ummmmm.....i had Earthlink for quite a while....the server i connected to was always up....i always got the max connection rate (52000-54000), i talked to a person or two at Earthlink in my time with them..... ;) the only reason i dropped them is because DSL became available in my area, and i've been provided a free dial-up connection to use while i wait for my modem to arrive.....just thought i'd toss out an opposing opinion due to the lack of one ;)