Earthlink to slash 1300 jobs.

[raj2001]

I know this isn't directly related to Echostar, but I thought it would be appropriate to post it here, since Dish network is going to have a partnership with Earthlink to provide DSL.

If the mods see it fit to move this elsewhere, feel free.

http://new.stockwatch.com/newsit/newsit_newsit.pasp?bid=U-pATTU015-ELNK-20030128&news_region=U&symbol=ELNK

ATLANTA, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EarthLink, Inc. today announced a comprehensive plan to streamline its call center facilities to further increase operational efficiencies and reduce overall costs, while maintaining its commitment to its award winning customer service. As part of its strategy, EarthLink will close its entire call center operations in Dallas, Texas; Sacramento, Calif.; and Seattle, Wash.; over a 30 day period beginning February 21, 2003. The company also announced that it will close one of its facilities in Pasadena, Calif., affecting its technical support and customer service operations. Other departments in these locations will not be directly impacted.

As was the company's experience in the closing of its Phoenix, Ariz., facility last year, EarthLink expects a seamless transition as customer inquiries normally handled by these facilities will be routed to EarthLink's remaining centers in Atlanta, Ga.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Roseville, Calif.; as well as its outsourced call center providers.

"Our plan to streamline our call center operations will positively impact our financial performance and help us to better compete in a rapidly changing marketplace," said Garry Betty, EarthLink's chief executive officer. "EarthLink has repeatedly been recognized by the industry for its high standard of customer service, and these moves will allow us to serve our subscribers with the same commitment to excellence, while at the same time delivering greater shareholder value."

EarthLink expects to record facility exit costs of approximately $41 million in the first quarter associated with the closing of these facilities. These costs include approximately $11 million for certain employee-related costs, approximately $20 million for lease termination costs, and non-cash asset write-offs of approximately $10 million. The decision will directly impact approximately 1,300 employees. We estimate the streamlining of our call centers will reduce annualized operating expenses by more than $20 million.

About EarthLink

EarthLink is the Internet service provider (ISP) solution for an impatient world. Headquartered in Atlanta, EarthLink has earned a national reputation for outstanding customer service and its suite of online products and services. According to J.D. Power and Associates, EarthLink is ranked Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Dial-up ISPs and tied in the ranking for Highest Customer Satisfaction Among High-Speed ISPs. Serving approximately 4.8 million subscribers, EarthLink offers what every user should expect from their Internet experience: high-quality connectivity, minimal drop-offs and ISP-generated intrusions, and customizable features. Whether it's dial-up, high-speed, Web hosting or wireless Internet service, EarthLink provides the tools that best let individuals use and enjoy the Internet on their own terms. Learn more about EarthLink through its Core Values and Beliefs [http://www.earthlink.net/about/ourvalues/cvb/index.html ] or by calling (800) EARTHLINK and visiting EarthLink's Web site at http://www.earthlink.net/.

Information about EarthLink services is available by calling 800-395-8425 and through EarthLink's Web site at http://www.earthlink.net/.

[gcutler]

Jeeze we spend enough time on hold, that is not good.

[lee635]

I use an outfit called Highstream that offers dial up internet access for $8.50 a month. Then there's Juno and Netzero at $9.95. Actually my brother still has the free Netzero because he's only online about 10 hours a month from home. For the life of me I cannot understand why people flock to these $20 PLUS per month providers. Maybe people like paying to support all those "cute and clever" ads on TV. :rolleyes:

[James_F]

It could be worse, they might be headed to become another PSINet. :eek2:

[gcutler]

Originally posted by lee635
I use an outfit called Highstream that offers dial up internet access for $8.50 a month. Then there's Juno and Netzero at $9.95. Actually my brother still has the free Netzero because he's only online about 10 hours a month from home. For the life of me I cannot understand why people flock to these $20 PLUS per month providers. Maybe people like paying to support all those "cute and clever" ads on TV. :rolleyes:

