I tried earthlink after 2 bogus months with AOL...trying to get Online. Earthlink has a great deal right now...if you sign up for six months you get a free DVD player. Sell it and then get cable...just kidding, but the DVD offer is real, but only good till the end of March. I use cable myself, but it is a little costly. However it is wonderful!!! Fast, fast fast!!! However security seems to more of an issue now than before. As far as earthlink...I thought it to be much better than AOL, plus hey you get a free DVD player. Nothing like good ol' marketing! Make sure your firewall is on paranoid...it cna sometimes be a hassle to get around, but I myself value my system more than my browsing. I even authorize every applet and activeX manually, takes a seconds but lets me sleep at night.