[SGVLUG] seeking local opinion -- earthlink as an ISP

[Joel Witherspoon]

Tom,

I used to work for EarthLink; I wouldn't use them. Their deals usually come
with a lot of restrictions. They would have these great deals for a low
price but they would restrict you up the wazoo.

The Telcos are quietly laying fiber in neighborhoods and buying a lot of the
"dark fiber" that's been unused for years. Ask you phone company when or if
they have FIOS in your neighborhood yet. You may be able to get what you
want, cheaper.

On 10/6/06, Tom Emerson <osnut at pacbell.net> wrote:
>
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> I've just got off the phone from the THIRD cold-call this week from
> Earthlink trying to sell me on high-speed DSL.  I was able to stop the
> first two callers by demanding a static IP address (which sufficiently
> confused them enough that I could gracefully get out of the call) the
> third caller had enough of a clue to find out it would be (essentially)
> $5 more [during the introductory period], so I stopped him with "can I
> get that in writing?"
>
> Instead, he directed me to the page http://www.earthlink.net/highspeed,
> where the "start here" form showed I could get /really/ high speed
> (6mbit) and the "order now" link showed that the static IP option(*) was
> actually $15/month more.  This would bring the price to $35/month for
> the 6 month intro period, $55/month after that.  Any opinions from the
> peanut gallery here as to good, bad, or indifferent?
>
> I've been w/pacbell since "day 1" for this area, and to be honest, I'm
> now behind the curve enough that my "blazingly fast DSL" seems pokey by
> today's standards (>cough< 384 symmetrical >cough<) so this offer does
> have my attention.  Anyone with pacbell experience know if they would
> make a suitable counter-offer?
>
> before I go, does anyone know of a link to the current earthlink
> TOS/AUP?  I can't seem to find it on the order form page, and one thing
> I'd really hate to lose is the ability to (legally) host a web server
> (not that I'd be bummed about /illegally/ hosting said server, but
> things like that have a way of biting one in the backside down the
> road...)
>
> Tom
>
> (*) I was amazed that they are willing to offer a static IP, after so
> many years now of hiding the fact such things exist.  However, it
> appears that "VPN"s are all the rage, and as (most) seem to need static
> IP addresses on both ends, offering a static address is now a featured
> item...
>
> - --
> Top o' the Blog: latest Suse install in the least likely of places
> http://osnut.homelinux.net/mtblog/ya_index.html
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