I have Sky BB and have had cause to speak to thier Tecnical helpline, the problem seems to be that they have 3 tiers of operators, the 1st is the basic, "Are you sure its plugged in/connected properly", when that doesn't work you go through to the 2nd tier who ask a few more technical questions, if they still can't help you you go up a level to Tier 3, who are never available but they do call you back, eventually. it's frustrating I agree. However they did solve my query and I've had no need to call them again.
The connection depends on the time of day in my area early evenings and weekends it can be quite slow, think it depends on how many people are connected at your exchange.
I did use the say no to 0870 website to get an 01 number and it cost me the price of a normal call, rang after 6pm so actually cost me nothing.
I was with AOL before and have to say I would never go back, find an alternative yes but back to AOL never.....
AMB
I should mention that views are my own and I'm speaking from my own experiences!