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Review by AmyC  - Location: Hermitage,Mercer,PA
- Cost: $40 per month
- Install: about 10 days
Good "Offer lower cost cable service than Time Warner with no modem lease fees"
Bad "Seems to be the bottom of the barrel for Time Warner servers. Unreliable and inconsistent service."
Overall "Don't bother to switch unless you need to do so for $ sake. Not worth the reliability loss."
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We switched to Earthlink after having Time Warner Cable service for over 5 years. Time Warner out of the blue began charging us monthly lease fees for the same old modem they installed 5 years prior. Their customer service was terrible. Earthlink uses Time Warner's backbone and they were cheaper and don't charge a monthly modem lease fee. It seemed like a no brainer.
Now when we need help with billing or service, we still have to deal with Time Warner and we have less reliable service. It seems that they must lease out IPs to Earthlink with the worst possible service.
We are so sick of the monopoly Time Warner and Verizon have on our area. There is no decent internet service and nothing we can do about it.
member for 9.5 years, 119 visits, last login: 10 days ago
updated 14 days ago
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| Review by Good Ol Dan - Location: Spring,Montgomery,TX
- Cost: $41 per month (month by month)
- Install: about 3 days
Good "Faster (and cheaper) than DSL, no contract, nationwide dial-up"
Bad "Variable speeds, high latency, clueless support"
Overall "It works, but don't expect too much..."
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After SBC and my ISP couldn't come to terms over DSL service, I was suddenly among the broadband "homeless" and decided to have a look at cable. I found that Earthlink was available via Time Warner cable in my neighborhood.
Speed promised was "about" 2000K down, 384 up. After a very easy install to my Netgear router (and no grief from the installer about being on a network), those speeds were confirmed.
I signed up on line, and did everything else online too, including scheduling the install time (on a Tuesday, after signing up 3 days earlier on Friday). The dial-up access and e-mail were available immediately upon signup. Compared to the troubles I experienced initially with installing DSL, this was a walk in the park.
After a month or two of smooth sailing, the troubles began. The speeds that seemed stable in the beginning became wildly variable. Due to Time Warner's reliance on the "in house' AOL Transit Data Network, latency at peaks times would skyrocket and routing to even nearby sites might involve 20 or more hops. Earthlink and Time Warner, despite numerous complaints and documentation from users (see the DSL Reports forums) would only occasionally admit there was a problem, and would usually blame it all on the fact that someone might be using a router at home.
So I took the time to find another good "partner" ISP with SBC, and moved back to DSL after about three months of cable service. Cable is probably fine if you plan to check your e-mail and maybe watch a movie trailer now and then... but if you are serious about consistent performance, run away!
Dan
member for 13.4 years, 3603 visits, last login: 12 days ago
updated 97 days ago
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| Review by DurhamDanger - Location: Durham,Durham,NC
- Cost Contract price not specified.
Bad "Had to hang up on the person"
Overall "Sales person in India very aggressive and very annoying"
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Called to ask about availability of certain speeds, pricing and when they could install. Instead I got a person sounding desperate to make a sale. Person lies about the deal is only for today and not tomorrow; wanted to set up the account right away even though I did not agree to any such thing. Called back several times when I told the person to please not call me back.
I will miss Frontier's customer service when I switch to Earthlink. And I am only do so because Frontier expects me to pay $30/month for less-than-dialup speeds until they get their infrastructure together...sometime in June.
member for 206 days, 3 visits, last login: 192 days ago
lodged 193 days ago
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 | | Earthlink!! Just go with Time Warner! It comes through their lines anyway and costs the same! PLUS, 99% of the time you get a call center in NC or SC. | |
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| Review by Earthlinky - Location: Forest Hills,Queens,NY
- Cost: $41 per month
- Install: about 14 days
Good "Full Internet speeds as advertised"
Bad "Connection issues, horrible support"
Overall "If you have FIOS use them"
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Horrible support and the network is not run well. I should not be timing out at the first hop and routers should not be experiencing high packet loss.
