Hi leadheadsc, welcome to TSG

since you have tried so many modems it looks like a problem with your settings,click on this site
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314095 and read through it,you will have to scroll down to read it all ......
Incidentally you are not alone with this problem,I just found this below about people having problems connecting to AOL ....
This has been an ongoing problem with many dial-up users of AOL, and it seems to be getting worse. My connection speeds were constant at 53333 in the past, but I am currently only able to get connected at no better than 45000.
AOL has been little to no use at all in being helpful with this problem. Their answer it always "Sign up for broadband". It's no secret that AOL has been losing customers by the thousands each year, and they've been posting the largest quarterly losses in the financial sector as well. If I'm going to make the jump to broadband, trust me, it WON'T be with AOL.
Oh, and there's been rumors going around that AOL is purposely giving you crappy connection speeds to their network... which they hope will get you frustrated and give in to joining AOL Broadband. It's all just rumors of course, but I can see how AOL would indeed stoop that low to get more of your money. They've resorted to deceptive practices in the past and have been sued for it (settling out of court to keep it hush hush too), so I wouldn't be surprised about it if it were true.