Switching to DSL?

[terrie]

Not sure this is the best section but I figure the dsl modem is hardware...'-}}

I'm giving very serious consideration to switching from Comcast's broadband service to Verizon DSL primarily because of cost.

Years ago when I realized that high speed access was available at a (fairly) reasonable price, Comcast was the no-brainer choice as I could get an appointment for installation within days (vs. weeks for DSL), no contract was required, the price was decent and at the time, I could just barely get the slowest DSL option.

Comcast has continued to raise their prices without adding anything of value and a couple of months ago, I decided to see what DSL options I might have.

Verizon's least expensive option at $12.99/month for 6 months ($17.99/month after) is their slowest speed (768 Kbps/128 Kbps) and it requires a 1 year contract and they are throwing a few goodies in ($20 gift card to Target and a $35 credit for switchinng from Comcast).

The next option is $30/month ($20 gift card and $75 credit for switching from Comcast) at a speed of 3.0 Mbps/768 Kbps--again a 1 year contract is required for that price. If I were to go month to month with the 3Mbps, the price is $37.99 which is still less than the $50-ish I'm paying Comcast.

One concern that I had is that my primary phone line (I have 2 lines) needs to remain analog because of my special phone and I wasn't sure if my primary line could remain analog if I got DSL on the 2nd line. The answer I got was that DSL is "done" to the phone line specified and that my other line (primary) will not be affected. I run my modem to that 2nd line and I was told that I should be able to continue doing that--I think I need a filter to be able to use the modem on that line and my understanding is that Verizon supplies those as part of the DSL installation package.

I'm considering starting with Verizon's low speed option (768 Kbps/128 Kbps) to see if it will be fast enough. If not, then I'd upgrade to the 3.0 Mbps/768 Kbps option--I've been told there is no charge for upgrading but that my 1 year contract would restart at the time I upgraded.

Sooo...

Has anyone worked at both the 768 Kbps/128 Kbps and at 3.0 Mbps/768 Kbps? Is the 768Kbps so slow as to make you crazy or is ok? I'm looking to read mail, participate in forums, upload image files to my website, do some video watching but no online game playing or anything like that.

Has anyone moved from cable modem to DSL and are you happy with DSL?

Other things I should be aware of in moving to DSL?

Thanks...

Terrie