An Honest EarthLink Internet Review, According to Customers

EarthLink Internet offers both DSL and fiber plans on its website. DSL plans start at $64.95 per month, with download speeds between 18 and 75Mbps. Fiber plans start at $39.95 per month with up to 100Mbps download speed. All plans come with unlimited data (yay, no overage fees!), but that’s where the party ends. Customers also have to cough up fees for installation, activation, and/or equipment rental. If you choose to prematurely cancel your contract (yes, sorry, there's a 12 month contract), you’re on the hook for up to $200 in cancellation fees.

The best and most cost-efficient EarthLink plan for most people is the Fiber 300 plan. Fiber is the fastest and the most reliable type of internet connection. All fiber plans offer symmetrical speed, which means both upload speeds and download speeds are the same. This is great because you can browse the internet and stream Netflix shows seamlessly, as well as upload videos to social media quickly. At least 300Mbps is also a decent speed for most average households and can support three people streaming on multiple devices, playing online games, or video calling at the same time.

EarthLink’s customer experience can be summed up in one word: Inconsistent.

Kasandra Grant is all about EarthLink—she feels it’s an excellent choice to keep her connected in her career in casino blogging. “There's a lot to like about EarthLink, but as an online casino player, the consistent speed and uptime are what set it apart,” she says.

Dan Fugardi, the CEO of beauty company Instyler Brands, also has only good things to say about EarthLink. “I've used EarthLink for one service or another for most of the last couple decades, and it has always served me well,” says Fugardi, who has a 300Mbps+ EarthLink plan at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Marina del Rey. “I can't say I've ever had one of the nightmare stories that I've heard or experienced with bigger service providers.”

But Jeannie K. in Blue Ridge, Virginia, was left frustrated when EarthLink promised her DSL in an area that couldn’t receive it. A retired paralegal, Jeannie signed up for the service a few months ago, but it never worked for her. She had to contact EarthLink several times to have the equipment removed and get her money back.

“It turns out that our overhead telephone lines were no longer operational,” she says. “Shortly after, our telephone lines stopped working too.”

Leslie Aromy in Waveland, Mississippi had a similarly frustrating experience. She realized after a month with EarthLink that with only one weekday off, she couldn’t reliably contact EarthLink customer support about issues—of which she ran into many.

“I qualified for the ACP discount,” Aromy says. “The first time [EarthLink] charged my bank, they didn’t charge me the right amount, so when I tried to call them, I couldn’t get in touch with a person who could actually help me.”

After months of trying to disconnect the service and disputing post-cancellation charges, Aromy still isn’t sure whether EarthLink will try to charge her again. “So I had to get a disconnect confirmation number. I go to my bank; they put a stop with automatic withdrawal on my account. Hopefully, at least if they do it again, I have the number so the bank can dispute it.”

EarthLink Internet has an unusual setup. It’s like an MVNO for internet service. It pays other internet companies so it can use their infrastructure to offer plans in EarthLink’s name. EarthLink uses AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier, and Verizon, with T-Mobile listed on EarthLink’s website as an additional “provider we trust.” 

This unusual approach allows EarthLink  to offer a wide range of plans, including several fiber options, DSL, satellite, and fixed wireless. There are also satellite and 5G/4G LTE plans available, but you need to call to inquire. 

Unlike an MVNO, EarthLink usually costs more than the networks it uses. You typically get a better deal from the leasing providers themselves.

Because EarthLink piggybacks off existing networks, it has more location leeway than other services. You can find it throughout the Lower 48 (although not in every city).

If you’re not sure whether you live in an EarthLink area, you can check using our zip finder below.

There’s no way around it: EarthLink is more expensive than most of the competition.

EarthLink takes already high internet prices and jacks them up, ostensibly to cover the cost of renting other providers’ networks. And what do you get out of it? Good question. EarthLink offers very little that you don’t already get through its leasing providers.

However, one irreplaceable benefit of EarthLink is its availability. Because EarthLink rents networks from other companies, its presence is widespread. You can likely take your service with you when you move, even if you go from a big city to a rural area. That's a significant advantage if you want to avoid the hassle of switching internet companies.

If EarthLink sounds like your one true internet love, you can check below to see if it's available.