AOL Broadband Expert Reviews

Roger Evans wrote on:
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

AOL a Joke

Pro: can't think of any

Con: High pressure sales techniques

How to start I will today be disconnected e.g. phone line switched off at exchange. there is a difference between being stopped and disconnected, I didn't realise thart they were disconnecting me until I went to another provider that stated that AOL were disconnecting me.....they have taken years off my life in a matter of hours when I first called them I wanted to know when my 18 month contract was due to expire I was told all the details are on My AOL Account link......is it by hell went on their other links could see when I started 2001 nothing on expiry date......after 3 months of AOL calling me during the day when I am at work and my wife stating they needed to call after 7pm when I did eventually speak to them they were trying to get me to sign up to a 24 month contract.... I told them wasn't interested ...... another 20 days pass with them callibg twice a day......had enough now went on line to cancel contract not the easiest details to find in fact nothing with AOL is easy called a number found via google searching only to be told my contract ended yesterday and was I interested in a new deal ......for the love of all thats holy......I completely lost it stating the service they provide can be placed where the sun doesn't shine.....I have difficulty understanding them at the best of times but I stated I wished to cancel my contract.....they then went on stating you will loose all connection etc etc I stated good.........I calculated I have spent 20 hours in total of wasted time time that I can never get back......if your looking for good customer service go elsewhere and AVOID

R SMYTHE wrote on:
Friday, December 9th, 2011

R SMYTHE

Pro: Not sure there are any

Con: Dreadful to deal with

Apart from when you're signing on to join for the first time, the whole system is shambolic, unhelpful and totally frustrating. They work everything so you have to call a number and stay on it for hours at your own expense, and even then you won't get anywhere. If I could put a negative score for customer support I would. Today, for example, when I rang for a MAC code I was told that they would give me aol broadband free for a month, if I like, while they get ready to send a MAC code - which would take a few days, and while my new broadband supplier organised the migration. Thank you, says I. The next thing is an email thanking me for signing on for a new contract, at a higher monthly rate, but with the first month free. Now what's the betting the MAC code won't arrive and I'll have to phone up again at my own expense and wait for ages to see if I can chase it up. AVOID!!

Andrew Morrell wrote on:
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

Avoid at all costs

Pro: OK If You Don't Have Any Problems....

Con: Appalling Customer Service If You Do

I was with AOL for over 10 years, and AOL BB is generally OK when there are no problems. They appear to regulate bandwidth as speed is always lower in the evenings - I never got anything like the speed I was quoted or was paying for. If you have a problem, in my experience their customer support is hopeless, and it appears to have got worse over the years rather than better. They were unwilling to provide technical support because I'd replaced the original AOL wireless router which had stopped working. I received daily phone calls to try to get me to renew my contract. They didn't respond to customer service e-mails. When I decided to switch to another provider I was told a MAC code would be sent by e-mail. It never arrived and AOL simply disconnected me without providing a MAC code, meaning that the new provider needed 2 weeks before they could reinstate my broadband. Obviously some people have had a much better experiences with AOL, although I personally would not recommend AOL to anyone, even if they were the cheapest provider.

Mike Gray wrote on:
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

Dont touch with a barge pole

Pro: Good when working

Con: Rubbish customer service

Aol is good when all works well then we have the times when things go wrong then...............DISASTER. Customer service is rubbish. Asian call centres where staff can only stick to a routine script, constantly having to repeat ones self, constantly being put on hold, being lied to, avoiding the issue in an effort to keep you with them, unable to answer with yes or no, continual use of stock phrases, not listening to customer, offering incentives rather than listening to what the customer wants. Shall i go on, in short do not expect an easily resolved problem the problem i had had lasted over a week in that time i had one call from AOL from a technician who sounded seriously stressed or under the influence of some mind altering substance who gave a very garbled message said he would call me back and never did.. Three hours to get someone to agree to send me a MAC code. DO NOT TOUCH!!!!!!