Lee635, Sometimes you get what you pay for. Not all the extra $10 goes for ads, some of it goes for tech support and infrastructure. If the $20 plus ISPs are having money problems, what type of problems are the Under $10 having money wise? As a matter of fact after a week of trying to get thru to Net Zero (or was it Juno?) tech support because of inability to connect (2 hours at a time on hold was the most he could wait) a friend of mine couldn't wait more than a week without internet access and had to go with the $20/month ISP.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by James_F
It could be worse, they might be headed to become another PSINet. :eek2:

I almost ended up becoming a PSInet employee while working for a G.E. Owned Consulting company. I jumped ship a little before that sale happened. But the funny thing is I got laid off from the other company the same month my friends got laid off from PSINet (you can never win) :shrug:

[Scott Greczkowski]

Isn't this the company that Dish Network just announced would be it's DSL partner?

[James_F]

Yep, it hard to make money selling dialup anymore and its hard to compete against the Baby Bells in DSL and cable companies in Cable. My brother has Roadrunner and he was given the choice of AOL, Earthlink or Roadrunner. he chose Roadrunner. Why have a middleman in your DSL or Cable?

[gcutler]

Originally posted by James_F
Yep, it hard to make money selling dialup anymore and its hard to compete against the Baby Bells in DSL and cable companies in Cable. My brother has Roadrunner and he was given the choice of AOL, Earthlink or Roadrunner. he chose Roadrunner. Why have a middleman in your DSL or Cable?

Actually the Middelmen can offer you some advantages. I have Earthlink to BellSouth...

At the time...
1) Bell South would only give you a PCI or USB DSL Modem, so no HW router without you buying your own modem and copying the mac address of the BS modem. (BS has since changed)

2) If DSL is down, they did not give you alternative dialup service, with Earthlink they give you 20 hours of National Dialup a month. So when I travel (or if DSL is down) I can find a local # and not be charged until I use up 20 hours. BS did not offer this and did not have National/International dialup #s

3) When it came to getting support for true ISP problems (not DSL line down or phone line problems) it seemed that BS did not have the level of quality of from a support point of view. (or as good a web site listing outages)

Everyone who I know who has BS, after their yearly committment looked at Earthlink.net (often hastle about changing e-mail address stopped them from jumping) but it wasn't because they wanted to avoid the middle man.

So sometimes the middleman will offery you more in value than the provider itself.

[Nick]

From the PR blurb: "a comprehensive plan to streamline its call center facilities to further increase operational efficiencies"

Translation: We'e gonna fire a bunch of people and triple the quotas for the rest. They won't dare complain in fear of being next.

"reduce overall costs, while maintaining its commitment to its award winning customer service"

Translation: We're gonna increase profits for our shareholders while we kiss our J D Powers customer service award goodbye.

"these moves will allow us to serve our subscribers with the same commitment to excellence"

Translation: We're gonna add music to our award-winning On-Hold service.

" EarthLink expects to record facility exit costs of approximately $41 million in the first quarter associated with the closing of these facilities."

Translation: We're gonna pay through the nose to do this, and it will take us over two years to recoup the financial hit . Of course, two years from now we'll be hiring a bunch of people again because the economy will have improved by then anyway.


<sigh> :rolleyes:

[raj2001]

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
Isn't this the company that Dish Network just announced would be it's DSL partner?

Yes, that's why I posted it here. I have them as my DSL ISP and they really stink.

[James_F]

Originally posted by gcutler


Actually the Middelmen can offer you some advantages. I have Earthlink to BellSouth...


I don't buy that. What if there is something wrong with the line itself? You have to have either Earthlink take care of it and wait or take care of it yourself. Earthlink is beholden to the cable companies and the baby bells. Not a good position IMO. Anyway Earthlink isn't making much money if any on DSL/Cable since they have to offer deals to TW or other DSL providers for the right to sell you DSL/Cable Internet service. It all a moot point anyway since these providers are getting moved out of the market anyway. At least with SBC or Cox you know the company will be around, maybe not in its current name, but Earthlink could just be shut down or its providers moved to some crappy service like AOL or MSN which buys the client list.

