Blackout Hits AOL

July 5th, 2007

A blackout this evening brought more problems to America Online, which has already been forced to offer refunds to thousands of angry members unable to log into the system.

Starting at around 5 p.m. EST today, members were unable to connect for about 80 minutes because of a problem with a log-in system following routine maintenance earlier that day, said spokesperson Tricia Primrose.

We did system maintenance, where we took the system down from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. During that time, we added a manufacturer’s upgrade to the log-in system, which then stopped accepting any log-ins at around 5 p.m., she said. Primrose said the problem appeared to have been resolved by around 6:30 p.m.

Primrose said that although there have been a number of problems recently, AOL’s overall planned down time is 1 percent, which she said was down from 3.5 percent last year.

AOL’s problems began to build in December when it started offering unlimited access for $19.95 a month. Eventually, the attorneys general from a number of states threatened action, and on January 29, AOL officials announced an accord with 37 U.S. states that included refunds to customers having problems dialing in.

Since then, there have been sporadic reports of members who still can’t dial in for service or seek a possible refund.

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