AOL Broadband Review

Had so many problems with AOL (or TalkTalk as they really are). Customer support are useless, technical support are useless, speed is slower than dial-up. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

AOL Broadband Review

have been with AOL for over 10 years, never had many problems, just renewed my contract for another year, when I phoned to ask if I could have a better deal, the agent dropped my monthly fee from £27 to £19.05p and for only £3 month extra I now can phone any mobile for up to 100 min per month, plus free landline calls 24/7 then he gave me a month free plus a new router which if great, old one would sometimes drop out when my phone rang or I phoned out, the new one never does this. I recommended this deal to my daughter ( who has been with AOL for many years ) and she is now on the same contract, The agent was more than helpful, but yes I would prefer if all help lines ( especially banks ) were dealt with in the UK ( although I have problems with a number of UK dialects - Scottish/Liverpuddlian, no doubt they do not understand me - broad Yorkshire

AOL Broadband Review

Excellent customer service. Needed to contact them three times with various technical queries. Not sure where the call centre is based (I believe in India) but found them very efficient, knowledgeable. Been with them 7 yrs now and no complaints! Well done AOL!

AOL Broadband Review

It is a shame when a business is run as badly as AOL is. It is the customer and the staff that suffer. The customer gets a poor product and bad service and so leaves. With high customer attrition the business cuts costs and makes staff redundant. To save more money the company heads off-shore. To keep costs down cheap, inexperienced staff are hired and training & development is kept to a minimum. Yet they continue to spend on marketing to try and stem the flood of customers going out the back door. New customers are attracted by the the advertised low charges and so they come in the front door. Then they have their first experience of customer services or technical helpdesk. Very soon they are looking for the back door. I could go on..... Hey AOL, do you understand the term self-perpetuating? Bad connection. Call for help, 2 mins of pre-recorded message before you get through. Then 8 minutes of not getting a solution and AOL refusing to escalate to the next level. It took two weeks of my Bband dropping everyday and me ringing everyday. After 2 weeks I got escalated. The answer from the escalated technical helpdesk "WE DON'T PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR CUSTOMERS ON WIRELESS BROADBAND". Genius by AOL. Free wireless router, pay a minimum 5p a min to be told they don't provide technical support for the wireless router they provided. Brilliant AOL. Sheer genius. How a business should not be run. Now where's that back door?

AOL Broadband Review

I have been with aol for 8-10 years and was satisfied for about 5 years. As I didn't use the tech support much I could cope with the on line text book approach of their eastern help services or I would eventually get through to Ireland. But all local help has been transferred to Talk Talk in the last week or so. I recontracted with them in September I am on my fourth router. Twice they were sending Business routers as their usual one has known compatability problems on both occasions the same useless router turned up. My £1200 laptop has been rendered useless by their eastern tech support and now won't connect to the internet anywhere. I have spent too much time since September trying to get all of this sorted out to no avail a couple of weeks ago I was on to their 'support services' for 6 and a half hours on the Tuesday and then on the Thursday for 8 and a half hours. I am now planning to take them to the small claims court for the sorting out costs for my laptop. DON'T TOUCH THEM!!! I also blame talk for the situation as they have removed the only sensible help available to me. I also am having problems with spammers who got into my account through my buddy account.

AOL Broadband Review

I have been with aol for 8 years now and have always had good connection sPeeds. I has only been the last 6 month the Internet has started to cut out at peak times on rare occasions. But possibly due to age of my modem

AOL Broadband Review

I was shopping for broadband deals, I Phoned AOL the sales guy adviced I can get upto 3.5mbps download, I asked how is that possible considering the distance from the exchange, he said "aah we will do some work on your line" (B.S)..I use to get 2mbps with Sky broadband. I was really excited, if I had come across this site first, I would not have bothered with AOL. With AOL, my download speed does NOT even reach 1mbps...if I was to download a movie, I would be waiting all week. SO GUYZ AVOID!!! IT TOTAL WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY...

