Review by J Bone 
UPDATED: 8.1 years ago
member for 10.1 years, 62 visits, last login: 12 days ago
 Compton,Los Angeles,CA
 $49 per month (12 month contract)
 about 15 days
 SBC
 "24-hour tech support; Only $50/mo."
 "Pre-installation service not good"
 "I used to love it..."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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Greetings,
I have Earthlink DSL (via Pacific Bell) in Southern California. Bottom
line is that I put my initial order in last August and the Pacific Bell
guy was there to install it about 2 weeks later. However, when I first
requested the service, the Earthlink rep told me that I would receive a
call back within two working days letting me know if I qualify for DSL
(within proper CO distance). Two working days passed and I didn't get a
call. I called in myself and the rep I got had trouble finding my file
and thought that maybe the person who took my order didn't process it.
He put me on hold for a while, came back and told me that he found my
file but I would have to wait another two business days because I was
"on the perimeter." I received a message on my answering machine the
very next day detailing my installation date and time.
I must say that I am very pleased so far with my DSL service. The
advertised download speed was 384kbps to 1.5Mbps. I get 1.3Mbps!
That's pretty awesome for $49.95/mo.
I do find that some days the newsgroups are a bit slow (relative to my
overall DSL performance). It's tolerable though. I do think that
Earthlink has excellent newsgroups. It must cost them a fortune to
maintain! I find that most of the time, all attachments are there. I
know that as an Earthlink customer for about 3 years, the newsgroups
haven't always been this good. They have improved them. That's a great
sign.
Overall, I'm a happy customer. Every time I have contacted technical
support (which includes once for DSL), it has been EXCELLENT--and I am
not one easily impressed. Once again, 1.3Mbps is awesome, ESPECIALLY
FOR BEING ON THE PERIMETER. But you know, I think someone LIED.
DSLReports.com shows that I am almost exactly TWO miles from my CO!
Isn't the perimeter THREE? I think that the second support person I got
just didn't have the balls to tell me that someone there goofed.
1.3Mbps sounds a bit fast for a perimeter speed, but maybe I'm just
ignorant of phone lines.
All in all, a thumbs up for Earthlink!
J. Hodge III
6/7/2001 Update -
Lately the service has SUCKED. Sometimes I get less than the speed of a 28.8k modem. TONS of packet loss. Tech service working on it.
10/14/2001 Update -
Earthlink wouldn't fix the router causing the problem above here in Southern California so I bolted to DSLExtreme. Earthlink didn't even care that they were losing a two-year customer. Oh well, they're big.
BTW, DSLExtreme ROCKS.
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