how does aol work

[res07tg2]

can someone explain to me how aol works ??

I have an aol account there not my isp but unfortunately I have 20000+ business cards floating around with an aol e-mail address on them anyways I contacted aol to ask what type of e-mail server they use and the address and they said they don't use one or ip addresses so what do they use

is there any way to collect my aol mail using Pegasus or any other program of that type

I HATE AOL!!!!!!!

[Xayd]

I think you can check it on their website, but to my knowledge, no, you have to use their client to check it otherwise.

Xayd

[EzyStvy]

I would guess that the emails would get bounced back to the sender as Undeliverable since there is NO account setup. Might be worth 5 bucks a month to setup an AOl account (minimum usage account) to get any emails...

[res07tg2]

i didn't know aol had a minimum use account i'm still paying the full price
i was trying to check my mail without having to use there client

[K A Hall]

I always thought you could just go to aol.com and check your mail from anywhere.
Is that not the case?

[glc]

Drop your AOL account down to the $4.95 for 3 hours plan - and you can check your mail from www.aol.com using AOL Anywhere.

[LawyerRon]

KA Hall:

"I always thought you could just go to aol.com and check your mail from anywhere.
Is that not the case?"

That is true. Had a friend do it on my machine.

[res07tg2]

yes you can check your mail that way and I have
I will definitely be changing my plan
still I wish I could check it with pegasus along
with the two other email acounts

[robo555]

Can't you forward all mails sent to aol to your existing account?

[res07tg2]

you can't do it automatically you still have to go get your mail then do it manually i only forward stuff i plan to reply to that way the return address is my current account

[res07tg2]

i still dont understand how aol works can anyone explain this to me

[glc]

AOL's mail (if this is what you mean) works using a proprietary IMAP-like system. It is not Internet-standard POP3 or IMAP4. This is why you must use the AOL client or the Web to get your mail and why you cannot use an Internet-standard e-mail client such as Pegasus or anything else such as Outhouse Express or Eudora.

The whole AOL system is proprietary - they are not the largest ISP because they are *good* - they are the largest simply due to marketing, alleged "ease of use", and the allure of the chat rooms. The last time I flew on American Airlines, I was served an AOL CD with my lunch.

[res07tg2]

I know what you mean I got my version 6 aol cd at the grocery store checkout line I originally ended up with aol after they bought out a small isp my wife was using right after we got married

[res07tg2]

the tech support guy also said aol doesn't use ip addresses how is that passable

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

AOL did license their mail technology to a third party a while back, so you could use other clients....but, that information was soooo useless to me, so I can't remember who it was, or how much it costed.

I'll have a look, but the software isn't gonna be free....

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

http://www.enetbot.com/

[glc]

AOL does use IP addresses - TCP/IP doesn't work without them.

I forgot about enetbot - supposedly it does work and it's 20 bucks.

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

AOL is pretty much the fastfood restaurant of ISPs....and the training for their employees are pretty much the same. AOL's "tech support" staff doesn't know anything more about their network than a McDonald's employee knows about which animal a Big Mac came from.

can't expect them to know anything, so don't ask them anything. unless it's directly related to the AOL browser.

[Xayd]

Are AOL's protocols acutally different?

I know that web traffic through AOL's software is just like any other, except for the fact that it goes out on port 5190.

I wonder if AOL's mail servers are the same deal, just listening on non-standard ports?

Xayd

[HAL9000]

Originally posted by res07tg2 can someone explain to me how aol works ??

I have one question.... AOL works?

[glc]

No - the AOL incoming mail server is not standard POP3 or IMAP4 - its a proprietary IMAP-like protocol at the client side. The outgoing is SMTP but it doesn't do you much good.

I thought that was just AIM that used port 5190?

[Xayd]

Nope, the full AOL software uses a weird port as well. One of the IT boobs here at this outfit I work for decided to try and implement a filtering proxy to monitor employee traffic on the standard ports (80, 8080, 23, etc), and using AOL software will zip right around it .

Xayd

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

if it wasn't extremely proprietary, MS would have integrated it into Outlook(Express). it's been one of those sore points between MS and AOL...I remember reading a KB article about it that sounded slightly reminiscent of a rant.

[res07tg2]

I think hal had it right question answered

[JimC]

I plan to build a house soon, and I now have almost enough AOL trial CDs to shingle the roof with them. AOL: keep those CDs coming! ;-)

[Xayd]

I actually saw a guy selling a 'collection' of all AOL cd's since 3.0 on E-Bay last week.

That Guy = issues

Xayd