DSL Internet with No Phone? Yes, It’s Freestanding.

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Tom Sullivan

Cut the cord and save!

DSL has long been the high-speed Internet service associated with phone service. That’s because, traditionally, DSL Internet access could only be delivered over an active phone line. If you “cut the cord” and went without phone service at home, you’d have to turn to cable or satellite Internet for broadband.

But EarthLink has for many years also offered a different kind of high-speed DSL with no phone required. It’s called…

Dry Loop? Naked? We’ll Go with Freestanding DSL.

We call our no-phone-DSL service Freestanding DSL because it stands free, apart from any phone service. This type of DSL Internet service is sometimes called dry loop DSL, naked DSL, or standalone DSL. (But since none of those terms are well known or understood, we decided not to go with “dry,” “naked” or “alone” for our DSL service.)

Freestanding DSL is just as fast (offering Internet connections up to 7Mbps) and just as reliable as regular high-speed DSL Internet service. So, if you don’t have an active home phone line, it’s a great broadband alternative. And if you do currently have home phone service and you qualify for Freestanding DSL, you can cancel your home phone service (using only your cell phone) and save money each month.

No Phone = Big Savings
Cancelling home phone service typically saves consumers an average of $240 a year (based on an average basic calling plan, plus all the additional taxes and surcharges you have to pay). If you have more than the most basic home phone plan, you save even more. This money-saving feature makes Freestanding DSL the DSL of choice for the cell-phone-only crowd.

Where You Can Get Freestanding DSL

If you want to go without a landline phone, EarthLink Freestanding DSL sounds almost too good to be true, right? But it’s for real. The only “catch” is that it’s not as widely available as regular DSL Internet service.

It is available nationwide, but only in areas where Verizon is the local telephone company. If you know Verizon is in your area, you should be good to go. If you are unsure, simply enter your home address and zip code in the Check Availability box on our Freestanding DSL page to see if your location qualifies (a home phone number isn’t required to check availability, but you can enter it if you do still have a home phone). Even if you don’t qualify for Freestanding DSL, you’ll see other high-speed services that are available for you, such as Cable Internet (which also doesn’t need a home phone line).

When to Cancel Your Phone Service

If your location qualifies for Freestanding DSL and you still have your phone line active, it’s best to disconnect your phone service before you place your order for Freestanding DSL. Installation will be easier if phone service is disconnected before you order Freestanding DSL. So call your phone company as soon as you can.

Other Differences Between Freestanding and Regular DSL

As we noted above, in most ways Freestanding DSL is just like regular DSL Internet access – without the phone service, of course.

One minor, positive difference is that with Freestanding DSL you do not need to install phone line filters around your house as you do with regular DSL (if you do get a self-installation kit with filters you can disregard them and skip any set-up instructions mentioning filters).

Another is that Freestanding DSL does not interfere with home alarm systems the way regular DSL services sometimes do. Because Freestanding DSL is a dedicated line with no phone service on it, it should not affect your home alarm service and your alarm service should not affect your DSL.

Installing Freestanding DSL

You can quickly and easily install Freestanding DSL using the self-installation kit and free DSL modem we send you. You can install the modem anywhere in your home that you have a phone jack (as long as there is no active phone service on the line). If you want to use your DSL Internet access in a room that does not have a phone jack, you’ll need to install the modem in a different room (with a phone jack) and then install a wireless router so you can use your high-speed Internet connection in any room over Wi-Fi. EarthLink Home Networking comes with a free Wi-Fi router and everything else you need.

If you are one of our Freestanding DSL customers already, let us know how you like it by leaving a comment below.

And you can all weigh in on the question of what we should have named the service: freestanding DSL, dry loop DSL, naked DSL, or standalone DSL?