AOL Broadband Review

DO NOT USE AOL - THEY ARE A RIP-OFF. I SHOULD KNOW I WAS WITH THEM FOR 20 YEARS WHEN THEY WERE OWNED BY TURNER. RECENTLEY WERE CHARGING ME £20 PM FOR 8MB (NO CALLS - JUST INTERNET) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT USE THEM AS THEY WILL KEEP YOU ON A HIGH TARIFF AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. ALSO SINCE GIVING NOTICE TO LEAVE MY SPEED HAS REDUCED TO 1MB.

AOL Broadband Review

Been with AOL for a long time with no problems. However last month my internet access was down. Customer support (a real misnomer) said it was a known problem and would be sorted in 4-5 hours. Four days later - and several phone calls to Customer support being passed from pillar to post and told it was an AOL problem/ my wi-fi problem/ who knows what else, internet was restored. Wrote to Customer Complaints asking for a) an apology and b) some recompense for 4 days loss of service. I am still waiting for a reply. I'm looking to change provider but unsure who to choose as many providers don't seem much better.

AOL Broadband Review

AOL is the worst services provider in the history of broadband and phone calls. They should shut down their company and re-open as a "DISAPOINTMENT AND STRESS PROVIDER" because thats what they realy are. Please ladies and gentlemen I am WARNING you to stay away from AOL. SAY NO TO AOL.

AOL Broadband Review

Worst provider ever. Initial set-up and free gift were all excellent but after a few months the Customer service either from both Irish or overseas call centres turned out to be woeful. Speed and drop-outs get progressively worse each month. Will not be renewing at the end of long, tiresome and expensive 18 month contract regardless of inducements. Avoid like the plague!

AOL Broadband Review

Been with Aol 3 yrs now(and for 1 and half yrs back in 1997). The service is very reliable. Been without internet for days total and that was because BT dug the box up and installed new cables. Phoned technical service up twice an indian answered. Got put through to irish women only then did she listen to me when i explained about BT digging up cables. She rightly suggested that maybe the cause and said wait a day or 2 and dont turn off my router. I am still paying the old £30 a month platinum service. I have never been totally happy. The speed is slowly getting worse. I have been looking at other providers but cant make up my mind.

AOL What? Pardon? Sorry?

I was with AOL for 3 years and it was great for the first 3 months. Then the speed decreased and the disconnections started. Customer Support were excellent.....at giving me the runaround. The problems would eventually get sorted for a while but never for long so it was back to Customer Support for the same old lack of Support. If you kept on at them for long enough you would eventually be transferred to a UK based Support Department but this only happened twice in all of the time that I was with them. I found that when I was speaking to the Indian based Customer Support that if I said "Sorry, what did you say" or "Exscuse me, I didn't understand that" more than 2-3 times then the phone would go dead. When I had finally had enough it took them about six weeks to give me my MAC code, at times they even insisted that it would be down to my new isp provider to supply the MAC

wrote on:
Thursday, February 25th, 2010

AOL Broadband Review

Expensive, slow, unreliable, unhelpful. Waited months for 'free laptop' then paid much much more than agreed. Wish i'd bought a laptop elsewhere and went with a different provider.

wrote on:
Thursday, February 25th, 2010

AOL Broadband is worst in UK

Customer service is worst I've ever come across, I spoke to an Indian gentleman I could barely understand, he snapped at me, and was extremely impatient. Since leaving - Happy Days !!! - their Irish call centre has inudated me with calls. Speed was erratic and often diconnected. Useless.

wrote on:
Thursday, February 25th, 2010

AOL Broadband Review

Avoid AOL at all costs. The broadband speed is very slow indeed, at peak times, sites such as youtube just stop working. We were without any connection for weeks due to their admin error. They charged us way over what we had agreed. Their technical help is useless and is charged at premium rate. Their call centre is not in the UK, though account problems are dealt with in Ireland, some have difficulty with English and have as much technical know- how as my six-year old. They ignore emails and letters of complaint. They were extremely stroppy when we left them and tried to wriggle out of giving us a MAC code. Now with Sky, speed has improved drastically, connection no longer lost regularly. AOL must be the worst in the UK !

