Thanks for your input ChuckFickens, Its been really helpful.
I gave up in the end and installed win2k on a USB stick and had another go with AOL.
I am PPPoE and logged in as my tel-no@dialbb.com, although the AOL man dosn't know why! AOL gave me a new password (different to my AOL login) and it was really that simple.
After two weeks of numerious phone calls and hassle, I think I might move to a broadband provider who has a British call centre. Any one know of or could reccommend one.
Thx..Badlad