AOL Broadband
Verdict. “AOL Broadband is safe, apple-friendly and mac compatible. They offer a good range of services from dial-up to ‘Wireless Plus’ offering speeds of upto 8Mb. AOL offer flexible packages, good support and reliability.”
Pro.“Good service and reliable”
Con.“Avoid the publicised laptop offer – the Dell is rubbish”
AOL broadband products
| Broadband Package | Advertised Speed | Monthy Downloads | Contract length | Total Price – 1st Year |
| AOL wireless | upto 8Mb | 10Gb | 18 months | £149.88 |
| AOL wireless Flex | upto 8Mb | 40Gb | 1 month | £179.88 |
| AOL wireless PLUS + Playstation 3 + Talk package |
upto 8Mb | 40Gb | 24 months | £254.87 |
| AOL wireless PLUS + Laptop+ Talk package |
upto 8Mb | 40Gb | 24 months | £254.87 |
Best AOL Deal. AOL Wireless, 10Gb monthly download limit. Total Year1 cost £149.88 (Order online and get 1 month FREE) Sign up to AOL today
Feedback. Got any recommendations or strong feelings about AOL? Then leave a comment.
More about AOL Broadband
- Broadband for Mac packages
- About AOL broadband
- About AOL’s service
- Standard features
- Current promotions
- Switching broadband to AOL
- Customer support
- What you need to get AOL broadband
- The small print
- Reader’s comments about AOL
AOL Broadband for Mac packages
AOL offer a choice of four AOL Broadband Options*, starting from only £14.99 a month. All AOL’s broadband options offer free connection, download speeds of at least 2Mb and free Evening & Weekend UK phone calls with the AOL talk plan.
About AOL broadband
AOL is one of the world’s largest and most trusted Internet Services providers. 33 million customers worldwide connect to the Internet through AOL’s dial-up and AOL broadband services. AOL offer their customers a wide range of content including news, entertainment, sport and exclusive music sessions as well as a range of online tools that enable them to do more.
AOL UK was created in 1996, with the first AOL UK television adverts appearing on screens in 1998. AOL UK broadband was launched in 2002 and that same year the number of AOL’s UK customers reached 1.5 million. The number of AOL UK customers is now over 2 million!
Towards the end of 2006, AOL UK was purchased by the Carphone Warehouse – making the AOL / Carphone Warehouse the 3rd largest broadband provider in the UK.
Currently, AOL UK will remain a separate business from Talk Talk (another broadband provider owned by the Carphone Warehouse) and will continue to provide its new and existing customers with AOL content and AOL email addresses.. In January 2007 AOL UK was re-branded as AOL Broadband.
About the AOL Broadband service
The AOL Broadband package offers you a connection speed of 2Mb-8Mb from a well-known and established ISP backed by the CarphoneWarehouse. Customers are free to set up home networks where more than one computer benefits from the same internet connection. AOL broadband prides itself on its extra features, which include parental controls, anti virus software and spam filters. Download limits are subject to AOL broadband’s fair usage policy.
AOL Standard features
- First month FREE when you join online.
- No activation fee, FREE connection and FREE wireless router (with ‘broadband in a box’ installation software).
- McAfee personal firewall – helps keep your network safe from hackers and viruses.
- FREE email with upto 7 addresses for your use and 2Gb of storage.
- Email anti virus – AOL automatically scan any email receaived to an @aol.co.uk address for viruses.
- Spam blockers – AOL’s email systems protect you from unwanted spam.
- Parental controls – Helps parents monitor their child’s online usage; you can block websites, set access levels for different users or just monitor who has been looking at what on the internet.
- Compatible with Xbox Live and Playstation Net.
Current promotions
AOL are currently offering a FREE playstation 3 with every connection to AOL broadband PLUS. (*Subject to 24 month contract – ouch!)
- Visit the AOL Broadband website for further details of their broadband deals
- Latest Mac Broadband news articles about AOL
Switching and migrating to AOL broadband (MAC codes)
You can apply to switch to AOL Broadband is easy. Everything you need to do to connect to AOL broadband will be handled by the AOL team with no interruption to your existing broadband service. The MAC migration of your broadband is as follows:
- Check to see if you are able to switch from your current Broadband provider. Click here to find their contact details.
- Call your current broadband provider to ask for your MAC code. What is a MAC code?
- Then return to AOL to order your broadband or call the AOL Broadband switcher team on 0800 200 6280.
- Sit back and relax as AOL handle everything for you.
Find out more on the AOL broadband website, AOL Broadband
AOL Customer support
- AOL broadband have an online member’s area with support via email.
- ‘Live’ online help from 8am until midnight, 7 days a week.
- Customer helpline is open 8am until midnight, 7 days a week (prices do vary – check AOL’s website for details.
What do I need to connect to AOL broadband?
- A BT telephone line in a broadband enabled area.
- A broadband modem or modem router for connecting your devices (including Apple mac) to AOL – this is supplied FREE of charge with AOL broadband packages.
- Telephone line filters – Three are included with AOL.
- A broadband compatible operating system – above Mac OS 8/9, Mac OSX etc. (PC computers will need to be specced higher than Windows 2000).
The small print – Extra information about AOL broadband’s product policy:
* If you choose not to take a AOL Talk product then you will be charged an additional £5.00 per month.
** AOL broadband Pay As You Go has no monthly subscription charges so you only pay for the times you pick up the phone plus you can talk for up to an hour to all UK landlines (starting 01 and 02) for just £4.25 in evening and weekends.
Reader's Comments
So far we have 13 comments about the product “AOL Broadband”
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AOL are hopeless just converted over to an iMAC and this is the response we get from AOL Support
Thanks for the email and I understand your issue regarding retrieving emails on the MAC PC. I would like to mention that we do not have the expertise for the AOL MAC software on the MAC PC. Hence I am unable to support this .
