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 Review by dbennett1106 
UPDATED: 4 days ago
member for 9.4 years, 3787 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Menlo Park,San Mateo,CA
 Contract price not specified.
 AT&T
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Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
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(ratings match consensus)
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Review by avatarman
Posted: 16 days ago
member for 4.5 years, 2 visits, last login: 10 days ago
Oak Park,Cook,IL
Contract price not specified.
 "tried & true"
 "not as fast as Cable Internet"
 "I'm loyal to Earthlink"
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I'm loyal to Earthlink. They have been my provider since 1995 (then it was Netcom). I know some have said that the company is mostly resting on it's past laurels, but regardless I see em as tried and true. They are not trying to re-invent the ISP business. For DSL service it's pretty darn good IMO.
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Review by skunkworks
UPDATED: 26 days ago
member for 132 days, 20 visits, last login: 23 days ago
Brooklyn,Kings,NY
$87 per month
 about 8 days
Verizon
"cheap, fast when it works"
"deathly slow sometimes, now weekly"
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screams when the line is good, over the 3MB I'm paying for, with uploads at around 850Kb; that said, I've lately been getting dial-up speeds on a regular basis (at least weekly) for long periods of the day--even off-peak hours. I have the voice option, which annoys me because when callers hang up there is a problem with the voltage timing leading to an immediate dial tone--causing my answering machine to record a minute of dial tone. no one at Earthlink knows what to do about, if I can even get them to understand, the problem. also, I've had complaints from callers about echo on the line even though it's clear at my end. overall a good price for DSL and phone, so I can't complain too much.
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 Review by TMMerlin
UPDATED: 26 days ago
member for 6.4 years, 683 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Oxford,Oakland,MI
$29 per month
AT&T
"Had absoluetly no issues with service availibilty"
"Mindspring & EL mail get really slow sometimes !"
"Member of Mindspring.com for 13 years. The legacy continues !"
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I have been with Earthlink [formerly Mindspring] for many years. I seldom have connectivity issues and never have billing issues. My 1.5 Meg service usually tests at 1.2 Meg. I have no reason to complain or switch service.
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Review by RvLeshrac
UPDATED: 35 days ago
member for 9.2 years, 118 visits, last login: 18 days ago
Smyrna,Cobb,GA
$49 per month (12 month contract)
about 5 days
BellSouth
"Speedy equipment shipping, on-time provisioning, technical support, availability."
"Pricing, service offered, long-term and tier-1 support."
"You could do MUCH worse, but no longer a prime choice."
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$49/month, 6-month initial contract.
*** UPDATE ***
Goodbye, Earthlink, I hardly knew ye (anymore).
About 2-3 months ago, I signed up for Clear's WiMax service, given that they were offering the Home/Mobile package (+eq. rental) for $10 more than my ELink service, at twice the rated speed. Oh, and AT&T rolled a truck to fix a neighbor's phone or something, and disconnected my phone line. For a week. Leaving me with no phone and no internet access.
I'll say that my experience with ELink had its ups and downs, but it has mostly been downs over the past few years.
I don't have any real regrets, however, about staying with them for 9 years. I can still recommend them, with a straight face and a clear conscience, over AT&T's DSL offerings. If only the price was substantially lower......
The connection reliability did improve dramatically over my last update to the review. The only serious downtime I had was when AT&T screwed everything over. The connection SPEEDS, however, did not fare so well. Despite being rated for 3mbit, I never saw better than 200kbyte/s downstream speeds.
Support never improved, though it did remain consistently average. I would say "consistently terrible," but I have had experience with a number of ISPs (dealing with family/friends/business associates' connections), and I can say that ELink is hardly the worst of them. While they won't necessarily be able to *do* anything but read from their scripts, they will often at least break from them long enough to listen to you, will call you back if they say they will, and won't keep you on hold for eons.
Closing down my email accounts was sad, like moving from an old home. I felt a twinge when I disconnected my DSL modem for the last time.
*** UPDATE ***
Now $49.99/month, and I'm on the last month of my 12-month contract (I believe.)
