They all use your local phone company facilities. All of them. The phone company is the only company that has the wire and cable in the ground and in the air. All ISPs lease the facilities from the phone company. They all use the phone company's equipment in the central office, specifically the DSLAM. They all use the phone company's facilities connecting to the Internet.
When you use anyone except your local phone company you are paying them to lease the equipment and facilities. They are simply a reseller.
If it was me, I'd use the phone company. They have total control and responsibility for the network. When things break, the resellers refer the problem to guess who?
Is cable available?
Wayne
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I use a mac. On that premise I subscribed to earthlink as my ISP because they are mac friendly. I have been with earthlink since 2000. They have been good to me, very few downtimes. I currently pay $39.95 for dsl (1.5 mb up/384 k down). I am looking for something better that could be out there. I want something reliable and fast, faster than what I have. I wouldn't mind paying $10 above what I currently pay. I checked out AT&T dsl and it looks good.
IP Address: 1 Dynamic
Downstream Speed: 3.0 to 6.0 Mbps
Upstream Speed: 512 to 768 Kbps
All that for $34.99 (they do charge you for the modem $80, minus a rebate for $50, so you end up paying $30 for it). What can you guys recommend that is good?

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