Re: Question about AOL

I think everyone out there has their own nightmare experience story with AOL. In my case it was a problem with the cookies the old account left on my pc. It never seemed to end; they essentially owned the pc I had back then.

Back in the day they were the Internet leader. Chatting was easier, they introduced all sorts of neat features, and people signed on in droves. Who didn't get excited back then to the sound of "You've Got Mail"?

But then, as you get more Internet savvy, you begin to see clearly that no ISP should have the power that AOL has over its subscribers. They not only control your email but with all of the stuff they offer to draw customers, by the time you install their software there are so many cookies on your pc that they are tracking your every move.

Visit a golf website and suddenly your email inbox has offers for specials related to golf.

Visit a hospital website and the next email advertises insurance.

And the list goes on and on. (actual personal experiences)

Back in the day they charged a certain amount for a certain length of access time. Oh boy...if you went over the charges could be incredible. (anyone else recall this?) One month, my last with AOL, my bill was over $200 and my wife actually intervened and said enough.

I started out going with a local ISP. It was $9.95/month for "unlimited Internet access".

Suddenly an all new world opened up to me.

Internet Explorer and/or Netscape became my browsers.

My email address no longer got laughs from the others online who were more Internet savvy. (to this day an AOL email address indicates a probably online rookie)

And my online experiences were less invasive.

AOL is great for kids.

And it is great for Internet newbies who don't know better.

But once you really get into the true nature of the online experience it becomes necessary to find other means to access the Internet. There are simply too many choices out there to settle for something just because they make it seem easier.

It is really simple in the end measure. Either you want to own your pc and your Internet experience or you don't. AOL is way too powerful and collects way too much info from its customers. As a matter of fact when I bought my new Dell I asked the salesperson if it would come with AOL. She said "Oh, of course." When I said "cancel my order; I don't want that software pre-installed" she said "Oh, it is an option that we can remove." And I did....

I didn't want my new pc polluted with that garbage. Needless to say I won't be going back to them.....ever. And therein lay the point of a previous post. AOL subscribers who stick with AOL likely do so because they don't know any better. If you haven't ever experienced the Internet sans AOL how can you possibly understand how wonderful that experience can be? But once an AOL subscriber figures out just how limiting their ISP is, it isn't likely that they will return. The term "loyal subscriber" isn't bragging rights in this case. (it is a sign of a lack of true knowledge about the Internet)

There is a link below from a story about 6 years ago that "tells it like it is" about AOL's problems with former customers.