Would switch to FIOS but it is not offered here yet.
Initial installation took awhile and EarthLink kept referring me back to Time Warner but I eventually got service installed.
member for 232 days, 13 visits, last login: 221 days ago
lodged 229 days ago
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| Review by dellfromhell - Location: Eads,Shelby,TN
- Cost: $42 per month (12 month contract)
Good "Earthlink sub-contracted to Comcase cable locally."
Bad "Confusion with Comcast support as to who our ISP really is when we need support"
Overall "Fairly reasonable cost for generally reliable service. Lately, (late 2012 to present) large fluctuations in up/download speeds"
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Contracted with Earthlink, locally provided by Comcast cable. Overall acceptable, but large swings in upload/download speeds lately. For recent hardware exchange, local (in-store) personnel were rude, unprofessional and generally ignorant. Bottom line: product is marginally acceptable, customer support (face-to-face) terrible.
member for 10.6 years, 48 visits, last login: 233 days ago
lodged 233 days ago
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| Review by cchhat01 - Location: Elmhurst,Queens,NY
- Cost: $41 per month
- Install: about 2 days
Good "$29.95 for 6mo, blazing fast, single digit pings, ALWAYS CONNECTED, CATV not reqd"
Bad "41.95 afterwards, otherwise this is the service to have (if OOL is not an option)"
Overall "Very reliable service, best bang for the speed/buck, no extra cost if no CATV"
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I've been on and off with cable modem services because of budgets, as I am a college student. I've tried Road Runner (6months), then EarthLink (for 1.5 years as soon as I knew it was available), then Road Runner again (for about a month) and RCN for 4 months and now I'm back to EarthLink (and I love it).
As you can see I've been a man about town when it comes to cable internet services. I started with Road Runner as it became available. It was horrible. The speed was good but the connection reliability was pathetic but it was the only feasible option since DSL was too expensive then. Then as soon as EarthLink was offering the Cable Modem service through Time Warner, I switched. It was lower priced by a few bucks and it didn't cost anything extra to have just the cable modem installed (with no other services from Time Warner). Road Runner charges you $10 more if you do not have the Standard Cable TV service package from Time Warner. So I saved a bit there. At that time, EarthLink was also experiencing some connectivity issues but their’s was so much more reliable. Connections barely went down once in two months.
I tried RCN a while later because of the promotional rates. It never disconnected but then again, I wasn't satisfied with their USENET services. Really terrible. And the ping times were in double digits. So Cancelled that after a while.
Back with EarthLink now. On a promotional $29.95/month for 6 months (this is the 4th month I think) and $41.95 thereafter. Their Usenet service is much much better than it used to be a year ago. The connection has been rock solid stable (knock on wood) since I got their service. I cannot complain about this at all. I hated the RCA 315 modem but it’s the best in terms of holding up the connection so far.
Ping times to/from DSLReports are almost always in single digits. As low as 6 ms. I don't understand how two services offered on the same cable line can be so different (comparing with Road Runner).
So do I recommend the service? Hell yea. If you can get it, then get it. Stop fooling yourself and experience some real broadband.
UPDATE: 01/10/2013: I haven't had EarthLink service for ages now. I went to RCN for a better deal and have stuck with them more or less...
member for 12.4 years, 3342 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 268 days ago
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| Review by LoneGreyWolf - Location: Winter Haven,Polk,FL
- Cost: $44 per month
- Install: about 4 days
Good "So far the speeds have been consistent and over the advertized speed by a little, 11.4 Mbps as opposed to up to 10Mbps."
Bad "None yet."
Overall "No complaints as of yet, but only have had the service for 10 days."
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I ordered Earthlink service through Brighthouse on December 17 and set the install date for the 21st. Installation happened as it should on the 21st with no surprises other than being told they could only provide me with a 6 foot cord and I needed the modem to be across the room so I could hook the television up with an ethernet cable. Ended up just putting the modem and router on top of my wife's china cabinet near where the cable outlet is.
