AOL Issues - Considering Moving

For the past couple of months I have been noticing considerable slowdown when using the internet at home. Also, it seems to randomly disconnect a few times a week for 30 minutes or so at a time.

My current provider is AOL, and I pay for the 'up to' 8 meg service, and I have a Netgear DG834G router that connects to AOL then broadcasts.

After noticing this slowdown, I used the thinkbroadband speed checker at various times on different machines and the results have been between 1.8 and 4.7 Mbps.
According to samknows, I am 1 mile away from the exchange in Corby.
The router statistics are:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 7616 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 31 db 9.5 db
Noise Margin 12 db 27 db

Forgive me if I have missed something as the technical side of broadband is quite new to me, but what speeds can I really be expecting?
In the house there are now two laptops, two iPhones, a PC and two playstation 3s, not always connected simultaneously, but as you can imagine, with downloading and online gaming, the connection can seem strained.
I would be quite happy switching provider, but what should I be looking for?

I know the post is long, but thanks in advance for any assistance.

If you're on the main exchange in Corby (exchange code EMCRRBY).....

AOL: Enabled
O2 / Be: Enabled as of 21/04/2007
C&W / Bulldog: Enabled
Edge Telecom: Not available
Entanet: Not available
Lumison: Not available
NewNet: Not available
Node4: Not available
Orange: Not available
Pipex: Not available
Sky / Easynet: Not available
Smallworld: Not available
TalkTalk (CPW): Enabled as of 05/05/2007
Tiscali: Enabled as of 25/07/2007
Tiscali TV: Enabled
WB Internet: Not available
Zen Internet: Not available


Go for O2 or BE LLU (all the other available LLU providers are rubbish).

EDIT:
If you're on Great Oakley (Exchange code: EMGRETO), you can also get Sky / UKonline LLU.

Edited by adebov (Sat 28-Mar-09 18:09:49)

Thanks for the quick respoonse.

I am on the main exchange in Corby, not the Great Oakley one.

According the o2 site, I can get a connection of up to 14 Meg, and being an o2 mobile customer already this is sounding quite appealing.
I intend to call AOL and cancel Monday morning.

Is there anything I should be aware of when switching? I've never actually done it before, having been with AOL since my dial-up days.

(I will search the o2 forum for opinions on the router they provide)

Hi,

Ive been having similar trouble of late with AOL....my connection speed appears to be capped now at 5.4meg after months at 7+meg.

Aol wont accept that anything is happening at their end, despite several loss of service periods, like the ones you describe. (Im in Sheffield)

Ive been with them for years. Im still under contract, but I intend to go, once the contract ends.

Good luck with your new provider.

Whatever you do, don't cancel but migrate with a MAC key which is what I'm sure you meant anyway, because if you cancel you may be without DSL for several weeks

I assume you haven't got an AOL email but if you have, now would be a good time to get an independent one [before you migrate]: googlemail, hotmail, Yahoo etc...

Good luck.

Blue

......sorry, forgot to mention.....

When you are ready to change...contact AOL for your MAC code...give this to your new provider, to enable them to take over.

..However, when you ask AOL for this, they will start offering you lots of incentives to stay. Its well worth playing hard-to-get at this point, just to see what they will offer

Regards,

In reply to a post by Moros:

(I will search the o2 forum for opinions on the router they provide)

The router isn't the best.
It's fine if you're a regular customer and don't need a good wireless range.
It does connect as fast as most other routers, but can have a tendency to overheat, reboot for no apparent reason, and lock up (again for no apparent reason).
The firewall is messy to setup (but only because of the rubbish web-interface).

Fortunately there are alternatives.
Many O2/BE customers use the Netgear DG834Gv4 (must be the v4, as that's the only one of the 'G' series with a Broadcom DSL chipset; which really is the best one to use with the BE & O2 product); or the DG834GT or 'PN' (both of which have the same DSL chipset).

My advice; start off with the O2 box, and change if you don't like it.
Also....DO NOT install the O2 CD - It's entirely pointless, and will only put junky programs onto your PC - Just plug the router in, and go (no need for the CD).

Well, I called AOL today to request the MAC code and it all went much more smoothly than I imagined.
I should expect to receive the MAC code within 5 working days and when I do I will be signing up with o2.

They did try to offer me some extra deals, but they can't compete with the speeds o2 are advertising and their promise of free calls etc is useless as I have a contract with BT. Never mind.

I do have an AOL email address, but it is not my primary one, however they have told me that after I cancel I will still be able to access all email addresses associated with my account. Which is nice enough I suppose.

As for the router - if it really does overheat and reboot too often I will have to look into another one. I am debating the Apple Airport Extreme - which could make sharing a hard drive and printer easier. I understand that as it has no modem I would have to use the supplied o2 in bridge mode. I guess I will look into this after evaluation of the o2 box.

And as I am a mac user anyway, the setup CD for the wireless box won't work so I can avoid the junk.