wrote on:
Saturday, February 20th, 2010

AOL Broadband Review

I have been an AOL customer for 11 years, and am now seriously considering switching providers (I have had some shocking experiences in the past, including cutting me off completely, and without warning- the reason they gave was that they thought I had cancelled the contract!). Although I have a fairly reliable connection, I had been receiving speeds of only 2mbps for the past few years, although I was aware that my line was capable of 8mbps. I got fed up with paying £15 per month and getting a quarter of the speed my line was capable of, so I called AOL and told them how I felt. The girl, who was Irish, was understanding of how I felt, but was more like a receptionist and couldn't really do much to help. She did, however, inform me that there was no reason why I couldn't achieve the maximum speed my line was capable of, as no cap had been applied to restrict it to 2mb. I was passed on to tech support. The nightmare began here. The next voice I heard was one I could barely understand. Now, I am not racist in any way, shape, or form, but having Indian people working in a call centre servicing customers in the UK is utterly pointless and counter-productive. It's the only time I've ever heard English spoken without the use of vowels! I spoke to several Indians during this call, and I can't number the times I had to ask them to repeat themselves, and once I had followed their instructions and lost all connectivity to the internet, they still asked me what speed I was getting!! He even tried to tell me that my line only supported 2mb speed, yet when I informed them of the research I'd done to verify that the limit was 4 times that, there was an argument! It took four attempts to get the message through to them that the internet wasn't working, so the guy said he was putting me through to a level two technician. After some music, another strange dialect presented itself, only for the call to disconnect. I had to then call back and be put through to tech support again. I told the (yes, you've guessed it) Indian guy that I was just about to talk to a level 2 technician but was cut off. I was forced to go through every single step I'd gone through with the previous "representative", which was time-consuming and completely unnecessary. I tried to get him to understand that I had already been through these procedures, but he simply ignored me and pressed on with ridiculous question after ridiculous question. To cut a long story short, I finally got talking to his supervisor, who quickly sensed my anger and frustration and patched me through to someone whom I could not only understand; they also knew exactly what they were talking about. It took me two hours talking to various clueless Indians (who had clearly been following instructions for administering the "technical support" that got me so far) to get to this point. This guy was totally honest with me, diagnosed my problem quickly and proficiently, and made it clear that when there's an overflow of users on the network (as is likely in my area), AOL give the high-rollers priority over the plebs like me. He got me connected again and was patient and courteous. My speed during the day is now about 5.7-6.7mb, but plummets in the evening to 1mb or less, which is pitiful. This guy, despite working for AOL, even suggested changing provider to achieve faster, more consistent speed. What an awful shame that AOL don't make it easier for their customers to get talking to a COMPETENT technician without having to go through a plethora of options, then Mumbai or Delhi, who only serve to confuse and frustrate callers. If I had been able to talk to that competent and courteous technician (whom I could actually understand), I wouldn't have had to spend 2.5 hours on the phone! If you're looking for a reliable signal and aren't arsed about tedious, non-existent technical support, or vast swings in performance, then AOL is the ISP for you. If, however, you want quality service and consistently fast speed, avoid AOL like the plague.

wrote on:
Friday, February 19th, 2010

AOL Broadband Review

I've experienced very slow evening download speeds with AOL Broadband. They range from 1.7 to 3.5 mb which makes viewing BBC IPlayer and other streams impossible. My concerns have been responded to. I was told speeds are determined by number of users, location and acces time. SAD when I'm paying them £12.99 a month.

wrote on:
Monday, February 15th, 2010

AOL Broadband Review

After 14 years AOL cut me off and are unable to reconnect the service. My Mastercard say they never refused payment but ~AOL say they did. Even so thhe full amount was due on 9th and they cut me off at 11am on 12th. Before 4pm on 12th I paid the full amount and set up another card and was promised connection within 24hours. This did not happen. Ten phone calls later I was told by Customer Service that connection should have been restored by 9pm on the 12th. Two and a half days later I am still cut off. They are trying to seel me AOL Talk why should I let this idiotic company control my landline when they treat 14 year old customers like this?

wrote on:
Friday, January 29th, 2010

AOL Broadband Review

I cancelled my AOL suscription in october 09 and still have money debited from my account despite being told several time service was ended. Reason I cancelled: non stop disconnections,laughable customer service all at a premium. Stay well clear.

wrote on:
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Promises much but delivers very, very little.

