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EarthLink GripesEarthLink is an ISP |
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Have your own Earthlink gripes? Post them here.
Earthlink Tries a Site Finder of Its Own
by Ed Foster September 18, 2006. In an attempt to draw traffic to one its
partners web sites, Earthlink is mucking around with the Internet
infrastructure.
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April 19, 2005. How much email space do customers get? Sounds like a simple question, but I couldn't find the answer at earthlink.com. I thought I had read about an upgrade in one of the Earthlink newsletters. I checked the last few issues however and it wasn't there. Then I tried to ask them a question on this Support Center web page. When I submitted the question, the resulting web page said "There was an error processing your request. " Nothing about what the error might be. I went back to the original page and there were no errors on it. It shouldn't be this hard to answer a simple question.
Then I tried a live chat. The person there said Earthlink was in the process of upgrading customers from 10MB to 100MB. There is no time frame for when the upgrades will be completed.
I started a live chat session with technical support and was told to email the information to abuse at earthlink.net. This I did. The auto-responder included this: The EarthLink Appropriate Use Policy, Users Agreement, and Privacy Policy are available at:
earthlink.net/about/policies Shown here is an excerpt of my firewall log. The attacking computer was at IP address 24.215.162.222. The name of this machine was user-0cdf8mu.cable.mindspring.com. The ports that this machine tried to connect to on my computer were 80, 6129, 3127, 1025 and 2745. |
February 24, 2005. My Computer Meltdown by Lisa DiCarlo of Forbes.com. The author gets hit with malware and tries to call Earthlink for help. Quoting from the article:
"Our next call is to the ISP, Earthlink. Navigating its endless voice-mail system is like making one's way around Dante's circles of hell without Virgil. The only way to reach a live person is to choose the option which allows customers to cancel their accounts.
We choose it. We wait on hold for close to one hour, listening to a pre-recorded message tell us how great their customer service is. We hear instructions on how to use their Web site for help. Ha ha ha. Funny.
We finally connect to a live person, only to have the call dropped about 30 seconds later.
We dial the number again, wait on hold again, reach a live person again and have our call dropped
again ...
We take deep breaths, we dial again. We manage to have a full conversation with a person, who tells us it's not really their problem. They suggest we call the PC manufacturer, Sony, and were nice enough to give us a phone number for Sony's PC support line.
The number turns out to be for the wrong division of Sony. "
June 8, 2006. I could not access my email using my email program. With webmail I could read email but could not reply to one.
May 9, 2005. Connection timed out getting to pop.mindspring.com. I could Ping it just fine, so it was not a network issue, but rather an email issue. There was nothing about a problem on the network status page. This persisted for at least an hour. When I tried to use webmail, at first I got an error about the document containing no data. After a page refresh, I got to the login page for webmail, but when I tried to log in it hung for a while and then failed with "Sorry. Login to mail server failed. Please try again."
April 29,
2005. More of the below again.
April 28,
2005. More of the below again.
April 27,
2005. Quite a few time today, the same errors as below.
April 25, 2005. Quite a few time today, just as below, I could not connect to the Earthlink email server. The message was "-ERR Server too busy, please try again in a few minutes".
April 12, 2005. Quite a few times today, I could not connect to the Earthlink email server. This happened, as before, with multiple email programs.
April 6, 2005. Could not connect to email server. Error message from my email client was "Unable to connect to POP server pop.mindspring.com on port 110. The server is probably offline or the port number is wrong". This only lasted a couple minutes.
 March
23, 2005. I tried to delete an email message on the mail server today and
got this error a few times. It did not last however, a couple minutes
later I was able to delete the message. |
March 22, 2005. I could not connect to the email server pop.mindspring.com to read my email. Thinking they may have changed the name, I checked the Earthlink web site where the email setup instructions say to use pop.earthlink.net. I tried that, but still could not connect. There was nothing on the Earthlink network status page about an email outage. Interestingly, I was able to read my email using their web page interface. This was not a networking issue, as I was able to ping pop.mindspring.com successfully. The mail server was not accepting requests. By the next day, the problem went away and I was able to connect to pop.mindspring.com using the same software on the same computer.
