Why do I need AOL

[Stevee]

I know this is a stupid question (probably) but why do I need an ISP? I have IE and it works so why do I need AOL.

My apologies to those of you sighing. :-)

[pauln90]

Without an ISP how would you connect to the internet.They provide the connection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_service_ provider

[vehelpfulguy]

You DO need an ISP to connect to the internet (as pauln09 says).

What your DONT need is AOL (as long as you have some other ISP).

Millions of people connect to the internet, but dont use AOL.

I have heard that AOL try to "lock" you in so you have to go through their software to get to the internet.

[mattie]

It is true that you need an ISP, however, if it is AOL and you have a broadband connection and use a router, you don't have to use the AOL browser, unless you need the extra content you don't get with IE.

[Stevee]

Ok I got that Thanks, so what does Internet explorer (et al) do then?

[Ethel]

Internet explorer is a browser, like firefox and opera which are alternatives.

Without a browser you would connect to the internet through the ISP but be unable to surf it. The browser locates and displays web pages, using search engines such as google and yahoo.