Big change from the old Mindspring days.
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1.5Mbps/300k up/downstream
*** UPDATE ***
1.5/128 u/d now. Another big change from the old Mindspring days.
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Hardware:
ZyXel Prestige 642M ADSL Bridge
(»www.zyxel.com/html/product/xdsl/p642.html)
1 Line Swapper (required by some lines for Alcatel equipment)
Cat5 Crossover (~10 feet?)
XX Foot DSL cord (2-wire phone cord)
Linksys LNE100TX 10/100 Autoswitching PCI NIC
4 Inline Microfilters
1 Microfilter Wall Plate
1 Splitter
1 Line Swapper (required by some lines for Alcatel equipment)
14-ft 2-wire PHONE cord.
*** UPDATE ***
The standard equipment now provided by Earthlink is as follows:
1 UHP DSL Modem (Only allows one user to access the internet connection at a time, will NOT route despite NAT claims in the setup. Firmware updates as rare as the dodo.)
2 Inline Microfilters (Sturdier and slightly slimmer than the older box-style microfilters)
1 Line Splitter (NOT a filter-splitter [both connectors unfiltered] )
1 5' CAT5 Ethernet cable, straight. (Strange cabling here, since the UHP Modem only allows one user on.)
1 ~5' telephone cord.
Some of the above MAY not be standard. Just after my last contract renewal, two of my filters went out, and a support call went out to Earthlink. They may have packaged my replacement filters with the UHP Modem.
As regards the UHP Modem, this is a poor piece of hardware. The saving grace is that it can be converted to a standard DSL bridge via software. Unfortunately, this will cause firmware upgrades to become completely unavailable until the modem is hard-reset. This will also cause diagnostics to become unavailable without a reset. Of further note is that I specifically requested that they *NOT* send me YET ANOTHER piece of DSL hardware. I currently have a P641, P642, and now this UHP modem. The P641 and P642 are still in working condition, but for some reason obtain a lower speed than the UHP modem, despite syncing at full-speed.
Perhaps Earthlink could offer a better rate if they weren't searching for ways to lower our speeds or hardware quality, not to mention the expense of shipping out hardware that they were specifically told NOT to ship.
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I called up Mindspring (Earthlink) June XX to sign up. The rep. was extremely friendly and gave me notice of all the terms and conditions, but unfortunately didn't tell me about the self-install option. My line was provisioned by BellSouth the next day (partially due to my living next to a BellSouth Switching Station).
*** UPDATE ***
Covad is now servicing my DSL. Bellsouth is still operating my POTS.
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Of note is that I did not at the time have a credit card. Earthlink/Mindspring requires new DSL customers to have a CC for payment. Existing EL/MS customers, however, can pay by check. The rep, upon learning that I did not have a CC, put me on hold and came back a few minutes later with a plan. He signed me up for a Dialup account (30-days free, no setup fee), and had me call back the next day to set up my DSL, since by then I would have an account and could simply switch my plan. This is the first time I've ever had anyone almost literally bend-over-backwards to help me out.
*** UPDATE ***
Earthlink support is spotty. Since the full changeover, Earthlink has fired the majority of its stateside support staff (including a few good friends, and some not-so-good friends.) Stateside technical support is typically spot-on, but the outsourced support (which is obviously Indian - not to blame the Indians for the horrible support, mind, I blame the horrible low-cost training) is hideous. I have not once had a problem resolved BEFORE a transfer to stateside support.
While support is terrible from a technical standpoint, I will say that the call-center personnel, regardless of location, are consistently courteous and seemingly genuinely interested in helping, regardless of ability.
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I waited for approximately a week, and received no equipment or service call. I called up my rep, and was told that BellSouth had provisioned my line earlier, and that my installation should proceed shortly. I waited a few more days to no avail. Meanwhile, I had been invoiced at my dial-up for a $70.00 'Truck Roll,' despite the fact that I was told earlier that there would be no charges for equipment or the install. I called my rep again, and was transferred to DSL support. They explained that the charge for a Truck Roll was for those accounts that needed a service call for installation. I was also told that the charge was waived for the self-install (hence the 'no installation charge,' as noted above). "I'll install it myself."
