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Review by zapatasghost 
Posted: 123 days ago
member for 143 days, 10 visits, last login: 72 days ago
 Wheat Ridge,Jefferson,CO
 $39 per month
 Qwest
 "reliable connection, relatively quick response on tech support. Not Mac-phobic."
 "Slow speed for relatively high price."
 "I guess like any evil corporation - they'll take your money if you let them and sometimes even when you don't."
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I'm supposed to get 6Mbps for $39.95/month. I only get just above 1.5Mbps download. Thanks to this website and forum - I'll be demanding faster service and lower price or switching to another ISP.
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 Review by rshores
UPDATED: 147 days ago
member for 8.5 years, 282 visits, last login: 64 days ago
Nashville,Davidson,TN
$49 per month (12 month contract)
 about 10 days
BellSouth
"Free Modem - No Installation Charges"
"Terrible Tech Support"
"Do Not Bother!"
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I received the email from DirecTV DSL that they were discontinuing service and I decided to disconnect before the service went down. I submitted my request via their web page to disconnect service on 12/19/02.
On 12/23/02, my connection to DirecTV DSL was discontinued. The power light on their gateway started flashing on 12/31/02, so I assumed that BellSouth had cleared the line.
After shopping around on broadbandreports.com for a new DSL provider, I decided to order DSL service from EarthLink. I placed the order over the phone on 12/31/02. The customer service representative said that the connection speed would be 1500/128 and a PPPoE connection (the 15.00/month static IP option is not available in our area yet). The EarthLink rep stated that the speeds that he quoted were not guaranteed.
The fact that EarthLink rep was offering a free gateway (without a mail in rebate), free installation, and 21.95/month for the first three months were factors in my decision to go with EarthLink. As when I signed up for DirecTV DSL service, I have a 12 month commitment to keep service with EarthLink or pay an early termination fee. Some people may not want to make this commitment, so I would advise anyone who is considering EarthLink DSL service to keep this in mind.
Orginally, my phone line was to be provisioned on 1/6/03, but BelllSouth encountered some problem on my phone line and was working to fix the problem. I received an email from EarthLink regarding this problem and I was promised that they were working with BellSouth to get the problem taken care of. Being a curious person, I decided to call the EarthLink DSL support line to see if I could get details on what was the problem with my phone line. I was on hold almost an hour before I was able to speak with a representative. After being put on hold several times, I was sent to another rep who told me that there was something on the phone line causing a problem, but the rep had no more details.
On 1/9/03, a BellSouth technician came to the premises and discovered that my DSL connection plugs into a BellSouth installed ADSL filter (installed several years ago when I had the BellSouth FastAccess Service) at the point where the phone line enters the premises. This device filters the other phone connections in my residence from ADSL signals. The technician plugged his test set into the DSL jack on the ADSL filter. After the technician ran the tests, he said the line was fine and that the provisioning would be completed later that day.
I received the EarthLink install package, which included the gateway, on 1/10/02. I installed the gateway, and configured my Linksys DSL/Cable router and on the internet once again. It is too soon to give any type of review of connection reliability. So far, the speeds have been 1024/122.
The whole process of transitioning from DirecTV DSL to EarthLink DSL was much smoother than I expected. There may be better DSL providers with better prices out there, but not having to wait for mail-in rebates, and a discount on the first three months service make EarthLink DSL a provider to consider seriously. I hope they can make improvements in how long it takes to speak to a customer service representative.
*** Final Update 7/27/05 ***
Ditched Earthlink after one year committment expired (2/1/04).
*** Update 2/16/03 ***
Frequent disconnects started occuring again on 2/11/03. Earthlink had Covad do a loop test and found problems on the line and sent a trouble ticket to BellSouth. Apparently, the "problem" with my phone line that was discovered during provisioning to Earthlink wasn't taken care of. A BellSouth technician found problems at the wiring entering my residence and made repairs. The downstream and upstream capacity occupation and noise margins improved dramatically and I now have the advertised speed of 1500/128. The disconnects have vanished.