December 26, 2004. I send email through an Earthlink computer. Starting today, my email program (Thunderbird) popped up this warning message: "smtpauth.earthlink.net is a site that uses a security certificate to encrypt data during transmission but its certificate expired December 26, 2004 6:59PM ... Would you like to continue anyway?" |
November 22, 2004. IBM's web site www.ibm.com has loaded significantly slower than all other web sites using my cable modem for a long time. Recently I was looking into buying an IBM computer and could not. When you get to the details of a particular computer, you end up at www-132.ibm.com which never loads. When I dial onto the Internet using a modem and a phone line, the web site loads just fine. The problem is only through my cable modem. I wrote the below to Earthlink today.
I can get to www.ibm.com but it always loads very slowly. When shopping at ibm.com for a computer, the web site eventually takes you to www-132.ibm.com. I can not get to this web site at all. This has persisted for many days. I can not ping www-132.ibm.com either. This has something to do with the cable modem, because when I dial onto the Internet using a modem and a phone line, I can get to the web site without a problem.
Below is a tracert to www-132.ibm.com:
C:\Documents and Settings\mike>tracert www-132.ibm.com
Tracing route to www-132.southbury.ibm.com [129.33.10.28]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
<10 ms 16 ms <10 ms 10.34.0.1
16 ms <10 ms 15 ms pos0-0-nycmnyc-rtr1.nyc.rr.com [24.29.97.45]
15 ms <10 ms 16 ms pos0-0-nycmnyrdc-rtr1.nyc.rr.com [24.29.97.17]
<10 ms 16 ms <10 ms pop2-nye-P10-0.atdn.net [66.185.141.33]
<10 ms 16 ms <10 ms aol-gw.n54ny.ip.att.net [192.205.32.217]
<10 ms 16 ms 16 ms 12.123.3.106
15 ms <10 ms 16 ms gbr5-p30.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.122.11.10]
<10 ms 15 ms <10 ms gar3-p360.n54ny.ip.att.net [12.123.1.185]
15 ms 16 ms 15 ms 12.125.50.70
* * * Request timed out.
* * * Request timed out.
* * * Request timed out.
* * * Request timed out.
etc. etc. etc.
Below is a tracert to www.ibm.com:
C:\Documents and Settings\mike>tracert www.ibm.com
Tracing route to www.ibm.com [129.42.17.99]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
<10 ms 16 ms <10 ms 10.34.0.1
<10 ms 16 ms <10 ms pos0-0-nycmnyc-rtr1.nyc.rr.com [24.29.97.45]
<10 ms 31 ms <10 ms pos0-0-nycmnyrdc-rtr1.nyc.rr.com [24.29.97.17]
<10 ms 16 ms <10 ms pos6-0-nycmnyrdc-rtr1.nyc.rr.com [24.29.97.1]
<10 ms 15 ms 16 ms so-1-0.hsa2.Weehawken1.Level3.net [63.208.104.5]
15 ms 16 ms <10 ms so-6-2-0.mp1.Weehawken1.Level3.net [209.247.8.13]
32 ms 31 ms 31 ms so-0-0-0.mp2.StLouis1.Level3.net [64.159.0.57]
31 ms 31 ms 32 ms ge-7-1.hsa1.StLouis1.Level3.net [64.159.4.130]
31 ms 47 ms 47 ms unknown.Level3.net [63.208.48.6]
31 ms 47 ms 31 ms 10.16.255.10
* * * Request timed out.
* * * Request timed out.
* * * Request timed out.
* * * Request timed out.
etc. etc. etc.
The first response (from Kent S. 3412) was to power cycle the cable modem. This has been done many times and the problem has persisted. I should have noted that clearly in my initial problem description.
Telling Earthlink the problem remained resulted in a second response (from Harry G 3398). I was directed to delete IE cookies, delete the IE cache, lower the IE cache to 10 MB and in IE to click on the Reset Web Settings button in the Programs tab of Internet options.
