When choosing a business internet provider, many organizations naturally consider going directly to a major carrier. After all, if companies like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Frontier, or Spectrum own the network infrastructure, wouldn’t it make sense to buy service directly from them?
For some businesses, it does.
But for many organizations, connectivity is about much more than bandwidth and monthly pricing. It’s about having the right technology partner—one that understands your business goals, helps you navigate an increasingly complex digital landscape, and provides the expertise needed to keep your operations running smoothly.
That’s where EarthLink Business delivers a different experience.
EarthLink Business is a carrier-agnostic connectivity provider that sources business internet, SD-WAN, and voice solutions from multiple national and regional networks, and backs every connection with a U.S.-based Network Operations Center staffed 24/7/365. Instead of selling you a single network, we help you choose the right one for each location.
Your Business Is Unique. Your Connectivity Strategy Should Be Too.
A single carrier can only sell you what runs on its own network. A carrier-agnostic provider compares options across multiple networks and recommends the best fit for your goals, budget, locations, and growth plans, which matters because no two businesses operate the same way.
A growing healthcare practice has different connectivity needs than a manufacturing facility. A multi-location retailer faces different challenges than a professional services firm supporting remote employees.
Instead of being limited to a single provider’s footprint, our customers gain access to expertise that helps them make informed technology decisions with confidence.
Because choosing business internet shouldn’t be about buying a product. It should be about enabling your business to succeed.
Working with multiple networks does more than widen your options at install. It’s what makes genuine redundancy possible.
Here’s an important distinction. If your building has a single circuit and that carrier goes down, no provider can move your traffic to a different network mid-outage. That circuit is the physical path to your location. Staying online through an outage requires a second, separate connection already in place before the outage happens.
That’s where being carrier-agnostic changes things. Because we source across multiple national and regional networks, we can design a primary-and-backup pairing that doesn’t share the same fate: different carriers, different last-mile infrastructure, and ideally a different transport medium entirely. A fiber primary paired with dedicated fixed wireless backup, for example, means a cut fiber line in the street doesn’t take your location offline, because the backup path never touched that conduit.
What diverse redundancy delivers:
For organizations that can’t afford to go dark, this isn’t an upgrade. It’s the requirement. A healthcare practice that loses connectivity loses access to electronic health records, scheduling, and patient communication at the same moment. Contact centers, financial services firms, and multi-site retailers face the same math: the cost of a second circuit is small relative to what an hour offline actually costs.
If your business can’t tolerate downtime, ask us about a redundancy design for your locations. We’ll map out which networks are available at each site and what a true backup path looks like.
EarthLink Business customers are supported by a U.S.-based Network Operations Center (NOC), staffed by experienced network professionals and engineers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Technology is easy when everything is working. The real value of a provider becomes clear when challenges arise.
And the stakes are high: in ITIC’s 2024 Hourly Cost of Downtime Survey, more than 90% of mid-size and large enterprises reported that a single hour of downtime costs over $300,000, and 41% put the figure between $1 million and $5 million.
Whether it’s an unexpected outage, a performance issue, or a question about network design, businesses need access to knowledgeable professionals who can provide answers and accelerate resolution.
When issues occur, customers aren’t simply routed through a series of scripted conversations. They gain access to teams that understand business connectivity environments and work directly with carrier partners to resolve problems as efficiently as possible.
Our goal is simple: keep your business connected so your team can remain productive, responsive, and focused on serving customers.
Tired of scripted support and carrier runarounds? Talk to a U.S.-based business connectivity expert about your locations, budget, and growth plans, no single-carrier agenda. Get a Custom Quote.
Business technology decisions have become increasingly complex. Organizations today must weigh network performance, redundancy, security, hybrid work requirements, and the growing bandwidth demands of cloud and AI-powered applications. These decisions extend far beyond selecting an internet speed package.
That’s why EarthLink Business approaches every customer relationship as a partnership.
Our teams take the time to understand business objectives, operational challenges, and long-term goals. We provide guidance on connectivity options, backup solutions, SD-WAN, voice services, and network strategies designed to support growth.
Because when your technology works better, your business works better.
With EarthLink Business, multi-location organizations get one partner, one consistent support experience, and one point of accountability with centralized account management across every carrier and every site.
Managing business connectivity across multiple locations and providers can quickly become complicated.
Different carriers, support channels, billing systems, and escalation processes can create unnecessary operational challenges for IT teams and business leaders alike.
The result is less time spent managing vendors and more time focused on strategic priorities.
Always Connected. Always Growing.
