AOL Broadband Reviews

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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 **********

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.