I know its nice to get better equipment, which is why I went with Cox since they allow you to buy whatever cable modem you want, but someone has to pay for that modem and if its not you then its Earthlink. With those razor thin margins anyway on service, its seems like this is a money losing proposition.

[raj2001]

Originally posted by gcutler


Actually the Middelmen can offer you some advantages. I have Earthlink to BellSouth...


There are some other advantages to middlemen as well, with cable especially, which relate to us satellite subscribers.

Here in NYC Time Warner territory we have the choice of RoadRunner, Earthlink, AOL and New York Connect. Earthlink gives you national unlimited dialup with your cable account. New York Connect also gives you unlimited Dialup.

AOL cable is so stupid, you have to use their crappy client software and I just hate AOL. Heck, even Time Warner employees hate AOL.

New York connect is about the best I've heard. They're a small ISP serving New York City. They offer you dialup with your cable (I think it's national, through other middlemen). I like them because when you pick up the phone and call for tech support you get someone in New York. Not India, Philippines or even another state. You get a real live human being in New York City. I've heard also that they're rock solid, and very reliable. The only weak link would be the TWCNYC cable network, but they are pretty reliable.

The best part about middlemen in the cable equation is that they are usually the same price for cable and non cable subscribers. That means you can keep your Dish or DirecTV and still get cable internet at the same price a cable sub would pay.

[raj2001]

Originally posted by James_F
I don't buy that. What if there is something wrong with the line itself? You have to have either Earthlink take care of it and wait or take care of it yourself. Earthlink is beholden to the cable companies and the baby bells. Not a good position IMO.

Earthlink is the worst example of this. They never own anything they sell, and with DSL prepare for a nightmare. A friend of mine had earthlink DSL (I have earthlink DSL at present) and every time he had problems tech support would bounce him between Verizon and covad. After his sentence was up, he pulled the plug, and vowed never to go back to earthlink.

And by the way, bad service is the norm at EL. Check out http://www.earthlinksucks.net.

[James_F]

I used to have Mindspring years ago and when they switched over to earthlink it was horrible. The Mindspring tech support would forward you to Earthlink who had no idea what any of the DNS servers were. :bang:

[Mark Holtz]

Earthlink had a policy of calling up the smaller ISPS and paying a per-subscriber acquisition charge. Around here, one of the most notorious acquisitions was JPS.net, which, in turn was purchased by OneMain, which, in turn, was purchased by Earthlink. At least those subscribers got to keep their e-mail addresses.

[Frapp]

Well, here is "one" good story about Earthlink:

I have had Earthlink for about two years and upgraded to DSL last July ( 2002 ). They gave me a great deal and promptly had my phone line activated with DSL earlier than expected. My free modem and equipment arrived in about two days after I placed the order and since then I have had almost no interruptions in service.

I did have a little trouble enabling my second computer to run on DSL ( I have two of them networked together ), but tech support at that time was a little hard to reach, but very helpful.

Maybe old Frapp-E was lucky this time :shrug:

[gcutler]

Originally posted by James_F


I don't buy that.

So when Bellsouth offers me no dialup alternative when DSL is down or when I am on the road (let alone outside of Bell South regional) your trying to tell me that I don't benefit from the Middleman Earthlink offer. I think your short sighted on this issue. I'm not saying that BellSouth may not be the better offering, to some people but I got a much better deal from Earthlink the middleman, whether you "Buy It" or not. And there is no way you can say that no middlemen offer better options than the Cable Company or Baby Bell. Otherwise I would be using Bell South. I'm not using earthlink because i have any vested interest only because they offer me a better deal than the Baby bell. End of story....

Oh and I left out benefit #4 of Earthlink. For an extra $15 a month I can get a hard coded IP address to host my own server. Bell south will not allow me to have that without a small business accunt at 3x the price of the personal. While this is not something many people care about, people in my business do and most of my comrades in the independant consulting industry would love it, but since many who work out of their homes are limited AT&T cable modem, they would kill for the option without having to pay small business fees.

I have posted now 4 items that Earthlink does that makes it a better deal than BS for many (not all). So yes they may have to deal with an extra layer to fix a phone line problem, and maybe Earthlink may not make as much money as the Baby bells. But the deals are still attracting more people in this region to Earthlink than BS. Are you still willing to ingore that a middleman MAY be a better option?

