AOL has been rated top internet service provider for overall customer experience, according to a survey of consumers by Forrester Research, an independent research company.

The survey asked nearly 4,600 consumers about their interactions with internet service providers based on a number of measures, including usefulness and ease-of-use.

AOL's overall 'customer experience index' rating was 71 per cent, higher than any other service provider in the survey, according to Forrester. The Forrester survey also found that AOL's Index score climbed five percentage points between 2007 and 2008.

''AOL's mission is to provide consumers the best online experience possible, no matter how they get online, and we believe these results show that our efforts are succeeding,'' said Kimberley Partoll, EVP of AOL's Access business.

''We continue to make improvements in our AOL software, key products such as email and AIM, and our growing stable of superior content channels.''

In February, for example, AOL launched a new version of its all-in-one, easy-to-use classic software–AOL 9.5–offering users enhanced features such as tabbed browsing and integrated AIM. AOL's software is used by more than 26.5 million people on broadband and dial-up connections every day.

In 2006, AOL began offering its email, software, content and other services free to online consumers, and AOL's network now reaches 105 million unique visitors a month.

In addition to AOL's Access business, one of the largest internet access businesses in the U.S., the company is comprised of the MediaGlow publishing unit. MediaGlow launched in January 2009 to centralize all of AOL's content publishing efforts–including AOL News, Living, Money & Finance, Music and other sites, as well as a growing array of targeted niche sites. MediaGlow currently reaches more than 70 million unique visitors per month with more than 20 MediaGlow sites ranking in the top 5 of their respective categories. MediaGlow has plans to launch 30 new targeted sites in 2009.

AOL also operates the People Networks business unit, which includes social media service Bebo, the leading AIM and ICQ instant messaging networks and other AOL community properties that combined reach more than 89 million users worldwide. And it operates Platform-A, which the industry's leading advertising network, measured by audience reach. Platform-A reaches almost 90 per cent of the domestic online audience.