Why I call them "Jerklink" I used them for a week (My Ex let me use her Earthlink account she was getting rid of She got a DSL) I was so very unimpressed by it. I was so slow. Got booted a lot. (I have a fairly nice Modem in my PC too.) Is the reson I overlooked them when I was shoping for a backup ISP for my broadband. Got Basic ISP instead. If that "Demo" of it was any thing like what Earthlink users have to put up wit I'd say Skip e'm don't even conider them. Put them in the "trash" with other bad ISPs like AOL.

 

Earthlink has some of the worst customer service ever! When Earthlink is working, it is OK. But if there is any kind of problem with connecting or accessing email accounts, forget even trying to get the problem resolved - it can sometimes "fix" itself, as if by magic. Or you can spend hours figuring out what changes they made and come up with a solution on your own. I have had a hard time even understanding some of their reps - and when one kept trying to make me change port numbers in my email app, she hung up on me when I kept telling her that everything worked fine a few hours ago. Today's problem was that Earthlink had changed their SMPT server name - of course without sending any notification of this - so all of a sudden I couldn't send any email. When I finally figured the server name change, I didn't need to enter any different "port numbers" to be able to send email again. It all works again now - and their customer "service" rep didn't have a clue. Several times over the years they have made changes in their settings without sending any notifaction of the changes. They have had network problems but the service reps will tell YOU to start changing the settings on your computer when the problem is clearly on their end. One of their POP's was down for THREE days last year and I had some idiot - AGAIN - telling me to change the port numbers in my email app. Of course everything worked when I found a different POP to call - and my old POP started working again 3 days later - without me changing any settings. The amount of time, effort and frustration involved in solving the problems with these flakes is NOT worth it. Earthlink has gone steadily downhill in their service over the last five years - I have been with them for ten and I have finally had it. I am not an expert IT type person but I have been working with computers for 22 years, in professional situations, and Earthlink's is by far some of the worst customer service I've experienced - ever.

 

Customer support is appalling. Next to impossible cancel. Will never use again.

 

Problems with bandwith continue. I either speak to someone in India which barely speaks english or is just too far away to truly care about the problem. The problem is the local vendor that earthlink is contracted with, they continue to throw the problem back in my lap. Go satellite, I am very soon.

 

Overall Earthlink has been one of the best providers of dialup I've has. I signed up with Earthlink about two weeks ago when I had moved to a new house. This was the first time I had been with them. The price is $9.95 for 6 months then it resumes its normal price, which is a little steep, but the performance is tons better than AOL. Pings are very good for me which average 160ms. Support is awesome you can go into a live chat, send an email, or call I've never had one problem. The best thing about earthlink besides the good pings is the fact that you can stay on for more than 5 hours! Most of the ISPs I have had throughout the years have disconnected me at 4 hours (PeoplePc) and Earthlink I can stay connected for 12 hours straight! I recommend this ISP to most people especially for gaming and what not. The price for the first six months is hard to beat.