Presence

At home we use Earthlink DSL.

I have been using speakeasy DSL for almost 2 years and have been extremely happy with them - I am on their super speed program (basically a T1) and it's $59, but I know they have other speeds available as well (they even have 3 MB!)

I had used speakeasy for a year before switching because of price. Never had problems with them, and had some downtime as a result of switching. I'm now with Cavalier - Local Phone service+DSL for $50/month. Last night I was downloading Americas Army from a BitTorrent, and got 326KB/sec down. I'm still impressed.

Greg: when our special ran out I called comcast and basically they said that we had to wait, I think 3 months and then we can sign up at another special rate...I think $39.95 per month. call them and see what they offer you...threaten to leave.

I use Verizon DSL. I can honestly say that it is not as good as cable but I have never had a problem with it. It's the same effect but cheaper. If you sign up for the DSL, they give you the first month free and the next month or two at a discounted rate.

I also have had speakeasy, but I've had it for about 4 years in 2 different houses (Bawlmer & Betheda) and can say that I've only had 2 problems with it (for about 1 hour each). The two times it has gone down I've called and they've fixed it right away (while I was on the phone). They even downgraded my service for me when my line was unstable (and ma bell was unwilling/unable/incapable/incompetent of pinning down the problem). The folks that answer the phones are the folks that program the routers, so they totally know their shit.

They are on the pricey side, but:

- they have a very friendly "don't be a dick" usage policy. They don't filter incoming ports (like comcast) and they don't have a "no servers" policy (like comcast), but just say "don't eat all the bandwidth and make other people around you complain and its cool."

- they have a program for you to resell your DSL bandwidth via 802.11 to the folks around you. You set the price and the terms and anyhting you collect goes against your bill.

When I heard about a wireless broadband provider avaiaable in baltimore, I almost switched. I called speakeasy and told them that I wanted to cancel (my contract was up) because I found a provider that was $20/mo cheaper. They offered to match the price if I signed another 1yr contract, I agreed and they agreed. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Sorry to post twice. Something you must do is check out dslreports.com. You can punch in your address/phone number and they will pull up all the broadband providers in the area, their ratings and packages.