EarthLink

EarthLink "has taken some heavy knocks in the past few months." Brand-X and FCC DSL rulings were like "death knells". ELN is now looking at muni wi-fi like Philly. BPL trials. "EarthLink is in a tough position. Including its dial-up and broadband customers, it currently has 5.4 million Internet subscribers. But that figure is expected to fall by as much as 50,000 this year, according to the company's own projections. Today, 1.5 million, or roughly 20 percent, of its Internet customers subscribe to broadband service. Boosting that figure is crucial to the ISP's survival, and so far it has been an uphill battle.... But it's a hard living. It's like being a sharecropper. They are basically selling (access) to me for almost what they are selling it to consumers. And it's hard."