EarthLink unleashes nationwide home networking

(Telephony) EarthLink yesterday unveiled EarthLink Home Networking, a nationwide offering of wired and wireless residential gateways powered by a recent agreement with 2Wire.

EarthLink Home Networking users will gain high-speed Internet access and the ability to network PCs, peripherals and Internet appliances via an Ethernet, home phone line, or wireless network with no additional wiring. The company will provide full home-network support, including the ability to add future services.

“This product is beyond just a typical router where you are sharing an Internet connection, it also includes file and print sharing amongst your computers,” said John Ellis, director of broadband products at EarthLink.

EarthLink also plans to support potentially any type of device on the home network, Ellis said.

Value-added services are in the pot of future offerings EarthLink plans to dish out with its Home Networking product.

“Think of this as three steps in the evolution of services. Initially, we will be focusing on utility-type applications like content screening, anti-virus for the home, additional protection--those types of things that are more utility applications that people typically would buy but probably aren’t the best at managing. That’s one area where we can provide value in the services offering,” Ellis said.

The second phase will involve EarthLink branching off into traditional telephony type products such as voice over IP and voice over ATM, allowing customers to get existing phone quality level of services via the Internet connection to any phone inside the house. Finally, the third phase involves advanced applications such as entertainment on demand and services that involve multimedia rich content, said Ellis.

EarthLink hopes for about a 15% penetration among its broadband base this year, according to Ellis.

“With any product ramp up, you want to go for the low-hanging fruit right now,” Ellis said. “We have a number of existing DSL customers who requested home networking capabilities when they called in so we’re going to be going after them with a lot of our initial marketing efforts, informing them that we now have this product offering and helping to get their multiple computers hooked up

Ellis seed the opportunity for turning up more broadband customers as DSL providers sell out or go bankrupt.

“We view those types of acquisitions from fledgling competitors as a real opportunity to acquire additional broadband customers,” he said. “And certainly as they come over with broadband, we want to be able to sell home networking as well.”

The new service provides EarthLink broadband subscribers with co-branded versions of 2Wire’s HomePortal 100 and HomePortal 1000 residential gateways.

2Wire’s HomePortal 100 series, which plugs into a customer’s telephone jack, enables multiple users to share a high-speed Internet connection simultaneously. Additionally, it provides firewall security on two levels, preventing hackers from compromising local computers and data and dynamically verifies data streams for integrity and defends against Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

Priced at $9.95 per month with a one-time charge of $149.95 for the wired version and $299.95 for the wireless version, the service is available for new and existing EarthLink Broadband subscribers.