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Earthlink Offers 'Naked' DSL
Only in Verizon territory

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Our users noticed the website go live last month, but Earthlink only just today officially announced that the company is now offering "freestanding DSL," aka DSL that isn't force-bundled with local landline service. With Verizon focused on deploying FiOS, it looks like they've finally given Earthlink the nod to resell unbundled DSL in their territory.

According to the new Earthlink Freestanding DSL website, they're offering naked 1.5Mbps/768kbps DSL for $14.95 per month for six months, after which the price skyrockets to $39.95 per month; 3Mbps/768kbps service starts at $19.95 for three months, after which it's hiked to $39.95 (compare that to Verizon prices).

Note that we had to call India to find the 3-month detail on the 3Mbps tier, as both the press release & website omit that. To get both deals, you've also got to sign a one-year contract (increasingly common) with an early termination fee of $149.95.
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ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium Member
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA

ColorBASIC

Premium Member

Cheaper than having to have POTS

And decent upload speed for $40.

Mactron
el Camino Real
Premium Member
join:2001-12-16
PRK

Mactron

Premium Member

Re: Cheaper than having to have POTS

said by ColorBASIC:

And decent upload speed for $40.
Only by ~$10-12 than my Metered dial tone & 3000/768 DSL. Plus I have real 911. Reverse 911 is a significant plus when you live down wind of a Nuclear power plant.

Maybe best of all... No Contract !
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Cheaper than having to have POTS

Living down wind from a Nuclear power plant I doubt you're going to have time to call 911 in the event of something happening to it. I live near First Energy's Davis Besse and in the event of anything happening to it my county only has 25 minutes and there's not a chance in hell 911 is going to be a number I'm going to be calling in that 25 minutes.

Mactron
el Camino Real
Premium Member
join:2001-12-16
PRK

Mactron

Premium Member

Re: Cheaper than having to have POTS

Ha, Ha, Ha... Thats funny.

Reverse 911 They call YOU !
Just to wake you up at lets say 3:00 am, and let you know that there's an unpleasant cloud headed your way.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Cheaper than having to have POTS

I still wouldnt be around if i was that 911 agent. Hell i'd be gone. But all Nuclear power plants are suppose to have those loud ass alarm systems that i'm sure you'd be hearing go off if there was a real threat.

And there are some cities that offer this just to their residents. Just not a 911 thing.

Mactron
el Camino Real
Premium Member
join:2001-12-16
PRK

Mactron

Premium Member

Re: Cheaper than having to have POTS

said by hottboiinnc4:

I still wouldnt be around if i was that 911 agent. Hell i'd be gone.
Your Selflessness, Heroic notions and ambitions towards your fellow citizens is noted.
jc10098
join:2002-04-10

jc10098 to hottboiinnc4

Member

to hottboiinnc4
LOL. You better hope everyone else is as dumb to sit there and call 911 so you can get the hell out of "dodge". Sure suck to spend your last 25 minutes in a traffic jam while everyone else has the same idea of leaving the city.... So how'd you die... Well I was behind your sorry ass. Why didn't speed up and we'd both be alive now!

DigitalXeron
There is a lack of sanity
join:2003-12-17
Hamilton, ON

DigitalXeron

Member

Re: Cheaper than having to have POTS

Um... Sorry to be pedantically precise... But this is going to bug me until I say something...

Not all exposure to radiation will kill you... It all depends on the radiation levels and such.. Just don't stay too long in the radiation and you should be relatively fine (if you experience nausea and you know you've been exposed to radiation, get medical help).

Another thing: Reactors that go poof don't usually go up like a nuclear/atomic bomb.. Note: Chernobyl-4, potentially the worst known reactor accident.
jc10098
join:2002-04-10

jc10098

Member

Re: Cheaper than having to have POTS

Well sure they don't but the wind blows the radiation quite fast. The winder the day, the quicker you need to get the hell out of dodge.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536 to ColorBASIC

Premium Member

to ColorBASIC
$39.99 is NOT naked DSL. You can get verizon DSL + POTS for that. move on, nothing new here.

BOGBS
Premium Member
join:2004-05-11

1 edit

BOGBS

Premium Member

Re: Cheaper than having to have POTS

I don't know what kind of pricing you have, but I can barely get POTS for that much, and certainly not with 3Mbps at that price. Unless I'm missing some sort of super cheap plan that they never say anything about.

Doctor Olds
I Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.
Premium Member
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30

Doctor Olds to dvd536

Premium Member

to dvd536
said by dvd536:

$39.99 is NOT naked DSL. You can get verizon DSL + POTS for that. move on, nothing new here.
Can you back that up? I would like you to show us where on a Verizon page that is available.

