I don't know what the situation is with AOL now but as far as I understand it, you used to have use thier browser or something and AOL specific problems are frequently listed in FAQ's. I hope someone can enlighten me on this but if they are in any way forcing users into using THEIR methods, that would be sufficent to stop me using them as an ISP.

I recently swithed to RedHotAnt who charge a £90 per annum flat fee and a one off joining fee of £40 for 24/7 and can be used with any phone company (WorldOnLine has my phone).

Up to last week, the service was appauling (connection problems, random cut offs, DNS problems, etc) but over the last week, the service has been excellent in every way and I am hoping that they have finally ironed out their problems.

The package they offer is good: an 0800 number, unlimited web space, a news server, email, the ability to run cgi and peal scripts on the webspace, etc. but at the moment I can not reccomend them although if the current improvements to the service continue, I certainly would.

Someone told me that NTL have a good package that maybe worth investigating.

Jon