Phil,

My experience mirrors yours in many respects.  Kept bugging cable and they 
finally got fiberoptic run in here in 2000.  Switched from Dialup and would 
never go back.

Was on home.com; then Attbi, then Comcast.  But, the phone company offered DSL 
for $22 per month cheaper than cable.  I ordered it, cancelled my cable internet 
much to Comcast's protestation that if I'd only told them, they might have made 
me a better offer.

Download speeds are a bit slower, particularly at first, (read on), but it 
doesn't appear to affect performance.  Maybe it would if I were streaming much 
video, but for the normal file download, even a large file, I can still do other 
things in the background.

Last year, a guy on 75 meters, K8SRH, told me that the phone company was 
offering DSL for $12.95/month instead of the $27 I was paying.  I called SBC and 
sure enough, they said they'd switch me to the lower price as a loyal existing 
customer.

She asked me if I'd like to go to a higher speed for $19.95 instead?  Figuring 
I'd still be saving money, I said sure.  She got a tech on the line and he 
checked my line and said I was too far away for the higher speed, you need to be 
less than two miles, and so I couldn't switch.  But, in looking at my line, he 
remotely adjusted the modem because of some line noise.  My download speed 
doubled, and my price is less than half.

Happy customer, and they renewed it for another year at that price.

Steve, K8SP