ColorBASIC
8-bit Fun
Premium Member
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA

ColorBASIC to dvd536

Premium Member

to dvd536
Please post a link to an ongoing price for POTS (with all the associated fees) + 3/768 DSL for $40. I would like to sign up.
ossito16
join:2004-07-31
Whiting, IN

ossito16

Member

Not much longer

I can't take this anymore. Do these companies listen to the customer at all? Why do we deal with this crap? These prices are way to high these days, internet usage has increased so much since the old school AOL, compuserve, and prodigy days. The prices should be similar to long distance phone calls, almost free at this point. Connections should all be symmetrical with none of the "last mile" crap. Everyone should have it regardless of the median income of their neighborhood. I wish FCC would stop selling bandwidth and setup a true north american internet system supported by usa, canada, mexico.

Cabal
Premium Member
join:2007-01-21

Cabal

Premium Member

Re: Not much longer

said by ossito16:

I can't take this anymore. Do these companies listen to the customer at all? Why do we deal with this crap? These prices are way to high these days, internet usage has increased so much since the old school AOL, compuserve, and prodigy days. The prices should be similar to long distance phone calls, almost free at this point. Connections should all be symmetrical with none of the "last mile" crap. Everyone should have it regardless of the median income of their neighborhood. I wish FCC would stop selling bandwidth and setup a true north american internet system supported by usa, canada, mexico.
This isn't serious, right?
ossito16
join:2004-07-31
Whiting, IN

ossito16

Member

Re: Not much longer

said by Cabal:

This isn't serious, right?
Sure I am serious. Every morning I read here at DSLr about how some telecom/cable/sat company is crying to the courts or FCC about how they are being treated unfairly. Feeding us lip service through PR companies that they setup to represent them in a positive light. I think landlines are history and cell phones (as well as internet) should be declared a utility and regulated. And that would mean all services available over cell phones would also be part of that utility. Hell, why did the telecoms fight the FCC on allowing us to take our phone number when we went to a competitor. Man I could go on and on, I an just sitting here getting mad. Maybe I need to stop reading DSLr on a daily basis, it is driving me crazy and there seems to be nobody out there on our side. Other than Eliot Spitzer, new governor of New York and ex-attorney general, there seems to be nobody on our side. Hopefully, he does not sell out on us.

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

RadioDoc to ossito16

to ossito16
Yikes.

I am sure every ISP would be thrilled to start charging you by the byte, just like "long distance phone calls".

Be careful what you rant for.
NewMariner
join:2005-06-24

NewMariner to ossito16

Member

to ossito16
said by ossito16:

I can't take this anymore. Do these companies listen to the customer at all? Why do we deal with this crap? These prices are way to high these days, internet usage has increased so much since the old school AOL, compuserve, and prodigy days. The prices should be similar to long distance phone calls, almost free at this point. Connections should all be symmetrical with none of the "last mile" crap. Everyone should have it regardless of the median income of their neighborhood. I wish FCC would stop selling bandwidth and setup a true north american internet system supported by usa, canada, mexico.
I cant take these socialist anymore! Im buying you a one way ticket to China!
xrobertcmx
Premium Member
join:2001-06-18
White Plains, MD

xrobertcmx

Premium Member

Re: Not much longer

I don't believe that statement is socialist. I look at broadband now the same way I look at electric and telephone. It is a utility that is necessary. Just try finding a job now without internet access, good luck. My last job search was entirely online because the one company out there that included a fax your resume to this number called me back to have me fill out their online application.
The job of the government should at least be to protect the public, and leaving one segment out will simply result in them falling further and further behind economically.
Oh, and China is communist. Communism is not Socialism. Just like a Democracy is not a Republic.
SylphFi
Premium Member
join:2007-06-07
Moses Lake, WA

SylphFi

Premium Member

Re: Not much longer

Let's see here:

My last phone bill: $74.43
My last electric bill: $40.36
My last cable bill (TV+Inet): $43.85

I think I'm more concerned with phone prices than Internet prices. My electric bill goes up to the high 60's for 3-4 months of the year, so averaged out it would make my TV and Internet easily the least expensive.
xrobertcmx
Premium Member
join:2001-06-18
White Plains, MD

xrobertcmx

Premium Member

Re: Not much longer

Looks like I need to move to Moses Lake. Here your choices are:
DSL 39.95
Cable 39.95

Or in my case until Friday this week:
Cable (TV + Internet)89.95

Last Elect/Water $83.00, which is about average. Then again, this is a well insulated one bedroom apartment w/2 people so we don't use much electricity.
As for telephone, I use Viatalk, $199 for 2 years.
SylphFi
Premium Member
join:2007-06-07
Moses Lake, WA

SylphFi

Premium Member

Re: Not much longer

Unfortunately, I have to use a cell phone and lots of anytime minutes, since I do on-site work.

