Dissed by Verizon

I have not been able to post to Blogger at all today because of some ongoing "technical difficulties" and I am starting to get a little fed up!
I am a "dinosaur" in that I still have dial-up internet access and unfortunately that is all that is available to me where I live.Normally I can get at least 40 kbps on that connection,but a couple of weeks ago I started losing bandwidth gradually until I ended up with what I am trying to work with now-a whopping 9.6 kbps-which is next to impossible to do ANYTHING with online.It literally takes over a half an hour to check my email and thats if there is not many messages-pretty bad,huh?I was going to chalk it up to the weather but if that was the case my connection would have improved in a day or so as it usually did before.So,I checked with my internet service provider-they found no problems and directed me to call my telephone provider,hinting that the source of my troubles lie there.
Well,I have called Verizon Repair Service TWICE in the past 10 days and both times was told a techinician would come out.Nobody showed up on either occasion and when I called to check I was told my "trouble report had been cleared".Bullsh*t!!!!The repair rep wanted to argue with me and their stance is that they only guarantee dial tone,nothing else.So basically my bandwidth issues are my problem as far as they are concerned,but I am not buying it.I live about 10 miles away from my local switching office and everyday I ride past those little phone boxes that pop up out of the ground every 30-50 feet and the majority of those boxes along these back roads are battered and not properly sealed closed.Hmmm.....Verizon...wonder if THAT could be the problem?I also think my own outside wiring needs replaced.MY next step is to lodge a complaint with the President of Verizon in Maryland,AND the public service commission,which may sound extreme but after being blown off twice I have a right to be pissed.There is a chance that my internet problems have nothing to do with the phone lines but as a customer who pays extra for Verizons "Guardian" repair plan,I damn well want someone here when they say they will be here,and they have failed,twice!
Sorry to rant,but I am fed up with having only ONE local telephone company to choose from.They do not value their customers because they know they are the only choice.People in my area have been asking for DSL for over 2 years now and we still cant get any headway on that(they cant even maintain the copper lines they already have out here)but a development down the road from us that is barely finished already has DSL.WTF?If they do not care enought to give us DSL then they could at the very least show up for service appointments but apparently even that is too much.Time Warner,Charter,and all the rest of the media companies would have no difficulty getting subscribers if they were to offer services in this market,because people are just fed up with Verizon-myself included!
So unless a miracle happens and I am able to fix my bandwidth issues,I will not be able to blog as much but I will still be here!And if any of you out there reading have any idea what else could be causing my bad connection please clue me in!