One of Earthlink's Radius servers is down which made it impossible for me to log in using my normal access numbers.

After 15+ minutes on hold I got to speak to a very competent person who explained the situation and gave me a working access number.

Now when you call their tech support line they ask you to press 1 for Windows, 2 for Mac.

Press 2 for Mac, even if you're a Windows user. Maybe that's the key to getting someone competent. ;-)