This response ignores the fact that the error happens with Firefox too and also ignores the output from tracert that I sent which shows it is not a web browser issue at all but rather a routing issue. Earthlink's management reports may look great, in that the problem was responded to quickly, but there was no effort put into the response at all. I responded with:
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"This has not fixed the problem. As noted earlier, the problem also happens with the Firefox web browser which produces the error: The operation timed out when attempting to contact www-132.ibm.com. Nothing you do to Internet Explorer will affect Firefox. I had previously included output from a Windows tracert command which is not web browser related and showed a failure to reach the web site." |
November 23, 2004. Earthlink responded to me with
We understand that you are receiving error message while you are browsing. We are sorry for the confusion. Unfortunately, we do not support Firefox browser. In order to resolve the issue, we suggest you to contact Firefox support. We appreciate your patience.
Sam M. 3406
In other words, they offer an IE fix which does not work, then refuse to deal with the problem because it also effects Firefox. All the time ignoring the tracert output. All the time ignorant of the fact that the problem is routing related, not web browser related. You can't make this stuff up. I responded with
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"This is not a Firefox problem. It is a routing problem. Do you support routing problems? The problem happens with both Internet Explorer and Firefox. The problem can also be seen in the output from a tracert command, a point that has been consistently ignored. I still can not get to the web site in question." |
The next response from Harry G 3398 (Earthlink does reply quickly) was to release and renew my IP address lease. Specifically
In order to resolve the issue, follow the steps given below:
1. From the Start menu, choose Run
2. In the Open field, type winipcfg (Windows NT/2000 type in cmd) and click the OK button
3. Click the Release All button (Windows NT/2000 type ipconfig /release & hit ENTER)
4. Click the Renew All button (Windows NT/2000 type ipconfig /renew & hit ENTER)
5. Click the OK button (Windows NT/2000 type exit & hit ENTER). You have successfully released and renewed your computer's IP information.
The original problem description said the problem has persisted for "many days". Perhaps I should have said months. The procedure above is for both Windows 98 and NT/2000 and is much more confusing than necessary. There should be separate scripts for each version of Windows. Also, where is Windows XP? The fact that XP is not mentioned while NT is, is an indication of how old a playbook this was pulled from. Not an encouraging sign. I replied
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"In the original problem description I said this problem has persisted for days. I should have said that it has persisted for many weeks, even months. The solution you suggest did not fix the problem and since the problem has survived many many reboots Windows, this is not a surprise." |
The next response sets a new low. I am told for the second time they don't support Firefox and for the second time in a row to renew my IP address. I wonder if a computer is answering these questions rather than a human being.
Unfortunately, we do not support Firefox browser, In order to resolve the issue, we suggest you to release and renew your IP address. To do so, please visit the link given below:
http://support.earthlink.net/mu/1/psc/img/walkthroughs/hardware/home_network/windows/4569.psc.html
It seems that there is no technical support from Earthlink at all.
November 25, 2004. I pointed out the problem is with IE also and the renewing my IP address did not fix it. It seems speaking intelligently is not the way to deal with Earthlink, but instead, just say X did not work and nothing more. This resulted in the following message.
We have forwarded your information to our engineers so they may be made sensitive to the matter. They will be investigating the situation you described and will work towards a resolution as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience during this time. Please bear in mind that our engineers will only contact you if they need specific information so stay posted for an improvement.
They may or may not get back to me?
Making a long story short, many more emails went back and forth. This was the last one from "griffinap". The English is brutal.
hello, i am contacting you regarding an issue you are having regarding some websites. the answer is quite simple for us now. between the information i have from your
co-respondance with kim through email and the escalation ticket itself there is really only one thing left that can be done, and that would need to be done by. |
April 20, 2005. I could not access web sites today. I could get to my router and I could ping the TCP/IP default gateway. The problem was getting to the Earthlink DNS server, I could not ping it. There are a few web sites for which I store the IP address and I could get to all of them just fine. This was a DNS problem. My Earthlink service is sub-contracted (so to speak) from Time Warner. It is not obvious who to blame for a problem like this. After a short while, the problem went away on its own.
