Dial-up forum: EarthLink as an ISP???

I am an Earthlink dialup user. It has many more problems than I care to deal with. Coming from AOL and not being particularily computer literate, I am very frustrated. I can not use all their features..like their computer protection component, and have never been able to get adequate help from their support team. Earthlink requires a lot of work - many reinstalls because "something gets corrupted", many calls to the support team, who really aren't familiar with the English language. I am currently looking for a more user friendly software package. What ISP did Earthlink just acquire? (so I don't mistakenly choose them as my next provider?

It is ok and quite reliable here in the Denver area.

I use MS IE 7 for my browser but I do not use the Earthlink Toolbar. Just don't install it. IE7 has a pop-up blocker.

I use Earthlink Accelerator but it occasionally fails to load (or something)and I send the error report to Microsoft. I just put a shortcut on my Task Panel and click on it after a failure then enable Accelerator. If you use Accelerator and it is not enabled, like after a failure, you have to enable it or you cannot connect to the internet. Accelerator apparently speeds up picture downloads by degrading the quality of the pictures.

I stick with Earthlink because I can travel all over the country and find a local dial-up number whever I am...and I have been in some pretty remote little towns.

By the way, if Earthlink has a system problem that is it is "down", I can connect and then just get disconnected. The error messages say either that my password is not valid on their domain or that my computer network settings are incorrect.

Don't believe it. Their system is down so just wait and try connecting later. It always works for me and the problem is never my computer.

Earthlink Total Access also fails occasionally. I just click on the shortcut I put on the Task Panel when that happens and everything works.

Don't bother with Earthlink support. It is in India and they just tell you to remove Earthlink Total Access and reinstall it.

I used AOL for many years. Each new version had more bells and whistles that I never used but out of the blue, AOL "blocked" 4 Dutch ISPs without notifying anyone. I had to change ISPs since AOL didn't care and I needed access to my Dutch relatives. AOL even periodically blocked Juno!

I have been with Earthlink now for 18 months. It is faster (usually 49.3 Kbps) but everything else is more tedious. You cannot just click on the You've Got Mail icon to retrieve e-mail. Some of the services are free while others cost. I have my own anti-malware programs and I don't use theirs. Earthlink is not as sophisticated nor as easy to use as AOL.

I have my Mac and Sony on the same connection. I get two e-mails. One for the Windows machine and one for the Mac. AOL supports both machines, also. MSN does not allow Macs, for example.

Customer service is abysmal. It is in India and the Indians are under the impression that they speak English. There is a Live Chat help (also in India) but they write English better than they speak it. Their level of computer training is very basic.

I came to this forum to see if a better dial-up service is available other than AOL and Earthlink. I am also looking for another ISP that is dial-up and serves both Macs and Windows.