Since the takeover by Carphone Warehouse in the UK, AOL have achieved new lows. In comparison to other services, I would now rate them as rubbish. Do yourself a favour - Avoid! Access speeds are as usual BT line dependant, but even then they are nowhere near the advertised speeds nor the speeds the phone-line can support (BT confirm my line can take 5mb and I get 0.5mb per minute on average). Access to the service is sporadic at peak times, and can be an issue off peak. Customer support is neither supporting nor customer focused and value for money in comparison to other deals available is poor, especially when you add in the cost of all the premium rate numbers you have to phone. I have now had my service disconnected 3 times by AOL in the last year, each time they blamed BT, and each time (after the inconvenience and cost of getting BT engineers out to fix the issue) AOL have been the source of the problem. Each issue required them to reset the system, which involves phoning a premium rate number for about 45 minutes each time (expect to spend about 25 of these on hold whilst the operator 'checks the line'.....) to re-code your box and PC. Then expect all the fun of re-connecting anything wi-fi to your router - takes me another 1 to 1.5 hours on average. Oh, and all the phone lines are now directed to foreign call centres, which have from time-to-time provided something of a language barrier over more technical issues. I've been with AOL since they were Compuserve, and can assure all readers of this that I am no longer, and would strongly suggest that they avoid also.

wrote on:
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

AOL Broadband Review

Be careful with aol,at the moment they are trying to get money out of you what you dont owe.I have been with a new isp for 1 and a half years.This month which is oct 2009,they send me a final demand which I dont owe them,I already paid up when I cancelled my account with them a while ago.I think they are losing money and tryin to con people.NEVER TRUST AOL.

wrote on:
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

AOL Broadband Review

AOL broadband is shocking!stay away. I have been with AOL for the past 8 years, speed has been getting slower despite me paying an increased monthly premium for faster broadband which technically could not be provided paying for 8meg getting less than 1 meg which was upgraded from 2meg. Aol kept freezing, unable to access the aol home page etc. Aol technical help was a laugh excuses ranging from incorrect advice, been cut off, promised an engineer’s visit to my home, its because you are 4 miles from the exchange, unable to understand the adviser on the telephone, its BT's fault, every excuse under the sun over many years. Changed to O2 broadband on Tue 25th Aug 2009. I now have excellent broadband speed performing at 3.5meg. With customer service, I can understand it’s fantastic. AOL will not invest in the equipment in the telephone exchange, they keep putting more people on an already crammed network its a disgrace Stay away you have been warned

wrote on:
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

AOL Broadband Review

AOL is shocking! Been with AOL for the past 8 years, speed has been getting slower despite me paying an increased monthly premium for faster broadband which technically could not be provided paying for 8meg getting less than 1 meg which was upgraded from 2meg. Aol kept freezing, unable to access the aol home page etc. Aol technical help was a laugh excuses ranging from incorrect advice, been cut off, promised an engineer’s visit to my home, its because you are 4 miles from the exchange, unable to understand the adviser on the telephone, its BT's fault, every excuse under the sun over many years. Changed to O2 broadband on Tue 25th Aug 2009. I now have excellent broadband speed performing at 3.5meg. With customer service, I can understand it’s fantastic. AOL will not invest in the equipment in the telephone exchange, they keep putting more people on an already crammed network its a disgrace Stay away you have been warned

wrote on:
Friday, August 21st, 2009

AOL Broadband Review

Absolute shambles! Been with AOL for 4 years and it just gets worse, I try emailing tech support and they tell me to do what I already told them I have done! They then tell me to talk to the 2nd level tech support and when I finally get through the person won't put me through without asking the same stuff all over again!!! What a complete waste, I lose connection regularly and have a download speed on broadband no better than dial up. Seems it's better with Virgin.