However, I do have a Road Runner gripe. They maintain a web page with their network status (at 24.30.204.14). A section of this page is devoted to Internet Connectivity which, as I write this, has entries for tomorrow and two days ago. Nothing about now. The entries for tomorrow have a start date/time but no ending/date time. The entry for 2 days ago also has no ending date/time. In fact, there are entries in the Internet connectivity section going back months, to December 2004. None of the entries have an ending date/time. This is disgraceful.
Their contact us page says they "offer industry leading tech support...". Too bad it doesn't include the current status of their Internet connectivity. Their Technical Support phone number is 718-358-0900.
Then I was asked if I wanted to accept a certificate from custhelp.com that was issued by a company that is not trusted (see screen shot on the right). |
When I got in, the support person said the technical support live chat is not available for Earthlink customers. He suggested calling EarthLink at 800-890-5128 or my local cable office at 212-674-9100 or 718-358-0900. |
February 21, 2004. Today and 2 days ago, I could not access web sites through my EarthLink/Time Warner cable modem. Both times the problem was DNS related. Today it happened out of the blue, one minute I was fine, the next not.
The main symptom is that no web sites load in a web browser (happens to two different browsers). As this has happened to me before, I keep a list of IP addresses for a number of web sites for testing purposes. Sure enough, I could access these sites by their IP address, but not by name. It's a DNS problem.
My computer sits behind a router which is connected to the cable modem. I can ping the router using an internal IP address. I can use the router configuration web pages to see my external IP address and I can ping that too. The router also tells me the default gateway and I can ping that machine too. However, that's as far as I can go. The two DNS servers can not be pinged, they time out. Also, an NSLOOKUP command from Windows 2000 fails when trying to access both of EarthLink's DNS server machines (207.69.188.185 and 186) as shown here:
C:\Documents and
Settings\user2>nslookup |
Another computer on the LAN in my house is fine. However, it is using a VPN which uses DNS servers from the corporation that provided the VPN software. It is not using the EarthLink DNS servers. However, it too could not get to new web sites. The existing VPN connection continued running fine, but after it was stopped, that machine too suffered the same problems.
Interestingly, one web site that I was accessing by name before the problem started remained usable. IE could go to new pages on that site, even though it was being accessed by name.
To verify that my computer was not the problem, I booted up another computer on the same LAN. It experienced the exact same symptoms. I also shut down ZoneAlarm that was running on my computer, this had no effect on the problem.
| I ran a tracert command to the default gateway machine. No problem. |
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Then I ran a tracert to one of the EarthLink DNS servers and there were, no surprise, problems.
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Thinking the problem was with the DNS servers, I tried to use other DNS servers. I modified the TCP/IP properties on the computer not to use dynamically assigned DNS servers but instead I hard coded the IP address of a DNS server from another ISP. Then, for good luck, I re-booted. This however, changed nothing, the symptoms were exactly as before. I can ping the router, the default gateway but the DNS server of the other ISP.
It must be an internal routing problem within the EarthLink network, that I can't get from my default gateway to any DNS server machine.
The first time this happened it was late at night. Shutting down the computers, router and cable modem overnight fixed the problem.
I called EarthLink on the phone for help. They blamed my router because it was not provided by EarthLink. They took the easy way out, no surprise there. Never mind symptoms that prove the router is not the problem (I can get to web sites by IP address and can get to the default gateway which is on their network and it was working for over a year so the router is correctly configured). These concepts were beyond the grasp of the person I was talking to.
I turned everything off, disconnected the router and plugged the cable modem directly into one computer. No difference. Same problem. At one point, the cable modem seemed to die, all the lights went out but one. Rebooting the cable modem got things back to their normal state of broken.
Call EarthLink again and waste time with someone who has 345 steps/things to check. None apply to me. They will call me back, I'm warned it could take 2 days. Two days with no Internet service. Among the items on their "checklist" was for Internet Explorer. Go from Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections Tab and I was told to check some of the settings on the window opened by the Setup button. Problem is, this has nothing to do with me. It effects dial-up and VPN usage, neither of which applied to me. The EarthLink employees in India have their rules and their checklist. Technical knowledge costs more.
