I just installed AOL on my laptop preparatory to leaving for France next month. Here's my understanding: when I get to my location in France I go to the setup screen in AOL and tell it I'm traveling. It will ask me the country and I'll tell it France. It will then dial a phone number in France and give me a list of access numbers from which to select. I select those which I believe are near me and then redial to connect.

My understanding is that I will be charged by AOL at seven cents a minute access time and that any phone charges are my responsibility. My guess is that in Paris there will be access numbers that are local calls from the flat we're renting. However, I don't know whether there is a local number in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue where we're renting a cottage for two weeks. And, if not, I haven't a clue as to how much phone calls to the nearest access number will cost.

1. Do I have it right?
2. Can anyone address the issue of local access numbers, please?
3. Reference has been made in the past here to connection problems in France. Any clues as to what that is about and how to avoid issues?

As always, the help here is most valuable and appreciated.

Blue

I don't know about France, but I did it in Oz and Ireland. You have it pretty right. I think when I used AOL, it was a $6 and hour surcharge.

Do be careful if there isn't a local number...the phone charge plus the AOL charge can make the whole thing pretty hefty. Is it only to check email or to surf? It may be cost effective to use an Internet Cafe. Of course, you can always write and read offline on your computer, then send. Shouldn't cost a whole lot then.

BB, if you're planning on being on-line for any amount of time, you may want to check out Earthlink. We always use Earthlink in Europe instead of AOL due to the fact that Earthlink has MANY more local numbers than AOL, resulting in much less expensive access. At least this was the case two years ago. Maybe AOL has added more access numbers since then, but it's worth checking out.

we sign into aol all over the world at internet cafes and have never received a charge from aol other than our usual monthly fee....but we only do limited things, like check our e-mail....

It is not necessary really to sign into AOL service. You go to AOL.com on whatever internet cafe you are in and you can check your e-mail, send e-mail etc. Nothing much else is worthwhile on that service anyway.

I think BigBlue is planning to take his own laptop, in which case he'll need access to an internet provider.

BB, I asked my husband about this thread. He seemed to remember that AOL has a nationwide access number in France. Hope this helps.