Have I been misinformed?

Question

I'm going to try to keep this as short as possible. I have been a verizon customer for years. They were the first company I called for internet service and I went with them. I had the lowest package(up to 1mb) since about 2006. No complaints. I never checked my speed nor had I wanted to. That being said, my original modem stopped working about 3 months ago. I called customer service, explained the problem and asked about the cost of a new modem. That resulted in me picking the Westell 7500 modem/router because it would be nice to have one less additional wire and power cord. All good. Rep on phone then did her job and asked if I knew about the internet enhanced. I did not. It was explained to me based on my location I could get at least 3mbs instead of 1 for a few more dollars. She also explained the other tiers(up to 15). It also came up that I have Direct TV. The outcome of it all was that I bundled the Direct TV with verizon for a discount that basically absorbed the increase in pricing for the upgrade. Still all good. Actually great. I get the modem/router and hook it up per instructions. Noticed faster speed than what I had. Still good. Now this is where it all starts to go bad. I'm not 100% sure when It was noticed, but my son and I both felt our online gaming connections were lacking lately. His ps3 was wireless and mine was plugged directly into westell 7500. I ran a connection test on my wired ps3 and the result was that my speed was about 1.2 mbs. I then called verizon to speak to someone about this, as I knew going by the ps3 results was not the best way to go. I want to say I also understood that the high speed enhanced plan says "speeds up to". At first the rep I spoke to said my speed was much faster than than, then she asked me to go to speedtest.net and do a speed test. She did the same. Results multiple times were 1.2. She stated there was an issue and would get with tech or support or whatever and call me back 24 to 48 hours. I waited, every once in a while speedtesting. More than once I was even under 700 kbs. Waited three days, called back, spoke to someone else and was told ticket still open but someone will contact me. Good, good, problem getting resolved. I'm a pretty laid back guy, in case you can't tell. I get a call on the third day or so after(voicemail actually because I didn't hear phone), with a message that said for my area I would not be able to get 3mbs and that he "reprovisioned" my line for 1.5 and things seemed to be working. He also said it showed there might be  a possible short on my line and he would like to send someone out to check it. He asked me to call verizon billing and get them to reprovsion my line for 1.5 as what he did was temporary. He actually called me back while I was listening to his vm. Set it up for tech to come out the next morning. All good. Went home, did speed test, and yes, I had 1.55. Cool. Called verizon billing as asked. Here is where the sharp drop begins. The woman on the phone had no idea what reprovisioning was(neither did I, but I have now learned quite a bit since going thru this). I was then on hold for some time and when she came back on she said she could do it, but then had problem with her computer. She asked me to call back. I will not go into any more detail other than the conversation ended with "let's see what the tech comes up with tomorrow". Ok, made sense to me. The tech came out, right on time, very polite. I started to ask if he knew the situation and he said in so many words "don't go by what the people on the phone tell you, I'll be able to let you know what the problem here is." Cool. I left him alone. He was here maybe 45 minutes. There was a short and he fixed it and I now had 3mbs. Excellent. I then asked him if I could get faster since it was a short causing the problem. He went on my computer(i assume he may have been looking up transceiver stats, also something I knew nothing about). He said I could get the up to 7 and that should not be a problem. Spectacular! What do I have to do? Call verizon and have them reprovision you for the up to 7 plan. At that point I wasn't sure if the faster would cost, so I called, when the rep came on the line she asked nothing, just blurted out they cannot look up accounts right now and to please call back. I cut her off and told her I had a general question about the enhanced pricing and if it would be the same money for 1.5 as it would be for up to 15. Acccording to the verizon site that should have been the case. She put me on hold and after about 15 mins I hung up. I called again a few minutes later, got a different woman(If I would have known how this was going to go I would have gotten names, but hey). I asked if she could see by my account info what the situation had been. She said yes. She also verified that all the enhanced pricing was the same, whatever speed you ended up with. I told her what the tech told me and asked her to provision my line for the up to 7. She starts off with "you're not understanding me", very loudly, "it doesn't matter where you are the prices are the same no matter what your speed. You distance determines your speed". I very sternly told her I did indeed understand that and explained again that the tech that was out said I could have up to 7, and that is what I would like, please. She calmed, then went thru motions of doing it and then told me I had to call another number because her computer wouldn't let her go past 3. I called it. The woman I spoke to I could barely understand. She emailed me two things about getting help on verizon website. I had tried that. My info would not load. So I called back again and explained the situation yet again. He put my on hold more than once. He then came back with a colleague who spoke perfectly, said he was from billing and said that what the tech told me was true 4 MONTHS AGO. He said verizon now only offers the lowest plan and enhanced is up to 3mbs. I verified that with him. Not, not available in my area, the up to 7 and up to 15 plans were no longer available AT ALL!  It's all over their site when you shop  about their tiered levels of speed. Whenever you type in dsl or high speed internet verizon comes up with thier multi tier "up to" plans. He said there was nothing he could do. Now I know there are all these variables like I said before that determine what speed I could get, and maybe there would have been an issue that would have prevented me from getting the 7 plan. BUT I WAS TOLD IT NO LONGER WAS EXISTED. I went on verizon.net just to make sure I wasn't crazy. Nope, there it was, one price, multiple tiers. I also saw that if you signed up for enhanced you were to get a free router, which I actually did get a credit for. But I'm reading complaints online from people that their speeds are slow and they are saying they are only get 10 or 11mbs. What???? The posts were all with the last month or so. Some just a day or so old. So getting back to the subject of my message......what's the deal? Are there or are there not speeds tiers above 3mbs availble thru enhanced. I know my transceiver stats blah blah blah would determine a better answer for me personally. I don't feel they apply anyway because I was told nothing exists over 3 mbs anymore anyway. Bait and switch comes to mind here. And again, I'm going by what actual verizon reps relayed to me. For the first time since I've signed on with verizon I am now looking at other providers. I apologize if there are spelling errors this went on a while and I'm not going back to check.
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Answer 1

After much research went with Comcast. Package includes 12mbs, phone service, all premium channels, 2 HD dvrs, 1 HD receiver. After promos end I will be paying more, but I'm getting more. Customer service before purchase and installation phenomenal. I actually set up order over phone instead of online because of the customer service. No complaints about Direct TV, but canceeling them also because from having to shop for new Isp resulted in this. My speedtest now says I am 85% faster than most of the U.S. I am very happy. I would consider my verizon problem solved. Oh, free router also.