Can You Get High Speed Internet without a Phone Line?

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Tom Sullivan

Wondering if it’s possible to get a high-speed Internet connection for your home if you don’t have a home phone line.

We know this is an important consideration for the growing number people who rely exclusively on their cell phones and are dropping home phone service.

Well, at EarthLink, the answer turns out to be yes, yes and yes!

That’s because we offer three different kinds of broadband Internet services that don’t require that you also pay for a phone line.

People who choose a high-speed Internet service that doesn’t require an active phone line can cancel can cancel their home phone and save an average of almost $240 a year.

High Speed Cable without a Phone Line
The high-speed service that’s probably most obviously independent of a phone line is cable Internet access.

With EarthLink Cable Internet, your high-speed Internet service is delivered over the same coaxial cables that cable TV uses.

To get EarthLink Cable Internet, you don’t actually have to have cable TV, you just need to be in a serviceable area. You can check pricing and availability on the cable Internet page our website.

When you check service availability, you’ll also see which speeds are available in your area. Our most popular cable Internet plans provide speeds that range from 3Mbps to 15Mbps (that’s from 55x to 250x the speed of dial-up).

EarthLink has been a leading cable Internet service provider since 1997.

High Speed DSL without a Phone Line
Regular DSL Internet service is a “shared line” service, meaning the Internet service is delivered over the same copper phone line that your phone calls use, and it requires an active phone line. Our Freestanding DSL (it’s also called Dry Loop DSL) works in a different way and doesn’t require an active phone line.

Though behind the scenes Freestanding DSL works differently, it delivers the same broadband speed as regular DSL, up to 7Mbps (100x faster than dial-up), plus the same additional benefits.

Availability of Freestanding DSL is more limited than our regular DSL: it is only available in areas covered by Verizon.

From the Freestanding DSL page on our website, enter your phone number (if you have one), street address and zip code to confirm if it is available where you live.

EarthLink has been a leading high-speed DSL Internet service provider since 1999.

High Speed Satellite Internet without a Phone Line
Satellite is the third type of high-speed Internet access we offer that doesn’t require a phone line.

EarthLink Satellite Internet, which we offer in partnership with HughesNet, still isn’t yet as popular as our other high-speed Internet services, but it’s becoming a much more attractive option.

Previously, satellite was the best choice only for homes in rural areas that weren’t served by any Cable or DSL Internet services, because speeds were slower and costs were a bit higher. That’s no longer true.

Now with HughesNet’s Gen4, you can get 2-way satellite Internet service with speeds from 10Mbps to 15Mbps (175x to 25x faster than dial-up). And HughesNet is the nation’s #1 choice for satellite Internet.

To see if satellite Internet might be right for you, go to the satellite Internet page on our website and click either Learn More or Get Started.

Let us know your experience without a home phone … or why you want to hold on to yours.

Vote for the 2013 Netizen of the Year

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Tom Sullivan

vote for netizen of the year As an ISP with almost 20 years of experience providing Internet access, EarthLink has long been a supporter of an open Internet, one that offers everyone the freedom to express themselves.

So we’re happy to tell our readers about an Internet award that’s given out to promote public awareness of the need to defend free expression online.

It’s called the Netizen of the Year Award and it’s sponsored by Reporters Without Borders and Google.

And for the first time this year… you get to help choose the winner.

Reporters Without Borders has chosen these nine nominees for the 2013 Netizen Prize:

Itsmania Pineda Platero (Honduras)
Cheikh Fall (Senegal)
Oumarou Mohamed Lamine (Mali)
Suren Gazaryan (Russia)
Murat Tungishbayev (Kazakhstan)
Assen Yordanov (Bulgaria)
Huynh Ngoc Chenh (Vietnam)
Mosireen (Egypt)
Shiva Nazar Ahari (Iran)

Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with the nominees right now.

You have until until March 5 to visit the Reporters Without Borders YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/netizen2013 and watch brief videos that tell the stories of these brave individuals. Then vote for the one you think best represents the fight for online freedom of information.

The winner will be announced on March 7.

My Account: Easy Online Account Management for Internet Access Subscribers

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Tom Sullivan

My Account is our easy-to-use, online account management portal for all EarthLink Internet access subscribers (Dial-Up, Cable Internet, high-speed DSL, and Satellite Internet).

Because you may not be aware of how helpful it can be, here’s a detailed overview of all you can do with My Account.

Get Started

To get started, simply go to myaccount.earthlink.net (pictured above) and enter your EarthLink email address and password. If you have more than one email address, you can use any one, but some account changes can only be made when you sign in with your primary email address.

My Account Features

After you sign in you’ll be on the My Account home screen, which gives you a quick overview of your account and gives you easy access to all account maintenance features.

Email Profiles: you’ll see all the email addresses you have created so far (up to 8 are free; the first should say Owner next to the name), and a link to Add a new email profile. Click on any email profile to make changes to that email account (e.g., change the password, enable email forwarding, adjust spam settings, subscribe to our newsletter, and more).
My Plan Details: This section shows you which products and services are active for your account and lists optional extras.
My Downloads: This shows you software that you can download and use with your account. All dial-up and high-speed Internet service subscribers should see Protection Control Center (free all-in-one security software), Accelerator (free dial-up acceleration software), and Toolbar (free browser add-on).
Billing Information: You should see your next invoice date listed along with your current balance. Click the Billing Information header to see complete billing information and made changes to your billing address or payment method, view your last invoice, make a payment, and more.
Contact Information: Click into this section to verify or update the contact address, phone number, and email address we have on file for you. You can also specify your contact preferences here.
Internet Access Numbers: For dial-up Internet access, enter the phone number you’ll be dialing from, click the Find Numbers button, and get a list of available EarthLink dial-up numbers.
Help & Information: This section lists some of the most common account maintenance questions. If you don’t see your question listed, click the Help & Information header.

Internet Freedom by Country – Estonia Edges U.S.

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Tom Sullivan

Once again, Estonia is making Internet news.

That’s right, Estonia, the nation of only 1.2 million people bordering the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Russia.

I say “once again” because Estonia has had an outsized presence in the Internet world, earning it the nickname E-stonia.

First because Skype was developed there, and then because Estonia was the first nation, in 2005, to use Internet voting in a national election. Most government services and information is easily accessible online with an electronic national ID card that 9 of 10 Estonians have.

A couple of weeks ago, Estonia announced a nationwide pilot program to start teaching computer coding to children in the first grade.

And just this Monday, a report called Freedom on the Net 2012 named Estonia the #1 nation in the world for Internet freedom. The United States, by the way, was the #2 country, with Germany, Australia, and Hungry rounding out the top 5.

Iran, Cuba, and China were the lowest ranking nations.

One alarming trend the report noted was that over 40% (20 of 47) of nations had less Internet freedom now than they did at the beginning of 2011.

The country-by-country ratings in the report were based three categories: Obstacles to Access (which includes the general availability of Internet access, as well as government efforts to block applications or technologies) Limits on Content, and Violation of User Rights.