Earlier this year, we noted how the press became enamored with the idea that the recession was driving people back to dial-up, even if reporters lacked a shred of data to support the idea. The articles (be they from the Associated Press, Tampa Tribune or Chicago Tribune, all started with the sad tale of some poor Joe or Jane who decided to slum it on 56kbps because his or her retirement fund tanked.

They went on to infer a broader trend was afoot, despite quoting analysts in their own pieces who insisted otherwise. Many of the stories quoted Earthlink's Kevin Brand, who got the opportunity to pitch sluggish, frequently unreliable dial-up to the nation's cheapskates and masochists as part of a $7.95/month dial-up "recession special," which kind of floated over the fact that you also need a traditional landline:So how's that mass-return to dial-up and all of the free advertising working for Earthlink? Not particularly well. According to the company's second quarter earnings, Earthlink continues to hemorrhage dial-up users, and reported lower sales and profits for the second quarter. Earthlink still has 2.4 million subscribers, down from 3.3 million at the end of the second quarter of 2008 (a 26% drop). While customer defections did slow, churn was reduced, and their stock still trades above eight bucks, Earthlink's future is no less bleak.

Earthlink lost $80 million on their attempt to offer citywide Wi-Fi, their investments in broadband over powerline (BPL) have gone nowhere, the government says they can't share access to next-generation broadband networks (with the sole exception of Time Warner Cable as a condition of the AOL merger), and their effort to run an MVNO (Helio) flamed out spectacularly. The company briefly thought they'd just focus on buying other dial-up operators, but even that didn't work out. Hey, maybe a new CFO will help?