aol bashing and tips

[Dan Simoes <dans@ans.net>]

[I'm copying the qlist on this since the subject applies
to you guys as well.  The bmwmc list has been talking about
this a bit...]

To the folks having AOL trouble...

It's been real busy lately as you all know, and we/they are
working hard to fix it, installing new lines and sites almost
24x7.  In the meantime here are a couple of suggestions to
ease your pain:

- If you use AOL a lot at prime time (4-11PM) then you might
want to look into finding a local ISP that is cheap (something
like erols, att, or a mom-n-pop) and access AOL over TCP/IP.
This will cost you about $10 more a month, but assuming your
ISP is not busy, you will connect every time.

- If you mostly use AOL to download your mail, you can setup
flash sessions which suck all your mail down to your machine
and then disconnect.  If you schedule these for offpeak
times, you will have no problem.  Even during peak you can
usually do this.

- On AOL, visit keyword "aol update" or "meg".  This lists
all the stuff going on with access and other interesting 
tidbits, and as soon as a new number or more capacity is
added, it will be listed there.

- Lastly, there are some utilities out there (I think one is
called power tools) that you can use to sort of "demon dial"
numbers until you get on.  Also, the Mac 3.0 client for example will
try 2 number up to 5 times each built in.

Believe me, they are aware of the problems, and it's only due
to the popularity of the unlimited pricing.  But hang in there,
great new features, better and faster (56k) access is around
the corner.

| Dan |
-- 
Dan Simoes			          dans@ans.net
ANS 				http://coimbra.ans.net/dans.html
100 Clearbrook Road  			(914) 789-5378 (voice)
Elmsford, NY 10523			(914) 789-5310 (fax)