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AOL DSL Plus; A Plus? Written by: Dan Daily
Hi Gang! Today we're going to talk about Aol DSL, and Aol Plus, as you may know; I've had Aol DSL for about 6 months. I'll go over the pro's and the con's of it; and let you decide if it's for you. . Aol DSL, and Aol Plus; Are They Really a Plus? Aol Keyword; DSL
Where do I start: Ok; lets go back to my Beta Testing days; this was supposed to be a beta test. But I couldn't get it in my area yet, so months later, poof; a box came UPS, and there it was. In the box is a DSL modem, (in my case, an external USB) an Aol5 Plus CD, the Driver CD, and phone filters for your telephones; a great kit, I needed nothing else. There is no cost for the equipment. They send you this tiny installation guide, and guess what? If you follow the directions; installation will take about 10 minutes tops. Quick and easy. I like that: Only problem was; the modem was connected to the phone company, but no Aol. "The Verizon Strike" ultimately cost me almost a month before it actually hooked up. I don't blame Aol for this. As with any products on the market, the external 4060 USB modem drivers have their quirks. The drivers that came with the modem were already outdated; so it took one phone call to find out where to get the new driver. Now I keep it's setup files on my drive always, I've had to reinstall it many times on Win98. I'm not surprised at that though: 98 can be very fussy. So I upgraded to ME. This was better; with ME, if you shut off the modem, shutdown goes really quick. REALLY QUICK! Win 98 can't make up it's mind on shutdown. At best; it takes a few minutes. Really. And yes; it drives you crazy.
Forget all this talking: What about the Speed? Alright now: If everything's up to snuff; my connection speeds vary, depending on who's site you check it at. It's weird. But DSL reports.com, puts me at around 490K. Yes, boys and girls, you heard me right. Not 56k; 490k. And yes, it SCREAMS! Of note: I trust DSL reports with the measurement. It's also by far the lowest. Depending on the site I go to; I show anywhere between 1600k; down to the 490, where I call it. One look at DSL reports site; and you'll know why I accept the low number. But how do you define fast? Yes, compared to a 56k modem it screams; but compared to a DSL 1500 connection, it crawls. When it was first turned on; I was connecting at around 900. I saw peaks as high as 2000k. (I live only a couple of blocks from the phone switcher: Crucial with DSL. (See My column "The Need For Speed," Click here). Someone must have found out, and turned my speed down. So now it's roughly 9 times the speed of a 56k modem. That puts Aol DSL in the medium range of consumer DSL. The cheapest is usually 300. 500 is very good. I still can't believe how fast sites load, EVEN MY OWN! Way Neato Gang! But: (Yes, there's always a "but") The upload speeds are terrible. 80/90k is all you can get. With DSL, you really should be able to get half of your download speed. So this should really hit at least 200. The reason for the slow upload speed is Aol itself. The biggest bitch I have about Aol DSL, is you can only use it for Aol. You can't get a separate Internet connection. By far; the best connection would be a connection via TCP/IP on a Broad Band connection. Not just a fast line to the slowest ISP in the country! (during peak hours) And that is what Aol DSL really is. A fast line to Aol. And; you occasionally get bumped: Aol can crawl just like it does now. In fact; it does crawl like it does now. About 15 minutes after the kids get home from school to be exact. Eastern! So I can't use it for any of my other ISP's at all. This should be changed, my other ISP's can sense the DSL, but they can't connect with it. This really sucks! There is a good side to it though; if you get bumped, you only have to reconnect; there is no modem to reload etc. And; no more nag screens telling you you've been on too long. You can go to the bathroom, or make a drink without worrying about it shutting you down. A definite Plus! Speaking of drink, I'll be right back...LOL
But Danny, is it Worth it? To answer this question is strictly up to you. To me? No, and I'm an Aol'er true and true. My online habits, work around the peak time blues. As you all know, I do an e-zine. And it's on Aol; I do all my Internet surfing on Aol, and believe me, nothing wrong with a 500k connection. WOW!!! But understand, I get online around 3:30,--4 o'clock am, eastern. That's when I normally surf. You can always send it back, if it doesn't fulfill your needs. Which is exactly what I did.
Let's Talk Dollars Next: OK; presently you are spending 23.95 per month for unlimited dial up. Aol DSL is another 39.95 per month. But there is a catch! You can't convert your account to "Bring Your Own Access" and only pay the 10 bucks for Aol. This doesn't make any sense to me; why should you have to keep paying for a dial up service that you will NEVER use. And believe me; you won't use it. But that's the way it is. Funny how they don't mention that. 39.95 is a good deal but it's the same price I pay for my present Cable Connection, AND I only pay the 9.95 for AOL! And remember: You can only connect to Aol with it! For around 55 bucks, you get the whole thing. DSL, and unlimited Aol. And, if you go on as a guest somewhere, you still get unlimited dial up. Is it a good deal? For me? NO! But at the time AOL DSL was only 19.95 plus 21.95 for unlimited dial up. In that case; I had a second phone line just for my computer: Additionally; I had unlimited area code long distance for the computer phone line. I was able to get rid of all of that. Remember; with DSL; you only need one phone line. Your computer can be online, and you can talk on the phone at the same time. As a result; I was SAVING about 50 dollars a month just by having it. And, with a 500k connection on top of that. Any of you that have separate phone lines for your computers; will at least be at even money when you get rid of the separate line. Now that's something to consider. Even money with a 500k connection speed; hmmmmmm.
So, Do I Recommend It? I think it would be prudent for you to check out all your options. Your phone company's DSL offerings and your Cable company's offerings. Like I said before, if you're running Windows 98 this can be most quirky.
Aol Plus Software (Aol5 version) Aol Plus is a version of Aol that puts a window at the bottom of your screen. It gives you content that a modem can't handle; such as news reports directly from the TV. With flowing video, etc. Aol automatically senses if you have a broad band connection, and installs it. Yes; you have no choice, install it. It keeps asking if you don't. The only thing I don't like about it; is it installs real player. Real Player is "Spy ware," (see my column; "Is Your Computer Spying On You," Click here) As a result, you have to spend time in preferences telling Real Player to stay off the Internet on it's own. A pain; but possible.
A Snapshot In Time Many questions have been received about speed, and where to check it. The Following are download speeds given from the major companies at a moment in time. Net use was moderate; the company names, are also hotlinks to take you to them, if you'd like to check your own speeds: As you can see, no two are the same, so; who really knows? LOL Aol (utilizing "status" from the system tray:
534k
Conclusion; There you have it gang; Is Aol DSL Plus, A Plus? I say perhaps! I hope this article helps you with background on the system. If you have an interest in it, go to keyword; DSL. Oh, and I almost forgot. I have since published another article on AOL DSL right after I got rid of it. Check it out!
Troubleshooting There is a quirk with the DSL modem, the Speed Stream. If when you sign on, you get a "Modem couldn't connect" you don't have to reboot the computer to fix this. This is much easier. Double Click on the modem icon in the system tray. A little screen pops up; click on details. When the screen changes; hit cntrl/alt/A on your keyboard. Now another screen pops up, click on the lower DMT tab, when on that screen, you'll see a button called DSL restart. Click on that, and your modem will recycle itself. Then just close out. That's all there is to it gang.
I hope this helps you on your road. Your Road? Yes, Your Road To Computer Sanity Danny
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