Upgrading my internet connection. Recommendations?

[Orrex]

I've been on dial-up since, well, 1983, and my current modem is only marginally faster than the 300 baud device I plugged into my Commodore 64 back in the day.

What's your best suggestion for the move to high-speed? Honestly, anything faster than carrier pigeon would be an improvement, but I'm reluctant to commit to any of those "$19.99 per month for six month" deals...

[LeftyMom]

1. I'd suggest asking somebody local.

Who's got the best deal, service that is worthy of the term, etc can really vary from one market to another (for example, here Comcast blows sweaty monkey testes, but DUers in other areas swear they actually provide them with decent service, so apparently it's very location dependent whether you'd love or hate them.) Local variables (like if the cable company has too many households on one connection, or if the phone wires are dodgy) can also make a big difference in what you get. So ask your neighbors.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Orrex!

We recently upgraded to Verizon's fiberoptic connection, fios...

We love it...

Eventually, we'll have all the cable stuff and the phone stuff and the computer stuff on it...

Right now the computers and the phones are on it, and it's great...

The computers are much faster than even DSL...