I turned everything off again and plugged the cable modem into a different computer via a USB port (this combination has worked many times in the past, it's what I use whenever I need to take the router out of the loop). Now the problem is worse, I can't even get to web sites by IP address. Still, I can ping the default gateway, but nothing else. I've had DNS problems with EarthLink before and one of my email clients is set up to access email via IP address (207.69.200.29) rather than by the name of the email server (pop.mindspring.com). This too does not work, yet another computer on EarthLink's own network that I can not access. At this lowest point, a tracert to the EarthLink DNS server produced:
| C:\Documents and Settings\user2>tracert 207.69.188.185 Tracing route to 207.69.188.185 over a maximum of 30 hops 1 15 ms 16 ms 16 ms 10.34.0.1 2 16 ms 15 ms 16 ms 24.29.97.45 3 16 ms 15 ms 16 ms 24.29.97.17 4 * * * Request timed out. 5 * * * Request timed out. |
and one to their email server produced
| C:\Documents and Settings\user2>tracert 207.69.200.29 Tracing route to 207.69.200.29 over a maximum of 30 hops 1 16 ms 16 ms 15 ms 10.34.0.1 2 16 ms 15 ms 16 ms 24.29.97.45 3 16 ms 16 ms 15 ms 24.29.101.218 4 16 ms 16 ms 15 ms 24.29.101.249 5 * * * Request timed out. 6 * * * Request timed out. |
Lo and behold a little while later, after doing nothing but update this web page (off-line of course), the computer could again access web sites by IP address.
The Windows 2000 System Log showed the following error a couple times:
The DNS Client service could not contact any DNS servers for a repeated number of attempts. For the next 30 seconds the DNS Client service will not use the network to avoid further network performance problems. It will resume its normal behavior after that. If this problem persists, verify your TCP/IP configuration, specifically check that you have a preferred (and possibly an alternate) DNS server configured. If the problem continues, verify network conditions to these DNS servers or contact your network administrator.
A little while later, things were mostly normal, but quite slow for a cable modem connection. By mostly normal, I mean that web pages mostly loaded. On cnet.com, for example, many of ads and images failed to load. On one of my web sites, the page counters failed to load every time. I tried to upload this very web page and could make an FTP connection, but as soon as the file transfer started, my FTP program hung. I can ping an EarthLink DNS server. Finally. Where do I get these 4 hours of my life back from?
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Just because I can, I ran a tracert to an EarthLink DNS server. Shown here on the right, it seems a bit much. The next day however, when everything seemed OK again, there were still 13 hops between me and this DNS server machine. Pings to www.earthlink.net (207.217.114.220) still time out though. And I still can't get to this web site, even to read it by IP address. I also can't get to my personal web site, michaelhorowitz.com. These problems also caused grief for the home page of this web site. As noted above, my FTP program hung while transferring the home page of computergripes.com. This left the home page corrupted and me with no idea that it happened for about half a day. |
Tracert to an EarthLink DNS server machine |
I also ran a tracert on the other two EarthLink DNS servers. The 185 and 186 both seem to be in Atlanta the 187 seems to be in Pasadena, and it just as many hops away. I asked around a bit and other ISPs have their DNS servers 3 and 5 hops away.
I emailed EarthLink to see if the have an DNS servers closer on their network to me. They said:
Kindly note that, the number of hops from the DNS server will not affect your connection in any way.
Therefore, this should not be the cause of any concern.
When I said that it has been an issue, they responded with
The most effective way to resolve this issue is to power cycle your cable modem. This will reset the modem for optimal performance.
In my case, the problem survived multiple restarts of the cable modem. Dealing with EarthLink by email is a waste of time.
February 25, 2004. A technician from EarthLink called. He sounded like he was a real technician that understood how things are supposed to work. Although I am an EarthLink customer, my prime connectivity is to Time Warner and Road Runner. It was suggested that they next time this happens, I check the Road Runner network status at help.rr.com (Network Status -> Internet Connectivity). He said that when Road Runner has problems they are sometimes late in notifying EarthLink. The traceroutes show that I do indeed start out on Road Runner's network (you can see .rr. in the computer names). He also provided the IP address of two EarthLink DNS servers in California that I can try to use as a backup should this problem occur again.