*** Update 2/9/03 ***
Connection problems finally resolved. I was fortunate to speak with a knowledgeable Earthlink tech support rep, who spent well over an hour with me to troubleshoot and find a resolution to the frequent disconnect problem. I have an INI with an integrated ADSL filter to filter the red/green pair of phone wires in my residence and an unfiltered connection on the black/yellow pair of phone wires, that are running to a phone jack in another room for the DSL connection (this was installed by BellSouth in 1998 when I had their FastAccess service).
The tech support rep suggested installing the filters that are part of the Earthlink self-install package on the phone connections in my residence that had telephones and DirecTV satellite receivers plugged in, even though those lines are already filtered coming from the integrated INI/ADSL filter.
After installing the filters, the disconnect problems went away and my downstream speed is at 1284. I was impressed that the tech support rep called me back the next day to see if installing the filters solved the disconnect problems. He told me that the phones and the DirecTV satellite phone line connections on the red/green pair could be "bleeding" over to the black/yellow pair causing noise. He suggested having BellSouth remove the integrated INI/ADSL filter and install a regular INI, since the Earthlink supplied filters are already in place. Since the disconnect problems have dissapeared, I decided not to go through all the hoops to get BellSouth to replace the integrated INI/ADSL filter with a regular INI.
It took eight calls and a bit of luck before I was able to speak with a tech support rep that was willing to go the extra mile to help diagnose and solve the disconnect problems.
*** Update 1/31/03 ***
For the last two weeks, I am losing sync frequently. Calls to Earthlink for resolution of problem "...we can't do anything unless the problem occurs while you are on the phone with us." Well...with the long wait times to speak to a representative, the problem usually clears up. I am not happy now as I was when I first started service with Earthlink. I never had these issues when I was with DirecTV DSL.
*** Update 1/17/03 ***
After one week of service, I haven't had any connection reliability problems.
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Review by xz4gb8
UPDATED: 149 days ago
member for 4.8 years, 1058 visits, last login: 31 days ago
Plymouth,Wayne,MI
$35 per month
"Reliable speed**"
"Customer Support scripts for idiots"
"I'm staying with Earthlink"
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**I've had Earthlink DSL since 2001. My 3Mbps service has consistently delivered 2.5Mbps/325Kbps until they recently changed without notification from covad.net to sbcglobal.net. My speeds changed to 1.7/430.
It took three hours of online chat and telephone calls, spread over two days, to get it fixed. Most of that time was spent waiting for Earthlink to admit that they had changed their network. I finally got a fifth someone who called ATT and got it fixed and even called me to let me know. Now I get 2.5/430, actually an improvement.
Bottom line - reliable service, BOFH support - most nice people with poor communications skills and no ability to actually help. It should not take over 16 hours wall clock to get through to a helpful person. Oh, also, the sales contact would not even discuss the problem to tell me if my service terms had changed.
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Review by Digital07str
UPDATED: 151 days ago
member for 1.4 years, 56 visits, last login: 9 days ago
Ypsilanti,Washtenaw,MI
$54 per month
about 18 days
Covad
"Its internet? If you want to be run in circles and love to pay more than what you should."
"Failed to lower my 6.0Mbps DSL to 35.95/month when told they would. Failed to lower a second time too."
"Completely abysmal company."
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Omg! AT&T offered a better price, so I contacted Earthlink, and we where able to come to an agreement that satisfied me completely, until that is, they didn't come through on the deal. The first time I contacted Earthlink, I was told I could get 35.95 a month down from my current 54.95 a month and 1 free month of service. When my bill came around, I noticed I got the free month, next month, my bill was still 54.95. I contacted Earthlink. I was told they couldn't lower it to 35.95 because there billing system wouldn't accept anything that low, and that they could lower it to 45.95. Still better than 54.95. One month later, still my bill was 54.95. Contacted them again, and this person told me I could get 35.95. The next billing cycle is coming up in less than a week. If it is not 35.95, I am canceling and going to another provider. I have been with Earthlink since 05/05/00.
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 Review by fatness
UPDATED: 167 days ago
member for 9 years, 6061 visits, last login: a few hours ago
fishing
$49 per month (6 month contract)
about 28 days
Verizon
"Communicated well, installed quickly, works fine."
