Lycos Free Internet - A 7 HOUR HELLISH SETUP STORY
Written: Aug 19 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: none
Cons: "EASY" 7 hour setup! Slow access, AOL-like busy signals
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| rootwarrior's Full Review: Lycos.com (by 1stUp) |
I was looking the other day around the web for free internet service providers. I was getting pretty fed up with paying $20 a month, especially because I don't make much at where I work, and because I have never really experimented with any of these services, so I thought it would be informative to try it out.
So I logged onto epinions in hopes of finding a list of free internet service provides (which of course I found because epinions kicks butt). Among the list was Lycos.com, which I thought was really neat. I had been using Lycos.com as one of my main search engines for about 2 years, and I figured that I would give it a shot before all of the rest.
So I logged onto Lycos.com and read all about the service that they advertised as "56k FAST!", and "Easy to Setup and Use" - not exactly.
I started to download the 1.2 MB installer using Netscape 4.5, but for some reason it kept stopping at 80k and bringing back some kinda server error. I eventually had to download an FTP client and use that. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. That's juuuuuuust the beginning.
So I downloaded the installer and once I tried to install it, it informed me that I didn't have Mac OS 8.6 installed. (I use a Mac). I had Mac OS 8.5 installed, but the minimum requirements were only Mac OS 8. The installer informed that I couldn't install the Lycos Free Internet Service until I had installed Mac OS 8.6 because there was some kind of authentication problem with Apple Remote Access that was fixed in Mac OS 8.6. So I'm downloading a 35 MB update from Apple to update my operating system. That took roughly 3 hours due to the horendous bandwidth I had. But still - just the beginning of the problems.
So now, roughly 4 hours after my original journey had began, I was ready to finally install the Lycos Free Internet software. The software installed without a problem (thank god), and so I opened up the main program.
After a small tutorial guided me through picking some of my local numbers and setting up my modem type, as well as my TCP/IP settings and my phone line sections, I was ready to sign on and start using the internet. At the main control panel of the program where it asked for my logon I clicked on "Create New Account", since I wasn't regestered with Lycos. It then took the prgram about two minutes to finally connect me to the Lycos number, since it was busy several times. (I later found out that these numbers are shared by Excite's Free Internet Service too, hence the many many AOL-like busy signals. May I add that when the number is busy, you have to manually click to redial, it won't do it automatically). At this point it automatically opened back up my browser and took me to the Lycos registration page. It takes about 15 minutes to register, since you have about 4 or 5 pages of information to fill out, just to get in with Lycos.
Approaching hour 5...or maybe it was 6...I don't know I've lost count by now. I finally registered my name with Lycos, I was ready to sign on as a gods honest legal Lycos Free Internet User. Maybe this 6 hours of hell was worth it. After all, I could be getting free 56k fast internet connection for free for the rest of my life, so what's a measly six hour setup? Right?
You guessed it - WRONG! Upon attempting to sign on, I was greeted with a lovely, huge , "AUTHENTICATION FAILED" error. I read through the "Read Me" and the "Manual Network Setup" documentation that came with the software, but I didn't get anywhere. Great, I thought to myself, time for 1-877-LYCOS-4-U quality tech support. I was determined to get this damn thing to work though. NO WAY I was giving up after wasting 6 hours on this thing. After going through what seemed like 38 skillion automated messages (Hello, yeah how do I talk to a person?), I was finally put on hold.
So I waited.
And waited.
And before I knew it, hour 7 had come.
"Hello, Lycos tech support," the guy answered reading from the screen on his computer at Lycos HQ. I eventually explained to this guy Roy what kind of nightmarish experience I was having, and he guided me into some troubleshooting. After a minute, things started to sound familiar.
"Yo", I said, "I did all this. You're reading right from the read me, arent you?"
So after the helpless call from tech support, I decided to give it one more go. I logged back on and registered ANOTHER name at Lycos.com, and then I returned back to the program. With a sign that could depress a man who had just won the lottery, I clicked on connect.
And it worked.
As soon as it logged on, my computer was taken over. Advertisements were all over the place, browsers were opening in the backround, web sites were coming up which I had never requested, and in short - all hell was breaking loose on my computer. My connection speed was 14.4, despite the offered "56k FAST" access, and I had never seen my computer so slow. The ad bar occupied waaaaaay too much of the screen and it took what seemed like several college semesters for one web page to load.
I deleted it at once, and I couldn't believe how I had flushed 7 hours of my life directly down the toilet.
You can't anything for free folks, and believe me, the $20 a month you pay is worth it!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
rootwarrior
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Member: Chris Irons
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 66
Trusted by: 48 members
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