Straight up DSL and Cable Internet prices are $30+, but I got in on a special bundle offer (they normally only take $4 off for bundling) which cut the Internet portion by almost half.
ossito16
join:2004-07-31
Whiting, IN

ossito16 to SylphFi

Member

to SylphFi
said by SylphFi:

Let's see here:

My last phone bill: $74.43
My last electric bill: $40.36
My last cable bill (TV+Inet): $43.85

I think I'm more concerned with phone prices than Internet prices. My electric bill goes up to the high 60's for 3-4 months of the year, so averaged out it would make my TV and Internet easily the least expensive.
Right now I am paying RCN $26/mo for 6mbps/384kbps, now that is an introductory price for 12months but I believe it should be this price all the time. Basic cable also comes over the same line if you hook up to your tv, so you have internet/basic cable for $26/mo. If they offered this they could grab a considerable part of the market. A friend of mine was paying over $130 for ComcastHD/Internet, he told them he was switching to DirecTV and they lowered bill to $60. Give me a f'n break, Why wasn't this the price in the first place. If $60 was the price all the time then FIOS would not stand a chance.

Boricua
Premium Member
join:2002-01-26
Sacramuerto

Boricua

Premium Member

AT&T....

are you listenting? Per FCC to allow the merger with Bell South, you are to offer naked DSL. What's going on and what is taking so long?

warriors
It's A Great Time Out
join:2001-06-05
San Jose, CA

warriors

Member

Re: AT&T....

said by Boricua:

are you listenting? Per FCC to allow the merger with Bell South, you are to offer naked DSL. What's going on and what is taking so long?
Naked DSL will probably the same price as landlind + DSL anyway.
xrobertcmx
Premium Member
join:2001-06-18
White Plains, MD

xrobertcmx

Premium Member

Re: AT&T....

Nope, I signed up for this just the other week when I boought a new house. Verizon wanted me to sign up for both DSL and POTS and that would have ended up in a bill of around $19.95 for 6 months and then $29.99 for the DSL and about the same for the telephone, without a promo period.
The best deal Verizon offers is $99.00 for DSL, DirecTV, and POTS.
I signed up DirecTV anyways (Sorry Comcast, you are way to expensive and 384K is not a realistic upload anymore.) but went with Earthlink for $19.95 for the fist 3 months and then $39.95 thereafter. Verizon and Earthlink both required a 1 year lock in.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536 to warriors

Premium Member

to warriors
said by warriors:
said by Boricua:

are you listenting? Per FCC to allow the merger with Bell South, you are to offer naked DSL. What's going on and what is taking so long?
Naked DSL will probably the same price as landlind + DSL anyway.
BINGO! we have a winner.

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

RadioDoc to Boricua

to Boricua
They already offer it.

Boricua
Premium Member
join:2002-01-26
Sacramuerto

Boricua

Premium Member

Re: AT&T....

said by RadioDoc:

They already offer it.
Yes, but not at the price per merger stipulations. It supposed to be $19.95 not $44.99.

d_l
Barsoom
MVM
join:2002-12-08
Reno, NV

d_l

MVM

Re: AT&T....

You know that $19.95 rate will only get you 768/128 speeds?

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

RadioDoc

Re: AT&T....

He doesn't care...he's been ranting about that for months now.

fatness
subtle

join:2000-11-17
fishing

fatness

who to call

quote:
Note that we had to call India to find the 3-month detail on the 3Mbps tier, as both the press release & website omit that.
That's not surprising, sadly. Earthlink is farming out the rest of their US support shortly: »Earthlink is outsourcing the last of it's US techs
jloor
join:2001-09-14
New Brunswick, NJ

jloor

Member

Not terrible

if you do the math, its $27.45/month for the contract period. You can switch or renew a contract after that so your not stuck paying $40/month. Now the question is do they have any install fees or any recovery or FCC monthly fees?

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

RadioDoc

Re: Not terrible

They are charging for the installation kit, and also mention "access fees", which has the faint aroma of "ups and extras" as Earl Scheib used to day.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Regular price not so bad

Considering those of us living in former Bellsouth territory are paying $37.99 for 3 Meg and you HAVE to have phone service which at minimum will cost you $17 a month. That's including all fees and taxes. Charter charges $43.99 for 3 Meg. Also the upload for BS 3 Meg is 384 kbps and Charter's is 256 kbps. So $40 for naked DSL 3Mbps/768kbps is pretty good.
JoelC707
Premium Member
join:2002-07-09
Lanett, AL

JoelC707

Premium Member

Typo or what?