Reliable connectivity is no longer a luxury. It’s the foundation of modern business operations.
That’s why we combine trusted network solutions, experienced support professionals, and a customer-first approach designed around the needs of businesses, not the limitations of a single carrier.
Choosing a business internet provider isn’t simply about finding the lowest monthly rate.
It’s about choosing a partner that understands your business, provides access to expert guidance, and helps ensure your organization remains connected, productive, and prepared for what’s next.
Ready to see what your options really are? EarthLink Business compares solutions across multiple national networks to find the right fit for every location. Contact EarthLink Business today.
For most small businesses, fiber, or Ethernet over Fixed Wireless are the strongest choices. Fiber delivers the highest speeds and symmetrical upload and download speed performance, while fixed wireless offers enterprise-grade dedicated bandwidth with faster deployment timelines and built-in network redundancy, which is a key advantage for businesses that can’t afford downtime. The right choice depends on your location, how many employees share the connection, and whether your operations rely on real-time applications like VoIP or cloud-based software. See our full guide on 10 things to consider when choosing a business internet provider to help narrow your options.
It depends on the number of users and the types of applications running simultaneously. The FCC updated its broadband benchmark in 2024 to 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload as a baseline for modern business use. In practice, a business with 20–30 employees regularly using video conferencing, cloud applications, and VoIP should plan for at least 500 Mbps of dedicated bandwidth. Larger organizations with heavy cloud workloads or multiple concurrent video calls should consider gigabit-speed service. EarthLink Business broadband plans scale from 50 Mbps up to 10 Gbps to match a wide range of operational demands.
Both are enterprise-grade options, but they serve different needs. Dedicated fiber is the better long-term choice where infrastructure is available. It offers the highest bandwidth ceilings, the lowest latency, and symmetrical speeds ideal for data-heavy operations. Fixed wireless delivers comparable reliability and symmetrical performance up to 10 Gbps, typically deploys in as little as 7–14 days, and provides valuable path diversity for businesses that need a redundant connection or a primary connection in areas where fiber hasn’t yet been built out. Many EarthLink Business customers use fixed wireless as a secondary failover connection alongside a primary fiber circuit.
It depends on the type of satellite service. Traditional GEO satellite internet operates with latency of 600–700 ms, which causes noticeable audio delay and packet loss on real-time applications. This makes it a less-than-ideal solution for VoIP or video conferencing. LEO satellite providers like Starlink operate at much lower altitudes with latency of 20–50 ms and business-tier speeds of 135–310 Mbps, which can support VoIP and video calls in remote locations where no other broadband option exists. For businesses evaluating backup connectivity or connectivity in underserved areas, EarthLink Business’s emergency and backup internet solutions include both fixed wireless and satellite options. For locations where terrestrial options are available, our hosted VoIP phone system is best paired with a fiber or fixed wireless connection.
Dedicated internet means your bandwidth is reserved exclusively for your business. You get the full provisioned speed regardless of what neighboring businesses or users are doing on the network. Shared internet, common with cable and DSL services, pools bandwidth among multiple subscribers, which means speeds can degrade significantly during peak hours. For businesses that depend on consistent upload performance, low latency, or uptime guarantees backed by an SLA, EarthLink Business dedicated fiber provides an uncontested connection built exclusively for your use with a detailed comparison of dedicated vs. shared performance available on that page.
A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contractual commitment from your internet provider that defines guaranteed uptime, response times for outages, and remedies if those standards aren’t met. For business operations, an SLA is the difference between a best-effort connection and one with real accountability. EarthLink Business Fixed Wireless backs its service with a guaranteed 99.999% uptime SLA, along with defined repair response times, a dedicated account manager, and 24/7 live support. Consumer-grade and shared internet services typically carry no SLA at
For very basic business use, such as email, light web browsing, and a small number of users, DSL can still function as a low-cost entry point where no better option is available. But its distance-dependent speed degradation, asymmetrical upload and download performance, and hard bandwidth ceilings make it poorly suited for businesses running cloud-based software, VoIP phone systems, video conferencing, or remote access tools. As copper infrastructure continues to be retired, DSL availability is shrinking, and most businesses that currently rely on it should begin evaluating upgrade paths. EarthLink Business internet options include broadband fiber and fixed wireless alternatives designed to replace aging DSL connections without long installation timelines.
Start by narrowing your options by availability; not every connection type is offered at every address. From there, evaluate your needs across four dimensions:
EarthLink Business offers free consultations to help match your specific location and operational requirements to the right technology and service tier. Call 833-988-2627 to get started.