January 13, 2004. EarthLink provides 8 email addresses and each one gets its own web site with a limit of 10 MB of storage space per web site. I use a few email addresses and wanted to know how much space each of the web sites for each email address was using. Looking everywhere on www.earthlink.com produced nothing. Gripe1. This should be simple, trivial, easy thing to do.
I emailed tech support and they responded quickly with:
To find the usage of your free 10MB site, you may use our automated system which will email you a status report that contains the file space used for each file as well as a traffic report. You will find the form for requesting this report at: home.earthlink.net/cgi-bin/webquota
It doesn't work. Gripe 2. I tried two of my email addresses and each was
rejected. The rejection looks like this:
Doing as I was told in the error message shown here, I emailed webmaster@earthlink.net. It doesn't work. Gripe 3. This was the response to my email message:
We received your email on 1/13/04 however, we apologize that EarthLink is no longer handling email sent to this address (webmaster@earthlink.net). In order to better serve you we ask that you resubmit your request using our online email form. Using this form will help us direct your email to the right department so that we can provide you with an accurate and timely response.
For all of your customer service and technical support needs, please use the following online form: support.earthlink.net/email
I also replied by email to the tech support person who gave me the URL . . .
August 10, 2003. EarthLink is my ISP. I was curious about email security options in case I wanted to use my POP3 email client to read my email on a WiFi network. There are a number of extra security options that a POP3 email server can provide and my question to EarthLink was which, if any, they supported.
One option is SSL access to the mail server. This uses the same SSL protocol that secures web pages and it connects to the mail server on port 995 instead of the usual 110. SSL and TLS are also options provided by some mail servers when sending email using the SMTP protocol. Another secure email option is APOP which encrypts your email userid and password.
I emailed EarthLink the following question (Case ID 28970961)
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What security options do you support for getting my POP3 email using a POP3 email client (not via a web
page)? |
The response from "pscservice@corp.earthlink.net" was quick but useless. Perhaps it was generated by a computer? It's hard to imagine a person being so off in their reply.
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We understand that you have some concerns regarding email. |
I replied:
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I don't have a problem. I have a question about the services your provide: |
To which EarthLink replied:
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We understand that you are concerned regarding the security using a POP3 server. |
It seems they don't read the question. Discrepancies? I can't even guess what the entity (person? robot?) that wrote this was referring to. They enabled what required option? Beats me what this means too. Rather than ask what the reply meant, I just asked my question again.
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What security options do you support for getting my POP3 email using a POP3 email client (not via a web page)? |
The EarthLink reply:
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We understand that you want to know regarding security options in pop3 mail. |
As useless as useless gets. Since general questions are not being, I try again with a specific question. If you've been paying attention, you know the answer, at this point I'm just desperate to get any intelligent answer, even if its to a question I know the answer to.
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Do you support SSL access to the POP3 server on port 995? |
EarthLink responded:
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No EarthLink does not support this port for POP3 server. |
A breath of fresh air. Very specific questions seem to be the way to go. To this, I responded
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Does EarthLink support the APOP protocol for secure email? |
EarthLink responded:
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We support the POP Protocol in our service. |
Well, gee. No kidding. So does every ISP. Problem is, I asked about APOP which is different from POP. When I mentioned this is my reply, the answer back was:
| We are sorry to inform you that we do not support APOP. |
The last email security option that I know of is called Secure Password Authentication or SPA. I asked if EarthLink supports that. They don't.
Update: October 22, 2003. Despite their saying in August 2003 that the APOP protocol is not supported, it seems that it now is. I was able to retrieve my email using 2.5 different email programs with the APOP option on. One program was MailWasher, the other was Popcorn. With MailWasher, I used both version 1 and version 2. I emailed EarthLink again to ask if they now support the APOP protocol. Their response was: "Currently we do not support this protocol on our mail servers. If we do make a change to this we will make a announcement to our customers letting them know."
Yet it seems to work. So I emailed them again saying that APOP appears to work. Their reply: "I apologize for the confusion. I confused what you were asking with SPA which is Secure Password Authentication used in some mail programs. Our servers do have APOP available, we currently do not formally support the use of this protocol, however you are welcome to use it." Mystery solved.