Cooking Up Easier PCI Compliance with National Restaurant Association and ANX eBusiness

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Pamela O'Connor

At the National Restaurant Association (NRA) tradeshow that kicked off this weekend and runs through today, the NRA, EarthLink and ANX eBusiness announced an exciting new relationship designed to make it easier for restaurateurs to meet Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) requirements. The PCI Compliance solutions offered by EarthLink and ANX provide a single trusted source for the IT and communication services they need to effectively run their restaurant and point-of-sale systems while safeguarding customer data. Working with the NRA as the exclusive PCI compliance and secure connectivity solution for their members, EarthLink and ANX will actively market the offering to NRA members, including via email campaigns, educational webinars and blog posts, networking events, and participation in NRA’s educational programs council. Click here to read the press release. EarthLink also exhibited at the event, and the team met with many prospective new customers. Restaurateurs are an increasingly important focus for EarthLink’s retail sector, as our solutions are an ideal fit for multi-site, distributed enterprises.

L. to R: Chad Leedy, ANX; and Chicago-based EarthLinkers Chris Johnson and Amos Biggers..

Restaurants continue to be a primary target for hackers, with the vast majority of data breaches occurring at small operations. Restaurants are targeted for a number of reasons, including outdated Point of Sale systems, operating systems, and security, and because they lack the time and resources to effectively manage security and achieve PCI compliance.

“We are excited about our relationship with the National Restaurant Association, because for the first time their members will have access to simple, affordable, and comprehensive PCI compliance solutions from a trusted source,” said Greg Griffiths, Vice President of Retail Solutions at EarthLink Business. “Together we can strengthen data security, for NRA members, their customers, and for the restaurant industry as a whole.”

Watch for more news and views from EarthLinkers at the NRA show in coming posts!

Using EasySiteOptimizer Pro for Website SEO – Code Validation

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Tom Sullivan

A few months ago in our SEO Basics post, we showed you how to use EasySiteOptimizer Pro – which is free for all EarthLink Web Hosting and Ecommerce Hosting customers – for on-page keyword SEO optimization of your website.

But that’s not all you can do with EasySiteOptimizer Pro. Today we’ll show how to use the Code Validation features to help you improve your website’s search engine rankings.

So let’s get started…

Sign into your Web Hosting Control Center at with your EarthLink Web Hosting domain name, username, and password.
On the Build tab, click the EasySiteOptimizer button.
From the Main Menu window, click the Optimization link. You’ll see an overview of your most recent optimizations, an optimization statistics graph, and page quality rankings (as shown in the screenshot above).
Click the Code Validation link in the left-side navigation or the button at the bottom of the page. Code validation is to identify common errors on your site that can negatively impact your search engine rankings.
Click the checkbox next to the page that you want to optimize and then click the Begin Code Validation button.
On the Code Validation page, you’ll see a list of Notes on the left (Errors, Ignored Errors, Fixed Errors, and Notices). Click on any of the notes or errors to see a description of the problem and solution. For example, it may say that you are missing ALT tags for images, that you have a low density of keywords in a tag, that your page Title is too short or lacking keyword density, that you are lacking enough body copy, that you are missing one or more META tag (such as description or keywords).
For some problems, such as keyword issues, you’ll have a link to click on to go and fix the problem. For others, such as Title problems, you’ll have an opportunity to correct the problem on the Code Validation page and then click the Fix button. Others, such as increasing the amount of body copy on your page, may require you to go back to the EasySiteWizard Pro tool (also within the Build section of your Control Center) to make substantial changes to your page.
When you have finished fixing the code validation issues, click the Done button.

After you are finished validating your code and fixing problems, you may want to move on to the next step within the Optimization tab of EasySiteOptimizer: creating or updating your sitmap and submitting it to search engines. We’ll cover that in an upcoming post.

For more help with SEO problems that turn up in your Code Validation steps above, see our previous post about how to use keywords for website SEO (this includes help with Title and META tags).

Hosted Voice Services – Be Heard

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Scott Yelton

It is impossible to duplicate the power of the human voice via text, email or online chat,and many experienced salespeople swear by the strength of closing a deal (or answering questions) over the phone.

At EarthLink Business we know the value of the human voice and we place a high value on delivery of high quality voice transmission over our nationwide IP network. Whether your business requires Hosted Voice services and mobile devices, or relies on traditional telephony communications EarthLink has a full voice product suite delivered with quality of service second to none. So if you want your voice to be heard loud, crisp and clear reach out to an EarthLink Business representative today.