Earthlink: A Very Slow Connection to the Web

Since 1993, I have been very active on the Internet. I was a sub-sysop on Knobody's Business, a Bulletin Board System (BBS), from 1992 - 1994. I have had experiences with Yahoo, America Online, Juno, BlueLight, MSN, and many others.

Over the past two years, I have been dealing with Earthlink DSL. I have not been happy with this service, but couldn't end it because I was TRAPPED in a contract. Once I did try to stop, they still billed my credit card-regardless of the fact that the telephone line I used for the connection was turned off for nearly 2 months. Morons.

Yes, this review is going to be hotheaded and biased. I will do my best to present all of the elements of my experience with Earthlink objectively, but I'm not promising anything.

Since the beginning of my experience with Earthlink, the customer service has been nothing short of horrendous. I wasn't the member of the household that decided to sign up with Earthlink. If I had been on the initial call, I probably wouldn't have signed up to begin with. The idea was to get DSL, which Earthlink offered for $29.95 for the first 6 months, but then you had to sign up for a year AFTER the 6 months was up for $50.61 per month, which would be automatically charged to your credit card or bank account. That's 18 months that you're locked into a contract, or you have to pay an exorbitant amount for an early termination fee. NO exceptions.

Whenever I tried to call Earthlink customer service (1-888-EARTHLINK), I was placed on hold for AT LEAST 5 minutes every call. On many occasions, when I was finally put through to a customer service representative, they weren't able to help me, due to problems with Earthlink. Wouldn't it be effective to have some sort of message while on hold saying that there are outages in my area? Why am I typing in my account number when before I'm placed on hold, anyway? Absolutely ridiculous. On a variety of other occasions, the line was simply cut off.

The only nice, polite people I have encountered with Earthlink are those in technical support. While it takes a VERY long time to get through, I never had a problem with any of the technical support people. Most importantly, they solved my problems quickly and efficiently with every call I placed.

Unfortunately, the people in billing are a different story. Most recently, I cancelled (or, at least, TRIED to cancel) my account on December 16, 2003. My phone line was being turned off that day, and I was starting my move to New York that afternoon. The man that I spoke with informed me that my account would be closed, and I had the option to maintain my Earthlink web address for just $5 a month. I chose to keep my email address, just so that I would be able to let everyone know my new email address. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong.

Two weeks later, I received my credit card statement from American Express. Guess what? That's right. There was a charge for $50.61 from Earthlink. So, I called Earthlink on December 31 and spoke with a woman who informed me that my account had never been cancelled. Furthermore, there was no record of my phone call on December 16th. This representative GUARANTEED me that I wouldn't be charged on my next invoice and that my account would be cancelled immediately. She apologized profusely, and I thanked her for her help.

Yesterday, I received my January statement from American Express. Guess what? Right again. Earthlink charged yet another $50.61 to my account. So, I called and waited for 14 minutes until I was able to talk with a customer service rep. This customer service rep informed me that my account wasn't deactivated until January 24 (Saturday). I told her about my two previous phone calls, and she informed me that there was nothing that she could do. She put me through to a supervisor-someone I thought would be able to help me with the mix-up.

I spoke with this supervisor, Katherine, who told me that there was nothing that she could do because my account had been deactivated. It didn't matter that it was deactivated just 2 days before calling; there was still nothing that she could do. She told me that my account had been active for the month of December. When I informed her that I moved and the phone line wasn't even on, she said, "Well, I guess that's your problem. I'm not reversing the charge." And that was that.

I had to call my credit card company and file a claim dispute against Earthlink. I wonder how many other people have had to do this with this pathetic excuse for an ISP.

Sure, the features are all there: webmail, email, web hosting, Internet access, browser, etc. It's nothing special, though. The Pop-Up Blocker that Earthlink offers is nothing more than an annoyance. It works when it wants to work, and blocks the important pop-ups that you request be shown. There are a lot of bugs that need to be worked out with that feature.

Earthlink's SPAM blocker is a joke. It blocks emails that you want to get and allows the ones you don't want to get through. I can't begin to tell you how many times I received the Worm Klez virus through Earthlink. Yet another problem that Earthlink has to work out.

If you're thinking about switching to Earthlink, I've got one word of advice for you: DON'T!!!!! Earthlink is awful. There is a plethora of ISPs out there that do a much better job. Do yourself a favor and choose one of them instead.