Well, brockenspectre, the new broadband is simply unbelievable! It's what the Internet should always have been like.....and I pay £24.99 per month which I reckon will save me several hundred pounds per annum compared to the old dial-up!
Downloading software upgrades from Microsoft etc becomes painless (almost); I don't know about AoL, but Virgin.net has been simplicity itself.
I watched the streaming videos of Concorde - excellent. Took a couple of minutes to start, but then ran perfectly. Usually whilst surfing or working I also listen to RadioFFH from Frankfurt at the same time with no detectable loss of downlink speed.
But it's the W-LAN/ASDL modem which has me most impressed! I got the taste for 802.11b wireless connection thanks to the Lufthansa business lounge system at FRA and installed my domestic hotspot as a result. Broadband Internet anywhere in the house! But according to a review of the BT Voyager 2000 which I use, 'It should however be noted that AOL UK users cannot use this as an ADSL router as it is not compatible with their proprietary software.' I have no idea why - but I'm glad that I've always slung the freebie AoL discs into the bin!
You can easily buy microfilters at places like PC World for about a tenner; I would imagine that your engineer should arrive suitably equipped. Tell him that you wish him to retain your current dial-up modem system as well to use as back-up in the (unlikely) event of an ASDL failure. In fact, Virgin.net remind people to do this.