AOL now has a free plan......... If you have AOL and you don't need their connection services you can change to this plan. It is easy to do - Either : 1. In AOL software go to Keyword "change plan" 2. If you don't have the AOL software installed...... Call 800-827-6364 (I did this and it took 10min max.)
AOL is already the God of spam and sells your email address to any type of scum that will pay for it.. I can only imagine the pop ups, spyware, malware and other nasty stuff you have to deal with by switching to the free plan.
There should be no change in plan. FYI - I get about 35 spam messages a year on my AOL account so I doubt they sell your email address. On my own domains, I get about 1300 spam emails a day.
Is that with or without their filter? I get about 35 a day in the spam folder and once in a while, it is a legit e mail. I just check it everyday.
As I've been told, I'm the last person still on dial up (at home). I'm going to cancel my AOL next week when my high speed stuff is installed and go with the free plan. Welcome to the 20th century right?
Congrats! I warn you though, things get a bit hectic in the 20th century. You'll find your patience will dwindle the longer you stick with broadband. You'll just expect everything to be near instant.
I check it every other day or so..... That is spam folder and the 8 or so that make it into the inbox. I never installed the software either. It is bad news.... They wanted me to install the software and use the "keyword" method to switch to the free plan. I said no way, give me the phone number....
I normally just check my mail at home. We have a T1 at work. Once tried to look at the pictures from a CC weekend. I believe it would have taken about 2-3 hours to download them. Besides that's what work is for.
Lots o' AOL press as of late. First they announce the free plan. No biggie, everyone's going "free". THEN, they release raw search logs, not realizing it was a blatent privacy violation (sure, the names were changed to random numbers, but you could clearly identify some people by what they searched for). THEN, to top it all off, they are now giving away free domain names and emails for those domains. AOL owns the domain, you get to use it. Basically, AOL is becoming a search engine spammers' best friend. Not that I would know anything about that. edit: fwiw, they pulled the search DB, but not before it was mirrored on about a dozen sites. 2GB worth of keyword research - yay!
What if their advertising sales don't at least meet their current profit levels? They would have a hell of a tough time getting their members to start paying again. That could ruin them forever. A smart ISP would probably be planning ahead and have a plan to attack AOL and gain market share if that scenario happens.
AOL is doomed. I don't think they will be around in 10 years. They can't do anything for me that someone else can't do better, faster, cheaper.
Get a router with a firewall to go between your cable/DSL modem and your computer, and learn to set it up right. You will thank me later.
What is a shame is, AOL had the world by the bal-s, and their inept management let it ALL slip away. They could have and should have been all over the broadband market 10 years ago, and didn't see it coming, and now, with all the bad management in the press, just the part about how hard it is to kill an AOL account - is damage they will never recover from. Folks learned.
Please explain the AOL Broadband offering. If you have a high-speed line that you can start your AOL account by, why AOL Broadband? Is your high speed line not as quick as AOL can get? What am I missing? I have AT&T's DSL service and I simply log onto AOL through the AOL icon or by Explorer+aol.com and then sign in.
Yes, just go into it and shut off some of the things, like 'allow ping'. What model is it ? Problem is, I know the older Linksys routers, then Cisco bought Linksys out, and then stripped Linksys routers of a lot of stuff that made them awesome. Mine has totally different firmware running on it. Are you going to be wired or wireless ? If wireless, make sure you use WEP encryption at the least, and turn off SSID broadcast, and use MAC Address filtering (this is where you put in the MAC address of the computer you want to connect to it so only that computer is allowed in). Be sure to change the password on the router, too, if you don't, anyone that can connect to it COULD change it on you. Best plan is just connect to it and read all the 'help' notes, they do a fair job of explaining what each setting will do. FAI - most of the folks (like me) that used Linksys routers before they were stripped are now buying Buffalo Tech routers instead. I still have a few of the older Linksys ones here, stocking up on spares.
Why AOL Broadband? Its really for people that don't know anything about the internet. See if you or I were to connect to AOL we would go though a seconday source to reach AOL, (i.e. a dsl line, cable). With AOL broadband, there is no secondary source for the internet, its just AOL but with high speed. Its a very simple form of internet for people who don't know much and just want to get on the net. Am I explaining this right? Does this help? I should point it out that this is just a guess at what AOL Broadband does, as I have never met anyone that has it, nor have I ever used it... Probbly why they switched to free.