My equipment arrived *THE NEXT DAY*, and the $70.00 were credited to my bill. This was more my fault than EL/MS's, as I should have requested self-install to begin with.
Setup was no problem, synced on the first try, etc. However, I was having a strange problem. Every 10 minutes or so, I would lose the ability to establish network connections. After a few calls to tech. support (only call them @ 3-4:00 A.M., folks. Then you get a REAL tech.) and a referral to speedguide.net, I tracked the problem to a PPPoE bug/feature/whatever. If you don't manually disable WINS resolution, the software isn't going to do it. This causes the connection to appear to 'die' every 10 minutes or so. It also helps to set a default gateway of 255.255.255.0 for your NIC's TCP/IP binding.
Overall, I've had no problems that couldn't be solved with 5 minutes of work, and in most cases a 'normal' user wouldn't have noticed them. Tweaking has resulted in my obtaining a nearly flat 1.5M downstream (Thanks go to dslreports' excellent diagnostics.)
I would probably recommend BellSouth DSL to a computer newbie, but for anyone running a network or with a measure of experience, Earthlink/Mindspring is the way to go.
*** UPDATE ***
For the past year, Earthlink has regularly dropped my connection at 1800 ET. While sync is typically back within a minute or two, there are no explanations for these outages. I would assume this was due to hardware upgrades and/or 3mbit preparation, but I have seen a DECREASE in my quality of service over the past year. My speeds have gone from a solid 1.5mbit down to roughly 800-900k down. The outages themselves are not a problem, but the QoS issue is.
I have had several multi-hour outages, including one three day outage, with no explanation from Earthlink. This does not include ticketed and scheduled outages, obviously, which are generally expected and accepted.
Given that Bellsouth now offers much greater speeds and a slightly lower price, I cannot recommend Earthlink DSL to anyone. I have had experience on both the consumer end and the corporate end, and the corporate support is some of the worst I have encountered. One company I am working with has already dumped Earthlink Business DSL for Bellsouth's lower pricing and faster speeds.
The few things still keeping me with Earthlink are my many-years-old @mindspring.com email address, and Earthlink's newsgroup access, which improved in the last year to a very high level of quality. Unfortunately, as 6mbit access at much lower prices creeps up on my area, I don't know how much longer I can be expected to stay.
Alas, poor Mindspring! I knew him, DSLReports; a fellow of infinite quality, of most excellent support: he hath borne me on his pairs a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rims at it. Here hung those lines that I have passed I know not how oft. Where be your pingtimes now? Your redbacks? Your upstream? Your flashes of downstream, that were wont to set the forum on a roar?
- RvLeshrac
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Review by crash4419
UPDATED: 38 days ago
member for 4.6 years, 221 visits, last login: 38 days ago
00000
Contract price not specified.
"deleted"
"deleted"
"deleted"
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deleted
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 Review by LiteOwl
UPDATED: 41 days ago
member for 5.8 years, 64 visits, last login: 39 days ago
Escondido,San Diego,CA
$39 per month
about 1 days
SBC
"none anymore"
"Tech services sucks badly gotten worse in time, even worse now"
"Even with 6mb,.the consistency and support just are lousy-moved to Cox"
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I say goodbye to Earthlink after so many many years its sad.. hoping somehow it would get better
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Update 3/6/07
Tried to update to 6.0, many times , finally last week I got a go through..was told test passed, order put in..Week later nothing, they cancelled order no notification, when I called to ask why nothing happened, and why wasn't I at least told..as I check my status page, to find out..First told me, its was my circuit could not handle it, and I could lose DSL completely..
But tech support, then telling me they could re-provision for 6.0 MB.. I would be without service for two weeks with no guarantee I would even have DSL after they tried that, so I told them finally don't bother..For at first I am told I could not have it, because of my circuit, then..I am told this..it did not make sense to me..
