EarthLink Inc. once again dialed up Level 3 Communications Inc. as the backbone-network provider for its fledgling voice-over-Internet-protocol service for digital-subscriber-line customers.
Under a multiyear agreement, Level 3’s “VoIP Enhanced Local” will provide the local, long-distance and international voice connection underpinnings for “EarthLink DSL” and “Home Phone Services,” including voice origination and termination, directory listings and caller-identification features.
It also provides EarthLink with the crucial interconnection between its VoIP customers and the public switched telephone network, as well as enhanced-911 emergency-dialing service.
Announced in February, the combination EarthLink DSL and Home Phone Services offering folds together full-featured VoIP service with an 8-megabit-per-second DSL data service. It launched initially in Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle.
"Our goal is to provide our customers with innovative voice and Internet services that also deliver on their needs for quality, price and reliability," said Steve Howe, vice president of voice services for EarthLink. "Level 3 helps us to meet that goal by offering broad coverage and a quick time to market."
The agreement follows on the heels of a September deal in which EarthLink selected Level 3 to support its stand-alone “trueVoice” VoIP-service offering. Under that agreement, Level 3 provides support services including local telephone numbers that EarthLink can assign to voice customers.
