DSL continued...

So this morning, I spent some time talking to Verizon tech support.  The customer service rep was nice and cordial.  I explained to her the situation, and I guess she was able to read the copious notes on the matter.  She said the magical phrase that I long suspected was happening.  As I detailed that every night, I've had my download speed drop to an abysmal ~1Mbps, pretty much at the same time, she said it sounds like that they've got me wired to a very congested network back at their station.

I then asked how this could be since I was under the impression DSL wasn't subjected to such shenanigans and the congestion had been more of an issue with cable modem.  But she said that it can still happen back at the hub if they've got a lot of customers online at the same time.

"..."

In any case, this afternoon, I got a call from Verizon again.  Some lady on the phone said that she was switching me to another circuit, noting that I was hooked up to a "very, VERY congested circuit".  I then remarked that she must be the reason why my internet connection just went out less than a minute prior to her call.  She confirmed that it was her.

She then told me to power off the modem and router.

It's too early to tell whether this made any difference, since it's currently 3:40pm (and the swap was done at 3:27pm).  The bright side is that the ping dropped from 26-42ms down to 12ms.  The downside, however, is I've now taken another transfer rate hit.  I'm down to 4.46Mbps.  (I've gone from 5.21 to 4.88 to 4.69 to 4.63, and now 4.46.)

Again, if I can be consistent 4.46Mbps during 7:30p-11:30p, then hell, I'll settle for the loss.  I need to win the lottery.  Then I can just have someone come by and hardwire a T1 line.  But I'd probably move out and buy a different place first and then get the T1 installed.

So here's to keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that this new circuit will be the solution I have been looking for.