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AOL have relaunched their broadband in the past year, slimming down what were once an excessively complicated muddle of packages into a much sleeker, and much better value, set of deals.

Even after those changes, though, AOL broadband deals still hover around mid-market: neither the cheapest nor the fastest around.

AOL broadband

Speeds

In fact, they're far from the fastest around.

AOL are one of the very few providers still to advertise an up to 8Mb connection as standard.

The faster up to 24Mb broadband deal is only available when customers take AOL line rental.

Independent speed data is not available for AOL because it's too small to be included in Ofcom's full independent tests.

However, looking at similar providers we can surmise that the average 8Mb customer will actually receive speeds of 3-4Mb while the average 24Mb customer will actually see 7-9Mb.

Those are standard speeds for a mid-market ADSL provider, less standard, though, are AOL's usage allowances.

10GB usage allowance

All AOL broadband deals keep usage capped at 10GB a month.

10GB should be more than enough for light-ish users: basically, those that generally use the internet for browsing sites and emailing and less often for downloading or streaming content.

There's still considerable scope for AOL users to spend time on higher bandwidth activities - as an example, 10GB is enough to download around 3,000 songs or watch around 20 mid quality 45-minute BBC iPlayer programs although higher quality content will use up allowance more quickly.

The only other problem for those that do think they might go over is that all AOL can't move them on to a higher limit.

There isn't one so they'll have to severely slow the service or, in the case of serial offenders, cut it off altogether instead.

LLU provider

Finally, AOL are an LLU broadband provider, this means they've installed their own systems in some of BT's exchanges and where they have done so they can offer lower prices and faster speeds.

However, LLU providers don't "unbundle" every exchange in the UK and this creates a network divide: those customers outside of AOL's network pay an extra £5 a month.

Everything else is identical - including the broadband speed, monthly download usage, contract options, set up costs, free wireless router and choice of call plans - but this is well-worth double checking.

Calls and/or line rental

As noted above, AOL's fastest broadband is only available to those that also take the provider's line rental.

AOL broadband is also cheapest when you take the line rental although AOL line rental is far from the cheapest in the market, just below BT's prices.

Unusually, though, there's a mid-point: broadband and calls.

Customers will still be paying BT (or whoever) for line rental, they'll just pay AOL for any additional calls they make.

Again, this makes AOL broadband cheaper: just broadband with no AOL interference on your calls at all is the most expensive deal.

A connection fee of 9.05p applies to all chargeable AOL calls, which includes non-geographic numbers starting 084 and 087. Calls to those numbers will cost you up to 10p/min.

Having AOL Talk (either calls or line rental) also means that it's be free to call AOL broadband customer services.

When deciding on which AOL deal to go for it's worth remembering that, because this is ADSL broadband, all customers will need a working land line from somewhere for the connection to work.

More information on phone options is available in our full line rental guide.

Prices

As we've noted above, while AOL are offering fairly basic broadband deals they're offering them at a mid-market price.

Check our cheapest broadband table for an up-to-date look at how the prices compare against other providers.

Note that AOL don't charge a set-up fees for new customers or a fee for a wireless router.

A word on money-off

When thinking about price it's also worth noting a quirk in the AOL money-off deals for the first few months of the contract.

To clarify: the first month with just broadband or broadband and calls is completely free (including line rental) for the first month and then cheaper for the next two months.

This discount is, again, mid-market - most providers offer the same - we mention it here because it's near-impossible to enter in our system so that it show up correctly in the tables. Just a little clarification.

User abused

It's also worth noting, because it's undeniable, that AOL have negative user reviews.

As we've seen throughout this review, AOL are a big name that have somehow managed to squander it on basic, non market-leading broadband.

That has also seeped into their customer service which is middling at best.

All in all

AOL is a bit of a mystery: a budget broadband provider that will have any one with a budget to stick to reaching for a cheaper, better deal.

As we write this, AOL packages aren't even coming within the top ten cheapest broadband deals.

That said, the provider does have some good points: its deals are simple and no-nonsense and line rental is cheaper than BT's.

Overall, though, it's a disappointing result from a very recognisable brand name.

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