You can check the folders through the AOL homepage http://www.aol.co.uk on the internet explorer.
I use aol on my PC at present and pay for broadband.
I have recently purchased a new laptop, which I should like to use with a wireless connection to my present system. What do I need to do to access aol Broadband?
Hi David,
I am sorry to hear that you have been having problems with AOL broadband. I have just been on the AOL website and found their Mac help link. http://help.aol.co.uk/aol-broadband-for-apple-mac/article/20070208080209990001
AOL make out to support Apple mac owners but this clearly hasn’t been the case for you.
Have you tried the Apple site for support on this issue? You could try them. http://search.info.apple.com/?search=Go&lr=lang_any&kword=&type=&newstype=&q=set%20up%20email
Hi Denis,
If I understand you correctly – you want to connect your wireless laptop to your wireless router. All you should need to is install the AOL broadband software on your PC and follow the instructions on how to connect to your AOL wireless router / hub.
If you do not have a wireless router from AOL (if you have been with them for a while) then call them up and see if they can send you one (will normally require you to sign-up to a new 12 month contract). Or you could go out and buy yourself a wireless router (I prefer Belkin) and follow the instructions in the box of how to connect this to (and set-up with) you existing modem.
I will be updating our wireless router for macs page soon – check it out. http://www.macbroadband.co.uk/mac-compatible/wireless-router
I have been having intermittent wireless connection for a week;; I have phoned aol and had to speak to someone who spoke ? English I could hardly understand; I was told I would get replacement disk in 3-5 working days for use with Vista op system. I’m still waiting for it. I have downloaded a patch for aol.9.0VR and it still isn’t working all the time- I’m thoroughly fed up with aol
I would like to just have a good moan about aol. I have been with them for 16 years and got to admit that I haven’t had many problems with them, however can I get a free laptop with them can I eck. Apparently I am in a contract with them till April 2009, they say they rang me in Oct 07 and increased my download speed for no extra cost so therefore I am in a new contract. I dont remember any of this but suppose I will have to take there word for it. Anyway back in Oct 08 I was told I could apply for a laptop in January, (and to the credit of aol they did give me three free months) well I tried this today and guess what was told I have to wait another 1 or 2 months and I would also have to take the aol talk which i don’t bloomin want and if I dont want it I will have to pay another £5 a month (I am really confused) why should I have to have somethin I dont want.
Been with aol for some eight years or more. Always found their technical support very helpful . Last year I bought my own Toshiba laptop and netgear router .Got my local engineer(across the road) to set it up for me . Had no trouble whatsoever so far. Always switch on your router to warm up before logging onto the internet .
I have been having problem with my wireless modem as it is broken.This has affected the speed of my network access.Im wondering whether another wireless router can be sent to me.
Santa brought me a new desk top PC winows 7 for Xmas tried to load AOL 9.0 no good,phoned helpdesk to hear that my BT modem is not compatiable with windows 7 . would not offer any help at all or any suggestions apart from that I am in contract and basically tough still have to pay monthly bill even though can’t use new system. would not even adivse me as to which modem or router I sould buy. Can any body help!!!.
why have you connected me to a service with aol broadband i did not ask for or require that requires me to switch from my bt landline at a cost to myself of £52.27 please do not do this
take this email as if you insist i shall cease subscribing to your servise as from 5/11/10 thanks
COMPLAINT, WAS ASKED IN A TESCO STORE TO CHANGE OVER TO TALK AS IT WAS CHEAPER, i SAID NO CLDNT BE BOTHERED, HE SAID NO TROUBLE WE DO IT ALL FOR YOU, CANCEL YOUR D/DEBIT ETC ETC, TRANSFERED OVER 3 MONTHS AGO, THEN I RECEIVED A NASTY LETTER FROM ROXBRUGHE DEBT COLLECTORS FOR TWO MONTHS PAYMENT TO AOL, AND IT S THE SAME COMPANY, MANAGER PROMISED TO CALL ME BACK FROM AOL AND TALK TALK 14
DAYS LATER STILL NO REPLY – ANOTHER NASTY LETTER TODAY NOW THREATENING COURT ACTION, WAHT A DREADFUL COMPANY AND DREADFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM AOL AND TALK TALK , VERY UPSET CUSTOMER WHO WILL BE CANCELLING MY TAKLK TALK ACCOUNT IN THE NEW YEAR IF I DO NOT RECEIVE AN APOLOGY
Ive been an aol customer for the last 8 years .. using my aol Email for all my online work, in Oct 2010 for no reason AOL disconnected me .. with the reason being i wasnt using a BT landline .. so. i changed over to a BT landline .. and now im told they still cant give me AOL broadband because .. 1st Excuse there was a ‘tag’ on the line .. BT assured me there wasnt .. now the 2nd excuse is the BT exchange was full when i had to ‘re-apply’ for AOL .. BT have once again assured me it wasnt full.. Its taken me 3 months and many long phone calls to aol and still im no nearer having my aol broadband restored. i still for some reason access my e-mail address. this has caused endless chaos .. absolutley just not good enough ..
i advise anyone joining aol broadband to think again and don’t do it! I have been a customer with them since dial up days and until Easter no problems HOWEVER since then I have had NO broadband! I’ve been promised the earth by their helplines and referred 6 times to their senior engineers still no solution. I called out BT myself and got them to check not a line problem and their engineer assured me it was with my service provider ( or as I prefer to call them NON-provider!) the people on their helpdesk (or NON-helpdesk) just say that still in contract with them til end of august have children doing GCSE’s who can’t get internet access and I’m travelling 10 mile round journey to get access at my local library! Please be VERY VERY WARY using this company!