Who Is EarthLink ?

We have all come across the name EarthLink Inc. at one point or the other, especially now that internet has become a very essential part of our daily lives.

EarthLink is actually one of the biggest internet supplier companies in the whole of the United States.

Just as the name suggests, they tend to link people through the internet. They offer a variety of IT services as well as a networking and a couple of communication services.

The headquarters is situated in Atlanta, Georgia. Today, EarthLink serves a total of 150,000 businesses in the entire region plus about a million private consumers. In that case, they can be referred to as commercial internet providers as well as home internet providers.

 

EarthLink History

EarthLink dates way back to the year 1994 when it was founded by a stud by the name Sky Dayton, who was 23 years of age by then. The inspiration came after Dayton learnt the art of configuring internet into his PC and decided to start a business as a dial-up internet service provider (ISP). This marked the Genesis of EarthLink Company. By then, Dayton only served clients in Los Angeles due to financial constraints.

However, it only took a year for the business to grow. In 1995 was when EarthLink began to offer unlimited internet as an ISP at a flat rate. This was the first ISP to do so. The business grew very fast and by 1996, they had already begun offering internet services for businesses which included web hosting.

January of 1997, EarthLink got registered to NASDAQ hence going fully public. This marked a major landmark in the business as it now became a fully fledged company. Within no time, it hit the 1 million members mark. By the end of 1997, the company had doubled its dial-up services to 56K dial-up access. In a bid to offer cable internet access that was fast, it joined forces with charter communications.

Other noticeable collaborations include those with Apple, Sprint and even CompUSA to name just but a few. Ever since then, EarthLink has continued to grow to what it is today; one of the biggest internet providers in the USA.

 

EarthLink Impact

EarthLink has had a lot of impact on the internet sector over the years. A very good example is the introduction of a fixed IP DSL service targeting the SOHO business market in 2001. In the same year was when it began offering 2-way internet satellite service after some combined effort with DirecPC Company.

All this has not gone unrecognized as EarthLink has won a number of awards. According to the Smart Business fraternity, EarthLink has been rated as a 5-star business. It has also been award as the top ISP by CNet, for three consecutive years. It has also been awarded for customer satisfaction by the J.D Power and associates. This is just proof that EarthLink is by far the best when it comes to both home internet as well as business internet providing.

In 2012, EarthLink is still the big company it was back then. As a matter of fact, it is even bigger. It has been divided into 2 divisions; the EarthLink consumer service and the EarthLink business service. The latter basically deals with internet connection for business whereas the former is more of a home internet supplying sector.

However, as earlier stated, not only do they offer internet connection services but also a wide variety of IT services. This includes the likes of Voice and Data CPE, web hosting, cloud hosting as well as virtualization.

The networking department deals with a variety of services such as Ethernet, MPLS, DSL, wireless internet, DS3 and a whole lot of other services.

 

If at all you plan on switching your home internet provider for a more efficient and reliable one, or you plan on installing internet for the first time to your home, then EarthLink should obviously top your list. It assures you of a steady and strong unlimited internet connection for 24 hours a day at very reasonable prices.

Your internet connection will always be there for you without any hiccups as EarthLink has the best internet supplier you can get anywhere. It has over 90 metro fiber rings, 29,000 miles of fiber and 4 data centers all to ensure that you get the best.

The variety of consumer services they offer is quite wide. Apart from the common dial-up internet, EarthLink also offers VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service. The company has also specialized in Broadband services such as Freestanding DSL, satellite internet as well as cable internet.

When it comes to home internet, then none beats EarthLink. Research shows that today EarthLink supplies internet to over 1.2 homes in the USA and still growing. To say that EarthLink is currently dominating the market would not be an understatement.