In a move designed to attract small-office/home office (SOHO) users to its
high-speed Internet offering, EarthLink Inc., Tuesday unveiled a $15/month static IP address plan.
Currently available in only 17 markets of the 38 states in its broadband
network, the service is an add-on to the Internet service provider’s (ISP)
standard home digital subscriber line (DSL) account, which normally runs at
$49.95 a month.
The new plan is a boon for many telecommuters stuck paying for a business
account, many times a high-price package that gives the remote worker
several unnecessary static IP addresses and several email addresses. Under
the new plan, a person can connect to a company’s virtual private
network (VPN) using the one IP address provided, at a fixed monthly charge.
John Ellis, EarthLink’s director of broadband products, said the offering
is a perfect fit for many long-distance workers.
“Our new static IP DSL service fits perfectly between our popular consumer
asymmetric DSL (ADSL) offering and our high-end EarthLink Biz symmetrical
DSL (SDSL) service,” Ellis said. “Now those who want to step up to a
static IP address can do so for minimal cost.”