They are now giving me the run around, it seems , also the tech from wherever could not understand him, with a hearing loss, was polite asked him to talk slower please, when I told him, I could not understand his accent, he got rude with me.
.Now all I get is the run around..Covad tested my line a while back, through Tron, when I just got new modem, the problem, and lines were fine..
I don't know, I have mixed feelings customer support has always been good to me, resolved things..till lately..
Trying to go through their tech outsourced service and now even customer outsourced, and with no concern about my hearing difficulties with accents, is no reason to be rude to me..when I remain nice always have , and have gotten mostly always nice in return, but lately..the rating is losing its high once standard in my eyes..
UPDATE 3/9
That upgrade to 6mb that I fought long and hard for, since 9/9 ..kept being cut back to 3mb.. 5 times I called and they fixed it, temporarily ,..From 9/09 till now 3/09 i have nothing but headaches..
Then over billing, 3 more calls for that..The the speed issue..being constantly dropped back down to 3mb, day or night time did not matter..
7 or 8 I lost count in total from then till now, not to mention hours of transfers on the line waiting for someone who knew something...3 times I was hung up on.. The last problem after hours, of one tech undoing what the one before then doing and the last one redoing it..and still no fix.. they could not figure out..was exasperating..
So as a last resort they made me, disconnect the means by which I communicated with them, my video phone for the Deaf that's connected to my DSL, they said that was the speed problem..guess what shortly after they made me do that, I could not get connection at all, and they could not figure out why..I had to have a friend call for me..
I found the problem it was a setting.. , after a long look at all my tech notes..and a bit of common sense.. I rectified the problem..when the client knows more at times then the techs its time to go..
AS I said .I used to love EL.. the tech service has slowly gone downhill sadly though..The Techs suck mostly..as does CS now..
Most of the help I have gotten was here, and reading here..at this site which I am glad I found..and I thank all here, but sadly it is time to move on..to Cox cable..
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Review by marintrader
Posted: 89 days ago
member for 184 days, 5 visits, last login: 89 days ago
Corte Madera,Marin,CA
$80 per month
Covad
"Support answers within a few minutes."
"Support only gets things done after having been escalated to 3rd level support."
"My 6mb dsl delivers anything from the promised 6mb to as low as 2mb. These fluctuations suck in my opinion."
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Support tries hard when contacted although it might take a few trys before success. Once the ticket gets to 2nd level or network operations center (NOC) the error gets fixed. Being a network specialist myself, I don't call because I cannot get my new router to work. I call when for example I get a "fast busy" signal and not the usual dialtone (I also use their Earthlink VOIP). I dread having to call support because they always start at the most simple/basic of trouble shooting without considering the obvious. When they ask me to take the phone cord out of the wall outlet and phone, and reverse the way it was plugged in (meaning the jack that was in the wall outlet should now be plugged into the phone) my bloodpressure rises since the issue is not on my end. This is the fastest connection I can get in my area without having to install a business connection which costs twice as much per month.
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Review by mariano615
Posted: 100 days ago
member for 7.9 years, 95 visits, last login: 30 days ago
Lake Zurich,Lake,IL
$54 per month
AT&T
"Speed is stable. Very high up time."
"Tech Support is scripted"
"I have had Earthlink since 2001 with no major outages"
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paying $54 per month for 6 down and 768 up. Per speed tests on this website, i am getting all of my bandwith. I maybe have an outage once a year, if that (at least one that i notice). I have no trouble recommending this service.
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Review by stolibulldog
UPDATED: 110 days ago
member for 7.3 years, 19 visits, last login: 38 days ago
Huntersville,Mecklenburg,NC
$49 per month
BellSouth
"ease of use, good start page"
"unable to provide the 6.0MPS service, though Bell South has it and Earthlink lease's the line from Bell South"
"Average ISP, would change but e-mail address is important to my biz."
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Average ISP, would change but e-mail address is important to my biz.
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EarthLink
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Re: Sadly Mindspring only lasted 6 Years and you've been a EL'er
Mrs
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