Earthlink looking for Alternatives to dial-up

EarthLink Evolves

The southern dial-up darling has big plans to help catch fleeing subscribers.

February 20, 2006 Print Issue

EarthLink CEO Gary Betty’s southern-boy charm falters slightly when the conversation turns to his company’s fading tradition as a network sharecropper. “It’s a tough go,” he sighs, an edge creeping into his voice. For the first time, he sounds more like the harried executive charged with redefining a company than the easygoing Atlanta native and hometown hero.


EarthLink, once known for its booming business of selling dial-up Internet service over phone companies’ networks in the 1990s, has been forced to remake itself as consumers switch to high-speed broadband offered directly by telcos and cable companies.


Even worse, shifting regulations now allow cable and phone companies to block EarthLink from running services over their networks. The current challenge is to convince fleeing dial-up subscribers to hang in and use the company’s new high-speed services, while remaking a brand etched in that shrill whine of dial-up fame—the same problem former dial-up behemoth America Online faced.

Undaunted, Mr. Betty has devised an aggressive and unusual plan for remaking his company. The next-generation EarthLink aims to finish building a controversial citywide Wi-Fi network in Philadelphia by year’s end. It’s also planning to launch an early-adopter wireless service with South Korea’s SK Telecom, the country’s largest cellular company, in the spring and has already started selling VoIP services.


EarthLink has even trialed broadband over power lines. “If someone came to EarthLink with a string and two tin cans and said they could provide broadband, we’ve probably looked at it,” jokes Mr. Betty.




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EARTHLINK BPL website