FYI: This is not my first encounter with EarthLink tech support via email where the responses were disappointing.
FYI: The layoff related articles from January 2003 (below), say
that as part of the cutbacks at EarthLink, they were farming out some of their
work to "outsource vendors". The following are the first names of the
people who replied to my inquiries about email security options:
Jeetender Gaurab Santhosh
Sameer Sridhar Lesley
Perhaps they have outsourced to India?
I'm mad
at Earthlink. Or maybe it's mad at me? by James Fallows. June 18, 2007.
November 20, 2005. A reader of this page wrote: "I imported my address book from Yahoo mail using a .csv (comma separated values) format. The entries imported easily into the internet based e-mail from Earthlink. However, if I try to edit one of the imported entries, the address book entry opens to edit, a change can be made, but when "save" is selected, I go to a blank screen. Going back to the address book, the entry has not been updated. The only way to update these entries is to delete them in their entirety then add a new one for the same person." If you think you have a solution for him, send email to cappledore@earthlink.net
March 30, 2004. There is a change in service. Quoting an email
message from EarthLink:
"Currently, your plan includes unlimited dial-up access. Beginning May 1, 2004, your service will include 20 free hours
of dial-up access per month. You will be charged $1.00 for each additional hour of dial-up usage, up to a maximum of $21.95
per month. Provided you do not exceed your free 20 hours, you will not be charged for dial-up usage.
Dial-up access time accumulates whenever you log in to EarthLink using a regular phone line and dial-up modem instead of your
EarthLink High Speed Cable Internet connection."
November 8, 2003. In December 2003 EarthLink will begin collecting publicly available demographic information about their customers. They claim they will use this information to better understand their customers, to provide new and improved products and services. Read the privacy policy and a FAQ about it. Customers can opt out of this data collection.
Medium speed Internet is offered by EarthLink for an extra $7 a month, NetZero for an extra $5 a month and Propel for $8 a month. None of these companies mention "that the technology used to speed up surfing reduces the quality of images on web pages. Pictures can be noticeably fuzzy". Also, it only works on web sites. It has no effect on file downloads, streaming audio or email. Web Dial-Up Gains Speed, But at a Price. New York Times. April 3, 2003.
The problems of an EarthLink DSL user: the DSL modem died, the 2 year old DSL wiring was now obsolete, EarthLink no longer made compatible equipment, wait for a new DSL modem, the user has to install the modem and fight with incorrect instructions, EarthLink software that caused problems, etc. etc. Shake a Phone Tree. Shake Again. By Sarah Milstein. The New York Times, February 13, 2003.
EarthLink's war against pop-ups is worse than the problem it purports to solve. Their pop-up blocker for Windows is, in essence, a Trojan -- innocent appearing code that carries with some hidden pathogen. EarthLink Wants Total Access (to Your PC) By Robert X. Cringely. February 6, 2003.
These articles are more an FYI than a gripe. However, there is no way things can not go downhill after losing so many employees.
A second round of layoffs.
EarthLink to lay off 1,300, shut call centers Company says it will outsource jobs overseas Mercury News January 7, 2004
First round of layoffs:
EarthLink axes a quarter of its staff
January 30, 2003 Computer Weekly. EarthLink will lay off 1,300 customer service and technical support personnel, closing its call
center and rerouting calls to its remaining call centers and outsource vendors.
EarthLink Restructuring Costs 1,300 Jobs
January 28, 2003 Datamation
EarthLink Cuts 1,300 Jobs
internetnews.com January 29, 2003
EarthLink axes 25% of staff
IDG News Service January 29, 2003
EarthLink cut 2,171 jobs in the past year. That is 38% of their work force. From Bloomberg news. October 22, 2003.
On the web page for making
comments about this site, a reader of this site added Earthlink gripes on October 12, 2005.
| Page created: August 2003 | Page last updated: September 22, 2007 |
| Prior updates: September 29, 2006 | |
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March 8, 2005. An EarthLink customer attacked my computer today. I tried to
tell them about it and spent a long time reading their web site to see how.
Nothing. It seems they have no interest in this as the issue is not even
mentioned anywhere on the web site. 
