AOL Broadband

[Les Desser]

A friend has AOL broadband.

I have installed a router and want to use Internet Explorer for direct
browsing without having to log into AOL

1. AOL have ripped out all IE shortcuts. The only way to run IE is
IExplore.exe from the Run command.

2. If you create an http shortcut it is pinched by AOL. So if I try to
get into the router at http://192.168.0.1 via a shortcut I created, it
fires up the AOL logon and you cannot move on.

3. From IE I can get to google.co.uk but most other sites are
unreachable.

Is this the way that an AOL broadband line should function? Looks like
their DNS server does not like being interrogated directly.

(I thought MS was all pervasive but AOL beats them by a long way.)
--
Les Desser
(The Reply-to address IS valid)

[Phil Thompson]

On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 16:50:08 +0100, Les Desser
<News...@dessergroup.com> wrote:

>Is this the way that an AOL broadband line should function?

no. If you set up the main account name in the router it should login
and then you use the PC as normal via NAT. To run the AOL cheeseware
on more than one machine at once (why, FFS, I have no idea) you need
more "screen names" whatever they may be.

keyword home networking or similar.

the computer need not have had any AOL shiteware on it, but it looks
too late for that. Install Firefox perhaps ? Sounds like AOLware is
the default browser.

http://www.speedtouch.co.uk/downloads/solution/solution_aol_580.pdf
may be helpful, there are others about for other hardware.

Phil
--
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=tiscali

AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

[Les Desser]

In article <kqlhf1hrn3p4varqj...@4ax.com>, Phil Thompson
<phil.t...@spamcop.net> Tue, 9 Aug 2005 17:22:15 writes

>>Is this the way that an AOL broadband line should function?
>
>no. If you set up the main account name in the router it should login
>and then you use the PC as normal via NAT.

Thanks. I will un-install AOL (I hope that does not leave the PC
unusable as it used to some years back) and see what happens.

I have replaced the AOL DNS IP with the Demon one and there was no
improvement. Some sites are OK

google.co.uk
yahoo
front page of bank site

while others fail

whatismyip.com
msn
further pages of bank site.

This happens whether using IE or AOL browser.

I notice that on all the failed pages in the AOL browser a little locked
padlock appears in the bottom left hand corner. For ok pages there is
no padlock at all. What is the padlock?

[Phil Thompson]

On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 19:27:15 +0100, Les Desser
<News...@dessergroup.com> wrote:

>I notice that on all the failed pages in the AOL browser a little locked
>padlock appears in the bottom left hand corner. For ok pages there is
>no padlock at all. What is the padlock?

padlock is https secure web page

sounds like an MTU issue - AOL use an MTU of 1400 rather than industry
standard ethernet 1500, so set PCs to MTU=1400 with drtcp.exe

that should resolve some of these issues. When packets get fragmented
to fit into 1400 MTU some sites see this as insecure and block them

[Simon Zerafa]

Actually, you might need to set the MTU correcty on the router rather than
the PC.

Check the config and ensure that your router has an MTU of 1400

[dave stanton]

Some people have found that they do need to also set the pc to 1400.

Dave

[Phil Thompson]

On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 22:14:52 +0100, "Simon Zerafa"
<postm...@127.0.0.1> wrote:

>Actually, you might need to set the MTU correcty on the router rather than
>the PC.

if you set the PC to 1400 the router won't make the packets bigger.

Do you *need* to set the router to 1500, or is it a guess. Some don't
offer the facility, for example.