"None yet, still waiting for them."
"Happy Camper."
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I got bounced from my free ISP, so rather than find a pay dial-up service to go with my second phone line, I decided to get DSL through Mindspring/Earthlink, eliminate the second phone line, and pay about the same.
Mindspring/Earthlink told me our line was OK for DSL service, I signed up. 2 1/2 weeks later Verizon did their work on the line up to the house. A week after that Covad (WHO COMMUNICATED FREQUENTLY AND VERY WELL BY THE WAY----no I don't work for them) installed the modem etc, and we were up and running.
I am still waiting for the problems to start, but none have. Always connected, read tons of useful info here on DSL Reports and tweaked (I used to think that was a sexual term) my system a little to get it running faster.
Earthlink support is a longer wait and less knowledgeable than Mindspring support, but I haven't needed them since installation 3 weeks ago.
If things continue well I will update, and if things go south I will update. No complaints, and I love DSL Reports.
DATA: ordered whatever speed was offered (I believe it was 192/192, don't remember) for $ 49.95/mo. plus free modem and install; I get 240/270 avg. on tests. Home equipment is an HP Pavilion 8560C. PPPoE. Other bad experiences: none. Other good experiences: my dog is licking my hannnnnnd.
I got Mindspring /Earthlink DSL on Nov. 1, and kept having problems with blue-screening-------------the monitor would click, and the entire computer would lock up. Talked to Mindspring Tech Support and they suggested uninstalling EnterNet and installing WinPoet, which I did. It ran great the first day, slow the second day, and stopped cold the third day. I kept getting the "Error 629--The port was disconnected by the remote machine". Tech Support sent me the instructions for how to deal with Error 629 and what it meant. I HAVE SAVED THESE INSTRUCTIONS----E-MAIL ME IF YOU NEED THEM. I followed the instructions, screwed it up the first time, got it right the second time, and my connection is much better. No more blue-screening, always on, no outages. It seems I hadn't completely uninstalled Enternet stuff, and had also uninstalled and reinstalled Winpoet in an attempt to fix things. There were registry entries and adapters and all sorts of other stuff I had left on my machine which was interfering with WinPoet installing cleanly and running.
My speeds vary widely. In the AM they are around 1100kbs, and every evening they are between 300-400kbs. I don't know why this is, and I'll probably root through DSLReports to find ideas. There is a lot of help here. Even at the slower speeds the performance is fine for me, but I want the best I can get. I also constantly have a 4% packet loss on the last hop of the West Coast Line Quality Test. Will try to find out more about this. Still pretty damn satisfied. It is fast and it is always on, and Earthlink/Mindspring helped me with my problems.
DATA: ordered whatever speed was offered (I believe it was 1.3/384, don't remember) for $ 49.95/mo. plus free modem and install; I now get 360/270 avg. in evenings and 1100/350 avg. in morning on tests. Home equipment is an HP Pavilion 8560C. PPPoE. Other bad experiences: EnterNet software failed. WinPoet failed until I installed it right. Other good experiences: too graphic to describe here.
UPDATE: April 20, 2001: Still going strong. Speeds constantly around 1200/300, with pings in mid 20's. Love it.
note: I'm a moderator here at DSLR/BBR, but that doesn't make this review any more or less valuable than anyone else's review.
Updated January 25, 2003: I haven't updated my review in a ong time because: it still works just fine. I've been without service maybe 3 hours during the whole last year, and considering what other people go through with other ISP's, I have no complaints about that. Speeds still run about 1310 down and 300 up, and my pings seem to have stayed steady in the upper teens when I run a traceroute, and in the low 30's when I run a Line Quality test at BBR. The few times I've needed help with Covad's end of the service, I've just e-mailed the Level 2 Tech at Mindspring and it has been taken care of by getting Covad to reprovision my line. I'm not saying this is the best service around, or the fastest, but I'll be damned if I have any complaints about it. $49.95 a month is the current rate. I'm satisfied.