1.5Mbps/768kbps DSL for $14.95 per month for six months, after which the price skyrockets to $39.95 per month
3Mbps/768kbps service starts at $19.95 for three months, after which it's hiked to $39.95
Anyone else notice the after intro price for those two service levels? Assuming it is not a typo, who would go for the 1.5 service when the 3.0 service is the same cost? This is of course ignoring the fact that the 3.0's intro price is $5 more and only lasts half the time as the 1.5 (3 months vs. 6 months).

TransitMan
MVM
join:2000-09-05
Dayton, OH

TransitMan

MVM

They Can Offer It Gold Plated.............

.........I still won't go for it.
Had ELK cable via TWC, and while my connection was good, the price was so-so.
When TWC upped my area speed wise, I got to looking and found that for the few bucks I was paying, and then added $10.00 more, I could get RR Premium for a whole lot less than what ELK could offer it for.
So away went ELK Cable.
Now I'm with TrueVoice, and after having to deal with the idiots in tech (non)support over trying to get my ATA replaced due to a lightning strike (within 1 year of activation, covered by warranty), all because they did not understand what a lightning strike was I ended up taking care of it through Online chat, or so I thought.
When the ATA device failed to show in the timeframe alloted, I contacted Custmoer Support for credits due to a non-working line because tech support dropped the ball. Needless to say, within 2 days of that chat I had a refurbed ATA on my front door. "Now about the credit?"
Needless to say, I am on my last month with them, and they will be gone for good.

ELK has taken a once respected and viable company and dumped it, not wanting to care about its' customer base, let alone the employees who helped it become a good and once respected company.

And to think I started back in the day with Mindspring.com DSL service oh not so long ago. (2000)

Good-bye EarthLink. Hope you R.I.P.

Rob A
Adjusting
Premium Member
join:2005-01-17
Pompton Plains, NJ

Rob A

Premium Member

Not bad but...

Pricing is too high, customers would just be better off just going staight through verizon.
Lysis
join:2005-03-30
Brooklyn, NY

Lysis

Member

Re: Not bad but...

pricing is low - i just over $58 for speakeasy for 1.5/768 $300 cancellation, 1 year contract - i don't think its naked either not sure though.

i am interested in this but the $150 cancellation fee is scary for me, when things go bad and your on tech support with india or in the us - they rarely can do anything if verizon is oversold in the area already and you are screwed and have to pay the cancellation fee or deal with almost dial up speeds during peak hours
Lysis

Lysis

Member

Re: Not bad but...

tried to sign up for their "priority waiting list" but its messed up - bad omen already
qworster
join:2001-11-25
Bryn Mawr, PA

4 edits

qworster

Member

Running the numbers here in Los Angeles....

Verizon local measured rate service: $10.00/month
$3 allowance per month After allowance, each call billed at 4¢ for the first minute and 1¢ for each additional minute. Calls to exchanges in the ZUM area are billed at 10¢ for the initial minute and 4¢ for each additional minute

Verizon DSL: $19.99/mo. for 1st 6 months ($29.99 for months 7-12) One Year Agreement. 3 Mbps /768 Kbps
Free Upgrade to wireless router

Verizon "Naked" DSL
Power Plan One Year Agreement $34.99/month
3.0Mbps/768Kbps FREE Combined DSL Modem & Wireless Router

Earthlink "Naked" DSL
3Mbps/768kbps service starts at $19.95 for three months, after which it's hiked to $39.95/month

Let's do the costs for 1 years' service (including phone for the non naked DSL)

PHONE AND DSL:
$10.00/month phone service: $120.00
$19.99/month * 6 months $119.94
$29.99/month * 6 months $179.94

TOTAL: $419.88

NAKED DSL VERIZON:
$34.99 * 12 months $419.88

TOTAL: $419.88

NAKED DSL EARTHLINK
$19.95 * 3 months $ 59.85
$39.95 * 9 months $359.55

TOTAL: $419.40

As you can see, the cost differential between a year of Earthlink Naked DSL and Verizon Naked DSL is only 48 cents...

BUT.....

Verizon measured phone service and DSL COSTS THE SAME as Verizon naked DSL alone!!!

Of course, this doesn't include any taxes...and based upon local telco rates, YMMV....

But it shows that things aren't always as they seem to be....
nstarz
join:2004-04-07
San Jose, CA

nstarz

Member

I'm currently at 3 MB for $34.95

I'm currently at 3 MB for $34.95

Date Description Quantity Price Subtotal
07/07/07 Jul 7-Aug 6:DSL Telecom Svc 1.00 $17.00 $17.00
07/07/07 Jul 7-Aug 6:Internet Access 1.00 $17.95 $17.95
Subtotal: $34.95