EARTHLINK

Tried Earthlink Hyperlink for a mere week and it was a bad experience from day 2. First off, the sales rep told me over chat the incorrect installation price and I had to talk to two different representatives to get the quoted price which I was told would be refunded over the span of 3 months. Well they knew what they were doing because the service is absolutely horrible and I will never keep it for the span of three months. I've had it for one week and I'm done. I chatted and called tech support 5 times altogether. I was told I'd get speeds of 12 mbps but really that meant only 80% of that (seriously?), well, I was regularly getting less than 1 mbps. I would call, they would ask me to turn off the modem, restart the computer (eye roll), 'clear' their lines, and the speed would go up to 12 mbps. Immediately after ending the call the speed would be back down to less than 1. This happened twice in one day while only trying to use one device. Imagine a regular day when my husband is streaming Netflix, my daughter is gaming, and I'm listening to Pandora. I called to cancel, the process took 15 mins and I was initially told my monthly charge wouldn't be refunded although she eventually agreed to refund the $32.37. I'm still out the $69.99 install fee for a service I had for about a week and was abysmal the entire time, plus the time dealing with the install and customer service. At no time was the sales rep upfront about the actual speed I would get or that this would be using AT&T DSL lines (which I had tried before and knew was very slow) and gave me misinformation on top of that (I'll never see the refund for the difference in price on the install fee I was quoted). If anyone out there is thinking about using Earthlink--DON'T DO IT!!!

Connection was slow, service interruptions were frequent, tech support was not helpful (making me reboot my PC or format the hard drive when the problem was at their end).

The tech told me to wait 5-7 days. After 7 days I called again and after going through local troubleshooting steps I was told that I need to call the telephone company and have them update their records (to show my new account). The first Earthlink tech should have told me that in the beginning. Now I am waiting for the telephone company's business office to open before I can call them. My DSL line is still non-functional. When I first signed up for this service, about 10 years ago, I was getting 5 Mbps download speeds, but for the past several years it has slowed down to 3 Mpbs, with intermittent disconnects every 2-3 months. I am currently in the market for a replacement service provider.

unknown

unknown

Service technician came and inspected my system, then went outside to examine the connection there.

Their services are pretty good.

While the monthly price was reasonable, I was disappointed overall with Earthlink's quality of service (the ability of the help desk staff to answer questions) and the quality of the software (it frequently froze up and require me to reboot, something that the software for my new provider does not do; this happened on two different computers including my brand new one, so it was definitely Earthlink Total Access, not a problem with my computer). Overall it was an adequate experience for the price, but not really worth it given that I now have DSL from another company for not much more per month.

The DSL internet service has been no problem. The internet home phone service has been a big disappointment. I have calls that get disconnected in mid-sentence, calls that won't go through when I dial a number, and last week, no dial tone at all. Now I have a billing problem, where there's a discrepancy between my actual used minutes and billed minutes. I just spent 1 1/2 hours on the phone and it did not get resolved. I have spent way too much time during the past year on hold or talking to customer service representatives who are always very polite but not particularly helpful. I regret signing up for this service.