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 Review by woody7
UPDATED: 167 days ago
member for 9.1 years, 4477 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Torrance,Los Angeles,CA
$50 per month
about 10 days
AT&T
"Had the service for 10 years now, only 2 outages in that time. Not the fastest,1500/350,but very reliable due to Covad"
"Have to deal with Earthlink before Covad for support."
"If price isn't an issue and reliability is , t han Covad is the way to go"
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Had Mindspring when purchased by Earthlink. Elink jobbed the install out to Covad.took about 10 days from order to install, also showed up on time. 1500/128 $50 (price not as important as reliability), actually 1350+-/350+-.Rock solid ! I believe a speadstream modem, have had the same one for 10 years now. Installed on a fax line that I had, I guess they don't do dedicated lines anymore, thats why I haven't changed. All in all a good experience. If I need to download, do it at work, with Cox business cable. Only legit stuff though.
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Review by bradpaton
UPDATED: 183 days ago
member for 184 days, 1 visits, last login: 183 days ago
Brooklyn,Kings,NY
$29 per month (12 month contract)
about 41 days
"service is generally reliable, but since they don't actually provide it, so what"
"ridiculously un-helpful customer service, particularly high speed cable version"
"not sure why i'd recommend giving them your money, since they don't actually provide the connection, just take the money for it"
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Unfortunately didn't have any choice for high-speed apart from Cable from Time Warner, or satellite, which was too expensive at basically twice the price, though I'd have preferred it for just the TV.
Not exactly what was envisioned by competition and choice I'm guessing from 96 telcom reform law. A choice between two un-palatable alternatives is not really choice at all, and when your business success appears to be predicated on guaranteeing that lack of choice (high termination fees, long lock-in periods on contracts, etc.), no wonder the industry as a whole has such customer relations problems.
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Review by Cookiecat
Posted: 193 days ago
member for 193 days, 2 visits, last login: 192 days ago
The Colony,Denton,TX
$41 per month (36 month contract)
about 4 days
AT&T
"It's available in my area."
"Just about everything."
"A real ripoff."
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In 2006, after wasting a month trying to get AT&T cable to actually work, I signed up for Earthlink DSL. It was great--for the first year: fast and reliable with knowledgeable support. Then, in 2007, everything began to deteriorate, gradually, but noticeably. Last year I began keeping a log of all the times I was unable to connect to the internet, the times I called support, how long I was on hold, etc. I now am unable to connect over 70% of the time unless I go through the initial setup process which takes 20 minutes to half an hour. Most, but not all, of the support staff are extremely rude, condescending, and too obviously wishing they were somewhere else. I memorized their routine a long time ago, but continue to call just so there is a record of the problem. I am counting the days till my contract expires.
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Review by SolarDog
UPDATED: 194 days ago
member for 3.5 years, 92 visits, last login: 118 days ago
Saratoga,Santa Clara,CA
$29 per month
"Excellent, solid, reliable connection"
"None... I know, but really none."
"I love you Earthlink...well, not LOVE love, but close."
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Been with Earthlink since 1999 and have no complaints..I really don't. I finally was able to get DSL in my area a couple years ago and switched right over from Dial-up to DSL in one of the most seamless transitions Ive ever experienced with any product or service Ive owned. Amazing really as Ive never really thought about it until now and that is the ultimate sign that something works well.
*******
Well, about 2 years since my first little review^^ and one morning to my surprise, my connection has more than doubled...for free. No one will be able to pry me from Earthlink ever. By far the best experience with anything, anytime, ever.
Followup comments:  
jchambers28
join:2007-05-12
Alma, AR | land line phone does earthlink still require a landline phone? | |
| | RogerADSL
join:2004-12-10
Lawrenceville, GA | Re: land line phone with the exception of Verizon territories, yes. | |
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Review by josephm
UPDATED: 199 days ago
member for 9.1 years, 1348 visits, last login: 39 days ago
Ridgewood,Queens,NY
$41 per month
about 10 days
"up to now no problems"
"during evening hours very slow"
"not to bad"
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I have the service for about 3 years ,the supply equipment was Toshiba pcx2500 modem ,( i still used) really i did not have major problems except the afternoon hours
Now is more then 5 years still no problems ,
I'm very satisfide
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