Ding Dong AOL's Gone!

[ErikD]

I was finally able to get rid of a big pain in my butt for the longest time, AOHELL. For whatever reasons my parents wanted to keep AOL as our ISP despite numerous problems and protests on my part. After upgrading to AOL broadband via cable I stopped protesting for a good while, and just lived with the small annoyances that are AOL.

Well last week AOL just flat out stopped working on my home network. It would work fine if connected to an individual PC, but not if connected to the network. Now I am majoring in computer science, and have been taking CCNA courses so I know a thing or two. I checked everything and double checked and determined it to be a problem with either the AOL software or servers. I call the wonderful tech support they have, and am told the reason it isn't working is because the password I set on my router isn't good! I called the guy out, and explained that it made no difference. He then told me it was because I was using DHCP to get IP addresses, and should have been using PPPoE. Wrong again bozo, PPPoE is used with DSL, not cable. My router was set correctly, whcich is why it worked perfectly fine for months prior.

So paying big bucks, not being able to get onlline, and getting no help from the tech support people somewhere in India was enough to convince the parents to pull the plug. They switched to Road Runner, which only required a phone call as they own the cable lines that AOL was using anyway. And guess what? I am now able to connect with any PC in my house without problem. I don't need any resource hogging spyware software to get connected. My connection speed DOUBLED. I can use POP mail without having to call and complain about the ISP blocking it! What a difference!

Oh, and it is quit a bit cheaper too. I am a happy camper today!

 

[bladefixation2]

I was finally able to get rid of a big pain in my butt for the longest time, AOHELL.

Congratulations on getting rid of AOL, more trouble than its worth if you are in any way technically competent IMO.

However, if you need some help on the technical side and have kids you want to protect they do have a place.

Good luck with the CCNA, I have done more of those courses than I care to remember! Check out the boson tests when you come to revise for the exam

 

[faramir]

Now I am majoring in computer science, and have been taking CCNA courses so I know a thing or two.

...

Wrong again bozo, PPPoE is used with DSL, not cable. My router was set correctly, whcich is why it worked perfectly fine for months prior.

Too bad that thing or two doesn't include the vareiety of media where PPPoE can be used (cable modems included). I'm sure you felt like a champ thinking of that techie as "bozo" though

http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/linux/manual1/dsl.html

 

[bladefixation2]

Too bad that thing or two doesn't include the vareiety of media where PPPoE can be used (cable modems included). I'm sure you felt like a champ thinking of that techie as "bozo" though

http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/linux/manual1/dsl.html

PPPoE simply means Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet so it certainly could be the case that your ISP were using it if they were running Ethernet to your house (this may not be as far fetched as it sounds if they were using something like Long Reach Ethernet) from what I understand PPPoE is very popular with ISPs in America

In Europe PPPoA tends to be used rather than PPPoE, the PPP protocol is still used but this time over ATM instead of over Ethernet.

ISP's like using PPP because it is the same protocol used over dial up connections, which means integrating dial up and DSL/ cable customers is easy, as is migrating from legacy billing systems. Because it is a connection based protocol it also makes authentication easier using CHAP without having to employ additional authentication methods.

There are however so many different ways of setting up things like this that its impossible to tell which way a certain ISP has dome it without knowing the detail of their network setup.

 

[java]

Ahhhhh. Another satisfied AOHell ex-user!

Now you can sharpen your skeet shootin' skills with all those crappy a$$ed discs they keep sending you! Good gun control is a steady front sight picture!

 

[Danbo]

AOL is worse than most viruses. Real friends don't let friends use AOL.

 

[GigOne]

Ahhhhh. Another satisfied AOHell ex-user!

Now you can sharpen your skeet shootin' skills with all those crappy a$$ed discs they keep sending you! Good gun control is a steady front sight picture!

They sure do look purdy. . . . .as a "high-speed" projectile strikes them !

And I love my local Post Office. . . .for keeping me supplied with ample range targets.

 

[Ren the devils trailboss]

thier ad campaign about giving free virus protection...what a load of B.S. they need to because AOHell is attacked so often by hackers it has a bullseye on it big time. We dumped it several years ago. My wife only used it for email until last spring when one of aol's own sold 2 million email addys to a spammer. We terminated our account and will never go back..AOL sucks erect donky schlongs!

 

[faramir]

PPPoE simply means Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet so it certainly could be the case that your ISP were using it if they were running Ethernet to your house ...

That's where your broadband modem comes in, conveniently making the conenction type transparent for you. "ethernet to my house" wouldn't be feasable, but [broadband] modem speaking 802.3 is the easiest solution (for ISPs and end users), be it cable or DSL or anything else.

In Europe PPPoA tends to be used rather than PPPoE, the PPP protocol is still used but this time over ATM instead of over Ethernet.

Not sure about ye brits but down here in continental Europe PPPoE is used and not PPPoA

There are however so many different ways of setting up things like this that its impossible to tell which way a certain ISP has dome it without knowing the detail of their network setup.

That was my point exactly.

 

[ErikD]

Too bad that thing or two doesn't include the vareiety of media where PPPoE can be used (cable modems included). I'm sure you felt like a champ thinking of that techie as "bozo" though

http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/linux/manual1/dsl.html

Actually I did know that, and realize that PPPoE can be used with any type of modem. What I meant was that AOL uses PPPoE exclusively for DSL, and uses a different standard altogether for cable. So in a very general sense the tech could have been correct, but in the particualr case was wrong. As it was AOL itself they should know which standard they use for which technology, IMHO.

 

[bladefixation2]

Not sure about ye brits but down here in continental Europe PPPoE is used and not PPPoA

Must just be here in the UK then, we get loads of calls to our tech support desk at work because a lot of routers that dont ship with country specific settings default to PPPoE for the US, people here get them plug them in and get a very unstable connection (due to the MTU difference) they dont realise all they need to do is change it to PPPoA

if only the whole world were a standard

 

[faramir]

As it was AOL itself they should know which standard they use for which technology

Geez, the thought of their own people not knowing what they're doing is scary - are things really tha bad ? (they have inept techies at our ISP too but that's understandable,they have considerably smaller pool of people to recruit their workforce from, US is gigantic in this regard)

 

[Cougar Allen]

The first person to answer the phone in most phone support operations only knows basic things like you have to plug it in or it won't work. If you know that already he can't help you. You should only talk to him long enough to convince him you already know more than he does so he'll switch you to the next retard. The next retard also knows you have to plug it in, plus he knows you have to turn it on -- and if you're lucky he knows where the on button is. Again, it should only take a minute to convince him your problem is beyond his expertise so he'll switch you to the next one. How long it takes to get to someone who can help you depends mostly on how big the operation is. You will eventually get to someone who is not an idiot, though; you just have to be patient. It is essential to have a headset phone or at least a speaker phone, though, because you will have to wait on hold over and over again, each time you get switched to a less retarded retard. If all you have is a handset phone your arm will fall off before you even get to the second retard.