Free Laptop with AOL now! (merged)

Claudie

guycross wrote: »

For real????

Yes for real....as another poster has said - Netgear allows the connection and you can use IE7 so no need for the AOL sofware. It took me ages to get my router sorted out with AOL and Vista but once I did it was all great from there.

I have been using it this way for a few weeks now with no problems, in fact I far prefer it as the AOL software used to drive me mad!

joeyjac

I'm the same, i don't use AOL software on my desktop or laptop, has been fine for nearly a year! I just didn't install it, but installed the modem using manufacturers installation instead.
It took a while to figure it out but works great, means i can keep using firefox:D

jmarko

the aol software has always been pretty rubbish. with aol wifi broadband, though, you simply don't need it. to underline the point, i use a mac and i'm not even sure if there is aol software for the mac! so i definitely don't have it!

and as for it being a useless bb provider, it's fine. every company will have some people who'll have issues. we're with them, it costs me £9.99 a month, got a free router and i've had no downtime. the speeds are also good. so it's a thumbs up from me.

Agent_C

Anyone know if AOL throttle downloads such as P2P? We're with Plusnet but they have started restricting bandwidth for people using P2P etc at certain times. Unfortunately when we log in to our work server via remote access, it sees this as P2P and restricts the bandwidth. Mr Agent_C works from home, and at times the connection has been very slow, so we're looking to change ISP.

alanclose

I get a reduction to about 500Kb at peak times

Sky_Digiman

I re-newed my BT Total Broadband contract when i bought the home hub And there speeds sux. I so wish i went for this deal, Damn BT!

katymaty

Hi i'm alreday with AOL so i checked out the offer with them.

I was told it's going to available sometime in early September, and that if you are out of contract then it's fine to apply. There are several packages that will make you eligible for the laptop offer, they are :-
There is a choice of package available for customers :
Monthly Charge
19.99 with ‘Pay As You Go’ AOL Talk
£22.49 with inclusive Evening and Weekend landline calls
£24.99 with inclusive unlimited national landline calls
£29.99 without any call package

No idea what Pay as you go AOL talk is, hoping i can just have it, and not use it.

One question i would like to know, if the laptop has Vista will it be compatible with my desktop that has XP pro?

Katy:T

stphnstevey

gilesdavies wrote: »

- Both laptops have a similar speed processor which are more of the budget variety. So likely to struggle with high end software.

Again, not knowing much about laptops and agreeing about everthing else (particularly the RAM), the Orange Laptop is 1.73 GHz and the AOL one is 1.6 GHz. Does this not make much difference?

alanclose

Its not going to make much of a difference . Given the spec of the AOL machine it will run faster and smoother and be capable of running more programs at the same time than the Orange one

JDPower

Claudie wrote: »

Yes for real....as another poster has said - Netgear allows the connection and you can use IE7 so no need for the AOL sofware.

Even without a router you can connect without the AOL software. I am on 'wired' broadband with AOL and use a DUN connection to connect to internet without having anything to do with the AOL software.

For anyone interested heres my instructions on creating a DUN connection (that I have saved as I have a habit of forgetting things like this):

Open Network connections (Start > Control Panel > Network Connections) and click 'Create a new connection'

1. Select "Connect to the internet"
2. Select "Set up my connection manually"
3. Select "Connect using a broadband connection that requires a user name and password"
4. ISP Name: AOL Broadband
(5. If necessary, usually isn't, enter phone number: 0,38)
6. Enter AOL email address in 'User name' and sign on password in 'Password' box
7. Create shortcut when prompted and click finish
8. Add to startup folder for 'always on' connection