctly and if you can use the Master BT socket to plug the router into. I can also highly recommend using a Clarity ADSL faceplate (Google it) on the master socket, boosted my speed by 3mbps

Or you can disconnect the wires pin3 on all your sockets to give the same effect.

Or you can disconnect the wires pin3 on all your sockets to give the same effect.

That helps, but doesn't give the same effect.

That helps, but doesn't give the same effect.

Depends on how many sockets are connected to the line. It is best to use have 1 main socket only and connect his router/phone etc. on the main socket using the microfilter. If the extentions are absolutely neccessary then Yes use The ADSL frontplate.

So...Im now on o2

Easy to switch over and all is good in da hood

I haven't got a clarity faceplate yet, but I just did a speedtest on www.broadband.co.uk and I am getting just under 11mbps download and 1mbps upload.

So not quite the 18mbps as stated I could receive, but a damn site more than 968kbps

Maybe I am not wired up right? (literally :P:D:D:D)

Cheers

Damian

edit: done a bandwidth test on my router page as it says those speed tests on other sites may not be accurate

My router page states up is 1325kbps down is 20986 kbps

Does that sound better?

Or is it o2 making it seem faster than it actually is?

Edited 29 May, 200917 yr by damo :-)

A bit of line tuning will sort that out for you mate.. And get the faceplate asap!

Hey Ben...

I see that the £70 cashback has now turned back to £50 :(

Oh well, better than nothing

Cheers

Damian

Yes I noticed that too, meant to post but forgot! Ah well..

So...Im now on o2

Easy to switch over and all is good in da hood

I haven't got a clarity faceplate yet, but I just did a speedtest on www.broadband.co.uk and I am getting just under 11mbps download and 1mbps upload.

So not quite the 18mbps as stated I could receive, but a damn site more than 968kbps

Maybe I am not wired up right? (literally :P:D:D:D)

Cheers

Damian

edit: done a bandwidth test on my router page as it says those speed tests on other sites may not be accurate

My router page states up is 1325kbps down is 20986 kbps

Does that sound better?

Or is it o2 making it seem faster than it actually is?

A download speed of 11meg. is about right, it's 11times faster than your orignal speed. If you take into account your extensions, some linelength, the contention ratio at your ISP and how busy the main internet servers are, then that is a good speed. The 11meg is also probably faster than your PC would be able to cope with if you have an off the shelf home PC.

The 20+meg. shown on your router page is above the ISP stated speed of 18meg. so your lucky. The synch. speed of the router is the speed it is talking to the Exchange DSLAM and will the be the absolute max speed you will ever get, this can only improve if you moved closer to the exchange.

Glad you have everything sorted now, I'm sure you already notice the better speed.