wrote on:
Sunday, July 26th, 2009

Poor customer service and unreliable connection

I've been with AOL for 18 months. Fortunately I am just about to cancel my contract. The connection speed is poor and the connection drops frequently. The customer service is very poor. It often takes more than 30 minutes for calls to be answered and the staff are generally rude and unknowledgable. I have just phoned up to cancel my contract. Shockingly, they want to charge me for the 28 day notice period, although they are not prepare to provide a connection during this time. Beware for this hidden £14.99 "disconnection charge".

wrote on:
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

AOL Broadband Review

I bet Joculex in their email dated 23-5-09 will not be paying £9-99 for very long. After 12 years I have been given an 80% increase and will be switching away with many others. The service was never good and this is the last straw.

wrote on:
Sunday, May 24th, 2009

Review 324

since aol has changed hands and all that other malrky people say about aol these days aol is still the same but even better there are many things that they have choice of with the new network that they have all the content and help features are out of this world compaire to other providers i have used but going back to aol made me happy in my isp again also notice that the aol carphone warehouse group is going to be taking a few struggling isps like tiscali n a few others just read that some where .. getting online was ok got a little confused and called the call center took no time to get to speak to a agent who helped me with all and more of my problems i am trying out the new aol desktop software instead of the aol 9 and its pretty cool i use it most days and have had no hic ups so yea i am happy as a pig in muck

wrote on:
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

Review 323

Well I have been with AOL for 8 years. Was paying £24.99 a month until I decided to request a MAC code to leave. AOL offered me Max speed and unlimited downloads + free phone calls 24/7 for just £9.99 a month. My download speed was below 0.8 Mbs until I stopped using AOL browser. Now I use Firefox and IE8 and I get 4Mbs. Now thats value for money. Well done AOL **********

wrote on:
Friday, February 20th, 2009

Review 265

I have been with AOL since it was Compuserve. Have had no problems with any of the service for over ten years. Long may it last.

wrote on:
Thursday, November 27th, 2008

Review 212

Have been with AOL 8 years. It's had some issues this year after changing to the dialbb server but for me AOL has good speeds, a reliable connection and if you do have a problem, customer service gets there in the end.

Biggest mistake I've ever made!!

I signed up for the free laptop deal and it was the biggest mistake I've ever made. Offer stated download speeds of up to 8mbps - the best I've got so far is 0.16mbps. I also suffer from frequent disconnections and I've still got about 21 months left on my contract. If I find a way to get out of the contract I will definitely be doing it and will sign up with a more reliable broadband provider.

Not bad.

Please with AOL, when their's a problem it gets fixed. Well done.

wrote on:
Monday, May 5th, 2008

Reliable

I moved to AOL from pipex 6 months ago and I wish I'd done sooner. Though the broadbanad speeds are not the fastest, my connection has never gone down. The one tihng that does annoy me is that an AOL window opens up every time I start my laptop and sometimes just appears randomly when I'm online, which is annoying. I've also noticed my laptop takes longer to boot up. I chose AOL becuse of the free wireless router which has been good. I was a but annoyed to see the free PS3 offer come out just after I signed up as I'd bought one for my son a few weeks early

wrote on:
Friday, May 2nd, 2008

Where's the broadband support AOL?

I have spent 3 days trying to get through to the AOL customer support line with no success. I signed up to a new contract and cannot get the connection working. This is very frustrating. Please help!!

wrote on:
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

AOL broadband is OK.

Just a quick note to say i'm happy with AOL, the spped is fair as i live quite a distance from the exchange.

wrote on:
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

Free Laptop :-)

Free laptop has been good, broadband service has been good, even the call centre was ok the one time I did have to call them despite being based outside the UK, all in all I'm happy with my choice.