>>Partly inspired by the discussion here the other day, I switched from Comcast cable TV to the Dish Network. It was installed today. I called Comcast to cancel their TV service, saying I want to keep the internet part. The rep told me I am losing the package discount and internet access will now be $59/month instead of $41/month. I am now looking for a new ISP. The features I am looking for, unsurprisingly, are speed, price, and reliability. Any recommendations?
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>>I have already phased email over to another provider (due to numerous undelivered messages, both outbound and inbound) so that isn't an issue.
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>I think I've pretty much tried everything but dish. Twice cable modem, twice DSL.
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>First, it was cable with Adelphia - not bad for the money, except the speed was gradually falling because they kept adding subscribers while not adding end point computers. Also, it would disconnect maybe 40 times a night over a weekend. They kept saying it was something with my in-house cables etc, but it somehow all worked Monday morning. Ditched them after a year plus some, in favor of
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>Earthlink DSL over Sprint's phone lines: nice, fast, no problems. Actually the only problem was that they didn't have DSL in my area when we moved, so I had to do cable. The other problem was that, when time came to move to the coast, it took several hours with the phone on my ear to find out that no, I cannot move the subscription with me, because they cannot provide service over Verizon's lines. So I had to go with...
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>Verizon DSL. The only good thing about them was the connection (speed OK, no breaks). Everything else, from them taking about 20 days between the order and the connection actually happening, the convoluted website (you could order almost anything, but if you try to cancel you've entered a maze), and endless hours I had to spend on the phone with their, ahem, representatives. In the end they said I could keep the modem, then sent me a letter saying to return it or else $200. At least they sent packaging and prepaid mailing label. Then when they couldn't reconnect me to the new digs... switched to
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>Cox cable. Cable and phone worked within three days, web in a week. Speed is constant, they keep adding capacity as needed. I'd have about one break a year, and their call center is very helpful - first the voice recognition software almost passes the Touring test, then when a human jumps in he knows everything, don't need to repeat any (with Verizon, you get to practise your story a lot), plus the guy sees the status of my modem in real time. The one time it couldn't be solved by a modem reset on either side, they sent a guy and he came on time, and replaced the part of cable going under the lawn. That was a year and a half ago - no other problems since. They are the honorable exception to most of my rants about the way businesses operate here - they even have live people in a couple of outlets around here where you can go and actually talk.

If its avail in your area - here is FAST.
http://www22.verizon.com/Content/ConsumerFiOS