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It's High-Speed Access Ahead, Says EarthLink By Susan Rush EarthLink Inc. has set a year-end goal of adding at least 250,000 new high-speed Internet access customers, so to help its cause the ISP has inked a deal with Compaq Computer Corp. The agreement calls for the computer company to offer EarthLink High Speed Internet service to new purchasers of Compaq Presario Internet PCs in the United States. When the computer is first powered up, Presario users will be offered the option to sign up for EarthLink's DSL service. For those who opt in -- and pass the online pre-qualification test -- they will receive high-speed Internet access, eight e-mail boxes, eight Personal Start pages, eight 10-MB Web sites, free unlimited use of a dial-up connection and free technical and customer support. "Until the end of the month, we are offering customers three months of service for the price of one," says Kurt Rahn, an EarthLink spokesman. EarthLink charges a $49.95 monthly fee for its DSL service. At the onset, EarthLink will only be offering DSL service to the Presario users, but within a couple of months plans to offer its cable modem service in Time Warner territories, says Rahn. EarthLink's cable modem service costs $41.95 a month. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although sources close to the deal tell Broadband Week that the contract is for two years with an option to renew. The alliance with Compaq is not EarthLink's first partnership designed to get the word out about its broadband offerings. In December, the company inked a deal with retailer Circuit City to feature EarthLink services -- EarthLink DSL, EarthLink 2-way Satellite and EarthLink Cable -- in Circuit City's Broadband Station kiosks in all locations where the services are available. EarthLink forged a similar deal with OfficeMax making it the preferred Internet service provider for products including its broadband offerings. On the narrowband side of the house, EarthLink has forged a deal with IBM to offer its dial-up Internet access service on the desktops of all new Windows XP Home-based computers Big Blue sells in North America.
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