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Posted By: Rick Badman Jan 25, 2003 - 01:46 pm

My name is Rick Badman. You may have seen the long line of chapters in Planet's Call. As of Saturday, January 25, 2003 my chapter count was 53 instead of 50 as shown. I just gave the government back to the people and made the governing computer a servant instead of the master.

I find that AOL thinks people who are adding pages to the stories are inactive. I've received the inactivity message often. I was surprised I didn't receive it a few days ago when I submitted 9 chapters in six hours to the story line. I also hate the way AOL disconnects me so often. I'm about to finish a story chapter and before I can submit it, AOL throws me off. Evidently it isn't a phone company or a computer company or else it would have solved the problems years ago. I wish AOL could receive the complaints it deserves but, surprise surprise, you can't e-mail the company. I guess it doesn't mind the complaints as long as you can't get it to them; just the poor people who are the buffer between the public and the company.

Posted By: Axzazz De`Nyde Jan 26, 2003 - 01:30 pm

I no longer get the idle popup with AOL 8.0. Instead, it actually turns on an idle message for my IMs instead of cutting me off.

On the old version of AOL, I always used something like AOLSFT to automatically kill the idle popups so it wouldn't disconnect. AOL timer killers were probably made for every version that did that, but which one you need will depend on what version you use.

On a side note, the reason AOL thinks you're idle is because while you're just typing in one of these boxes, no data is being sent to or from your PC. It isn't sent until you hit the button to post. If you keep a net radio station playing or a file downloading in the background or something, it won't think that you're idle.

And yeah, being a megacorp has its benefits... like a government, you can ignore customers who complain about your policies. A small business can't afford to lose the customers; but then, it doesn't have the resources to offer its customers as much. Not that AOL really does offer much more, but it's been faster and more reliable than the smaller ISPs I've tried.

Posted By: Holyoak Jan 26, 2003 - 06:53 pm

do a search for "keepalive software" and you can download things that will keep your connection active.

Or, when you are gonna be doing this typing, go to your start menu, then the "run" command, then type "cmd" in the run box, and a DOS window will pop up. Then type "ping yahoo.com /t" and it will ping it non stop until you hit crtl+c

I didn't know people used AOL anymore.

Posted By: Eleika Jan 26, 2003 - 07:22 pm

Something I'm confused about ... Here in Canada everyone has the options of cable modem (Shaw, formerly Rogers), or T4 connection from the local phone company. Both are very affordable. Most people use one of them, and AOL actually has a pretty bad rep. Does the US not have a national (or at least state-wide) company that offers cable, or T4, connection?

Posted By: Holyoak Jan 26, 2003 - 09:02 pm

there are dozens of companies nationwide that offer cable/dsl or other high speed options. It is the same cost or lower than having dialup plus an extra phone line. I get 800k of speed with Charter Cable.

AOL is a joke in the usa. The only thing it's good for is decorating your room with the free CD's they send out. For the same cost and effort, anyone with AOL could get broadband.

Posted By: Nomad Jan 27, 2003 - 08:48 am

I use Verizon DSL. I will never go back to using an ISP on a 56K moden. NEVER!

Posted By: Bmat Jan 27, 2003 - 09:19 am

Verizon DSL sounds great, but isn't it expensive? I'm paying $25 a month for a dedicated phone line for my modem.

Posted By: Axzazz De`Nyde Jan 27, 2003 - 02:41 pm

Yeah, Cable, DSL, etc. all sound great. But they all charge 2-3 times as much per month. $500 a year may not sound like all that much, but it's a month's rent and utilities...which beats sitting out in the snow for a month with an unplugged cable modem. Same reason I don't have a cellphone or cable TV. If I got everything, it'd cost me about a month and a half's pay/three months bills.

It's not that much difference for people that already have two or more telephone lines, since they can drop one and save that $25/month, but for people with only one line, it makes a big difference.

Someday it'll all be one package. "Telecomm Service: $19.95/month" And they won't even try charging by the minute or by the movie.

Posted By: Nomad Jan 28, 2003 - 06:40 am

Actually, its only costing me $24.95/month. I work for them.

Posted By: Bmat Jan 28, 2003 - 10:50 am

LOL@Nommy!