[gcutler]

Originally posted by James_F
I used to have Mindspring years ago and when they switched over to earthlink it was horrible. The Mindspring tech support would forward you to Earthlink who had no idea what any of the DNS servers were. :bang:

They have fixed that problem over the years... ARe you aware of any company that dosen't go thru major problems after a merger or buyout. If possible I would deal with (and Work for) only companies that would never be bought out or merged, but we know that even now this is not over and eventually there will be one or two big ISPs and every isp that gets merged will have the same integration problems.

I can't go a year without some stinking merger (Bank, Cell Phone, Cable (and now DBS), garbage pickup company, etc making life harder. Why should it be shocking that Minspring and Earthlink went thru some merger problems a few years ago...

[gcutler]

Originally posted by raj2001


Earthlink is the worst example of this. They never own anything they sell, and with DSL prepare for a nightmare. [/url]

And you have two people here posting who had totally opposite situations. Alot of the issue is related to which Baby Bell you are dealing with, perhaps Verizon is the nighmare? If I were you I would just get out of NY City (or the North East) and your nightmares might go away. I don't know if it is the NY attitude but dealing with any NYC utility or service was always a P.I.T.A. Maybe it is the pretense that such organizations can handle such a large population (which I think they've proven they can't)

Once I moved away from NYC (after 25 years) it seemed that dealing with utilities and such became alot easier. What I thought was the norm for utilties and municipalities (DMV, etc) turned out to be only the Norm for NYC. Only thing I don't like is that everyone says "have a nice day", when I'm totally into having a crappy day. (Quote from George Carlin)

[RichW]

I use Earthlink as my ISP at work. We uses a dedicated T1 connection provided by Global Crossing. I find the Earthlink staff to be very knowledgeable and helpful. If they don't provide a 98% uptime over a month, I get the month free. They have never had to pay that penalty.

[James_F]

Originally posted by gcutler
<snip>
Well if it works for you all the best. As I said IMO most people are better served just dealing with the phone companies or cable providers. Look what happened to DirectDSL... People are pulling their hair out trying to get their DSL provider switched. If you have a need for dialup then by all means stay with Earthlink, but if you don't, why not buy from the baby bells. :shrug:

You have trouble with your DSL service where you need a dialup? I've never lost Cox since they switched from @Home. I don't know if I could live without my Broadband for even a day. Sucks when I'm traveling and have to use the UUNet Dialer. ;)

[lee635]

I've never really had a need to use the tech support hotline for setting up a dialup ISP. We had Qwest DSL and Verizon DSL and both of them sent you a cd that pretty much walked you through the steps of setting up the service.

With Netzero when I had that and Highstream now, you just download the install program and follow the steps. Heck, I even installed AOL on my next door neighbor's house and you just click "next" until the install finishes. ;)

My point would be that once you get your ISP up and running on your pc, you're not going to be calling tech support every month, so why pay 100% more every month, month after month?

[James_F]

What if your old ISP gets bought by a new one? You have to go through all that crap again not to mention a new email. This is the case where the largest fish is going to be well worth it in the long run. I'm not saying run out and buy AOL, but Earthlink/Netzero/AT&T Worldnet are vulnerable.

[gcutler]

Largest fish does not mean that it will be the one that survives. They may get the General Electric point of view to the world "We no longer find it worth our time (any department with less than 20 Billion Profit we consider boring), so we are going to sell off the service" They may provide the wire to the house and such but they may not want to provide support for all the TCPIP services, etc. It very well may be AT&T Worldnet that survives as opposed to the the Baby Bells for DSL ISP (but then again each baby bell will be different)

It may be a retread of the past where BS decides to spin off their ISP (or sell off the service) and we end up with a bunch of smaller ISPs (all DSL lines provided by baby bells). And over the next 10 years they are purchased and merged by some new company that dosen't exist at the moment.

[James_F]

In 10 years broadband will be just part of the phone bill or cable bill. You won't even think about it.