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Date:	Wed, 8 May 2002 23:56:04 PST7
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: EarthLink

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J. R. Fox wrote:
>
> Dave Watson wrote:
>
> > Anybody have opinions on Earthlink?
>
> I would describe them as solid and reliable. I've
> had a very small fraction of the Mail & Net access
> problems with them that I've had with Pac Bell.
> Their Tech. Support is above average -- not that
> you are likely to need it.

I've used Earthlink for several years but just cancelled my account
Tuesday morning.

-- If you have a "dial-up" account that you use at home, you may have
trouble using it from other locations (such as the office) that have a
non-dialup connection (DSL, T1, etc). They do IP filtering on their
dial-up accounts and "killed" email sending in December 2000 for
non-dialup connection (they *may* have just reinstated it in the past
few weeks). At Rollin's suggestion I installed a mail server on the DSL
line so I wouldn't "need" Earthlink's mail server.

-- They also do IP filtering on newsgroups now. Last week the Earthlink
newsgroups all died at my office because they won't let you in any more
from a non-dialup connection. You have to dial in to connect to their
news servers if you have a dialup account.

-- Their tech support *is* very good, *if* you can get to them. I made
three daytime calls and all were over a half-hour wait. I called at
1:30 a.m. Monday morning and got an excellent tech immediately.

-- Their customer support is good but, shall we say, a bit roundabout.
To cancel my account it took 64 minutes, from 9:40 a.m. to 10:46 a.m. I
had to get clearance from Nicholas, Tanya, Steve, Anthony and Maddy and
the account cancellation involved three different "confirmation
numbers". This was because I had prepaid (via automatic credit card
charge) for the month of May and felt they should issue a credit since
*they* terminated the service (they don't prorate if *you* terminate the
service, i.e. they keep your money).

My personal experience with the little ma & pa ISP operations is that
you get better service and excellent tech support (I'm still using 1st
Net USA and goliath Verizon/GTE).

I don't dislike Earthlink, just thought you'd like to know my current
experiences with them.

- Peter

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