EarthLink Web Hosting Review
We seem to spend a lot of time talking about the latest shared hosting provider. There has been buzz lately around companies like BlueHost, DreamHost, and many other who have raised bandwidth and disk space offerings. Some have been criticized for “overselling.”
A while back, we took some time out to turn our attention to hosting by an ISP that you wouldn’t normally think of as a web host: Earthlink. A large company with an established brand name can do things that other smaller competitors cannot. One example is the ability to stock a team of 24 hour customer support staff. EarthLink won the coveted CNET Editors’ Choice Award for web hosting last year. Take a look at the review we whipped up on EarthLink Web Hosting. Have you tried the service? Even if you haven’t hosted with EarthLink, post your comments please.
Says Dedicated hosting
November 21, 2006 @ 3313:54 pm
Reviews are very important for any hosting company, and at the same time regular update of the reviews at frequent intervals are also equally very important.
Says Tracy Marks
February 12, 2007 @ 31311:06 am
Earthlink has hosted my two sites for many years, and I’ve had minimal problems until October 2006, when a nightmare started. I downgraded one of my accounts to save $15 a month because I have exorbitant medical charges I can’t afford, and instead of charging me the $41.85 I should have been charged, Earthlink charged me $841.85 - $800 overcharge on my credit card. When I contacted them, they immediately admitted their mistake and promised a credit in the next week. That was almost four months ago. Every time I call them (if I can get through, which is rarely - it takes about 5 hours of calls and hold time to reach anyone, and in most cases, the person who answers the phone won’t let me talk to a supervisor or give me the name of anyone who can help me) I get another promise or excuse - from “the accounting department doesn’t give credits that large”, to the fact that they won’t credit more than 30 days after a charge, to “we’re working on it”, to “we have go through all your invoices for the past years and credit them one at a time each month because we can’t give you a large credit all at once.” I filed a credit card dispute in October (it’s February) and my credit card company hasn’t been of any help although they are now promising to take action. Meanwhile I’ve had 18 1/2% finance charges on my credit card since October. I am an Internet trainer who makes a living helping people learn how to use the Internet, and have been recommending Earthlink to THOUSANDS of students over the years…….but you can be sure that I am now letting people know exactly what Earthlink is doing.
Says grand master D
March 16, 2007 @ 425811:34 pm
Earthlink sucks for many reasons. 1- tech support gives you the run around if they cant figure out the problem.Their total access updates have on several occasions shut down my computer, of course the do not acknowledge it until another update is used to fix the problem ..2 customer service is an oxyomoron. should be called customer disservice. After dealing with their no accountability and no responsibility attitude I tried to cancell my account, but they said the could not get to the customer accounts for the 4to 5 days I called. I finally get it canceled and then i am billed for a month of service from feb to march even thought my account has been canceled, and taken off my computer, but they said my account was not caneceled in time even though they could not access my account to cancel because their system was down. They refuse to return my monthly fee for unused services. I WOULD NOT WANT ANYONE ELSE TO LOSE THEIR MONEY TO EARTHLINK FOR BAD BUSINNESS PRACTICES, BECAUSE THE WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY AND KEEP IT buy their services and know ahead of time they will screw you , because they dont care. 3-16-2007
Says Don Boelling
September 13, 2007 @ 189345:29 pm
I have been with Earthlink for many years and have several web hosting domains. My experiance with Earthlink Customer support has been non-existant. I have had trouble tickets that I have spent more then 42 hours on the phone to fix a single issue with my service. They keep insisting issues are with my PC even though I tell them I have 5 PC’s on two different networks with the same issue. Recently my web sites were hacked due to a flaw in an Earthlink application (see below). I currently have trouble tickets that are months old that I can not get call backs or resolution on and no one seems to know why or who is fixing it.
Even having the issues escalated has not helped. I would not recommend Earthlink to anyone considering an ISP.
As of this writting, the Advanced Guestbook provided by Earthlink at http://cc.earthlink.net (Control Center) has a serious security flaw that allows a hacker to take control of folders and files on a web domain. My web sites were hacked by a hacker claiming to be OMAR. The Index files replaced and all my file permissions were set to Read, Write, Execute for the “WORLD” (777 in UNIX speak)
My research with security orgs. indicate the security bug has been known for awhile. I have also read web and usenet postings that seem to indicate Earthlink has known about it as well. So I am somewhat perplexed as to why there have been no warning newsletters, emails etc. sent to those using the Advanced Guestbook. I am also perplexed as to why it is still available in the Control Center for use by unsuspecting domain web masters with no warning about the vulnerability.
Keep in mind that the Hacker was able to not only replace my index file, but was also able to change all my file permissions to world read and write.
So consider this scenario. A hacker (maybe the same one) also attacks one or more eCommerce or other sites that contains Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of clients, customer or employees. The intruder gets access to the PII by simply changing the web sites code because the files are now world readable and writable anyone can access them and modify them.
As California law requires notification action on the part of the company that maintains the PII. They must notify all the effected parties in writting. This could be a major blow to a company, customer and Earthlink. Really bad press for not doing due diligence. It’s possible Earthlink could be partly liable as Earthlink was aware of the issue and didn’t take appropriate action.
Due diligence up front can save a ton of head aches later. As a long time and experianced Computing Security professional it’s my opinion Earthlinks lack of due dilligence is shamefull.