The service has been consistent and I have no complaints as of yet. Have my own linksys router connected for wireless capability and have it secured through MAC filtering.
Since it's only really been 10 days, I will review a couple months out.
member for 11 years, 1272 visits, last login: 124 days ago
updated 276 days ago
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| Review by kiddigital - Location: Deltona,Volusia,FL
- Cost: $41 per month
Good "Rock Solid Reliability, Good Speeds."
Bad "Would have to switch to Roadrunner to get the 40Mb wideband speeds now available in this area."
Overall "Solid High Speed Connection at a price you can live with."
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Updated 7/28/12: Still going strong with Earthlink via Brighthouse. The speed is now 10Mb/1Mb for the same $41.95 a month. The reliability has been excellent despite a recent outage (first in well over a year). And the pings (important for VOIP and gaming) has actually gone down indicating that Brighthouse has made upgrades to their network.
I just did an internet only comparison to CenturyLink (the only HSI competitor in this area) and they want a laughable $90 for their 20Mb tier of service. I could upgrade my current service to 20Mb/2Mb for only $51.90. Given the decade plus of reliability and present level of satisfaction with the service I don't think I'll ever part with Earthlink and Brighthouse.
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I originally had RoadRunner service via Bright House Networks (formerly Time Warner). When I first had it installed in the summer of 2000 the speed was 256 up/1500 down for 49.95 a month. By the end of that year it had increased to 256/2000 followed a few months later by 384/2000. It was also around this time that the monthly rate dropped to 44.95. The most recent increase we recieved was to 384/3000 where it stands currently.
I decided to go with Earthlink Cable because it was the exact same service and speed at a lower price (29.95 for 6 mos. and then 41.95/mon. thereafter). In addition I'd get 3 extra email accounts and more personal webspace.
The same day I "cancelled" service with Bright House they called me up to arrange installation for Earthlink. I was fortunate enough to get a sales rep who did some research and figured out that I still had my cable modem and that all I needed was to have it turned back on and provisioned with Earthlink. When all was said and done I was without broadband for about 3 hours.
I have been happy with my cable service for the last 4 years and really have no major complaints. There's the extremely rare occasional outage or bill snafu, but in the end they always find a way to make me happy.
I definitely would recommend Brighthouse Cable Modem service (Earthlink, Roadrunner, Internet Junction) to anyone in this area. It's a much better bang for the buck compared to the only very recently available Sprint DSL (60/mon. for 256/1500) assuming it's even available at your residence.
member for 13.3 years, 2674 visits, last login: 112 days ago
updated 1.1 years ago
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| Review by jaydro - Location: Durham,Durham,NC
- Cost: $40 per month
- Install: about 4 days
Good "Fast connection"
Bad "It's really Time Warner"
Overall "It's the best I can do here"
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Got tired of Frontier's nightly slow-downs after years of having no trouble with Verizon, gave up on any improvement of upgrade possibility after waiting so long for promised FIOS. Had bad experience with Time Warner ten years ago and was completely opposed to going back to them. Considered Clear Wireless, but they don't serve my location. Went with Earthlink because it was the only option and I could pretend it wasn't Time Warner. Was promised 6M speed at introductory $40/month (goes up to $50 after six months), but I'm getting the local TW standard of 10M. Earthlink sales rep was very aggressive and annoying--TW people were actually better to deal with on the install side. Got a Motorola Surfboard 5100 modem, which I think I prefer to the Ubee and I get to use my old Linksys wireless router after clearing my DNS settings out of it.
member for 9.1 years, 171 visits, last login: 146 days ago
lodged 1.1 years ago
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| Review by hsAG3NT - Location: Schenectady,Schenectady,NY
- Cost: $42 per month (month by month)
- Install: about 7 days
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This is my review
member for 8.5 years, 465 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
updated 1.2 years ago
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