Price plans: What you'll pay each month (unless only yearly rates are offered) for a modem, cable or DSL connection. With free providers, we describe the ad banner that appears on your screen while you're connected. With cable and DSL accounts, we list download and upload speeds in either kilobits per second (kbps) or megabits per second (mbps), followed by the fee. So "2.88 mbps/128 kbps, $50" means you'd pay $50 a month to download files about 50 times faster than a 56-kbps modem would allow.
Note the different levels of DSL service, which vary depending on what telecommunications firm provides the DSL connection. Anybody selling 640 kbps/90 kbps and 1.6 mbps/90 kbps accounts offers Bell Atlantic's DSL; all other speeds, with three exceptions, indicate DSL from Covad Communications. Those three exceptions--GTE.net, Double D Network Services and Staffnet--use DSL provided by GTE as part of its local phone service in Prince William County and points south. What's the difference? Covad DSL tends to cost more to get installed, but it reaches more homes and is supported by more Internet providers than Bell Atlantic's.
With all DSL connections, we include the cost of the DSL link itself and the Internet provider's services. Actual billing structures differ: Bell Atlantic and GTE put the DSL connection on your phone bill, with an Internet provider's rates paid separately, while with Covad the entire cost shows up on your ISP's bill.
Most providers offer discounts of 10 percent or more if you pay for a year's service in advance, but we don't recommend doing that until you've had a month or two to make sure you're happy with things.
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