Unlimited BellSouth dial-up is $21/month. The speed varies because they are doing fiber upgrades nearby and are rerouting traffic and reseting connections a lot. Around 40kbs is doable.
Real DSL is $45/ month from BellSouth. They offer a few dsl-lite versions, but they aren't much cheaper. I don't watch tv or care to, so a cable or satellite bundle for $70 isn't any cheaper. TV was a vast wasteland when I was young and it hasn't gotten better. :p
I had a conversation with a BellSouth rep as to why I wouldn't get dsl from them, and I told him that their advertising was the reason.
BellSouth and everyone else offering high speed internet here won't disclose the true price in their ads. Either they mention no price at all, or they only list a fake low come-on price (good for 90 days or only valid with an expensive bundle of other services).
BellSouth had what looked like a decent deal a couple of months ago until I got to the second page of fine print on the internet. The fine print said the offer was valid for someone who had dsl wiring installed already and owned a BellSouth compatible modem.
If not, then it 'might' cost $200 dollars to set up (wiring upgrade and a modem). I live in a 40-year-old apartment and don't have a dsl modem that meets their specs. Plus I use a Mac.
Linux would be a lot more doable with dsl. Dialup on a mac with Linux is almost impossible. I actually use VPC and pc versions of Linux and dial out from OS X and give VPC network privileges. Dynebolic is usable that way.
