Shopping for Internet : Leaving Comcast for...?

I need help. Karen and I are fed up with Comcast. First, we ditched their cable TV signal for Dish Network, but we haven't found a new internet provider. I'm going to run down some of the options we're looking at, but please let me know if there are alternatives that I'm leaving out. Hopefully, this post will help others find the most affordable in-home internet access, but let's start with ME FIRST.

Since we moved to Byrd Park, we've been paying $55 a month for internet and basic cable (combined). Now that the mini-dish is hooked up (200 channels!), Karen went to Comcast to have them take the basic TV cable off of our deal and lower our monthly payment for internet access. And what do ya know? The price actually goes UP if you discontinue the TV aspect of the Comcast bundle. It goes up from $55 to $60.

Plus, we don't have a need for a land line since we're content with our respective cell phones: an important point, since this keeps us from benefiting from the economical benefit of bundling services.

Okay, here are the options that I'm aware of:

Verizon: High speed internet is $24.99 per month. The new FIOS (fiber optic 5 Mbps) service is $47.99/mo. Anyone have any experience with either of these? How fast is the non-FIOS cable? The answer: 786 kbps. How does that compare to Broadband?


Clearwire: $19.99 (256 kbps) ($14.99 w/2yr commitment) These guys seem pretty shady with their incessant mailings. The site only quote promotional prices and doesn't include monthly prices after the initial promotional period.

Richmond FREE WiFi: Don't really now how this works, but I'm waiting to hear back from them. Obviously, the best possible option would be FREE internet for my whole neighborhood.

Comcast: $42.99/mo (6 Mbps). What gives? Why am I paying more for this? Is it really faster than FIOS?

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Okay, that's enough research for now. Where do I go from here? Your comments and suggestions are appreciated.