You state that you were/are paying $39.99/month for 7-10 Mbps. Do you have dry-loop DSL service or is it bundled with phone service? Were you definitely provisioned at those speeds previously? What speeds were you syncing at with the CO before your recent changes took place?
Unless Verizon does something different in California, their High Speed Internet Enhanced plan covers all speeds from 1.1 Mbps to 15 Mbps all at the same price. They do, however, break it down further and have 3 speed tiers as follows: 1.1-3, 3.1-7 and 7.1-15. What tier you get placed on depends on many factors including your loop length, your line quality, local CO availability or non-availability of ADSL2+, remote terminal speed restrictions, selling restrictions due to oversold CO, etc., etc.
The Verizon DSL website states the following: "Speeds and service availability vary. High Speed Internet Enhanced service will be provisioned based on customer location and Verizon line qualification requirements. Most will qualify at 1.13 Mbps speed tier. The 3.17 Mbps and 7.115 Mbps service tiers ranges are available in select locations only. Availability subject to final confirmation by Verizon."
Again, unless Verizon does different pricing in California, they are currently advertising their High Speed Internet Enhanced DSL bundled with Verizon Regional Essentials phone service for $44.99/month (plus taxes and fees). You can also get their High Speed Internet Enhanced DSL bundled with Verizon Freedom Essentials phone service for $54.99/month (plus taxes and fees). Go here for full details: »
www22.verizon.com/home/b ··· standardIf you are fed up with Verizon you could try DSL Extreme to see what speeds they could offer you. DSL Extreme is a reseller of Verizon DSL. Their pricing in Verizon areas is $24.95/month for 3.0 Mbps and $44.95/month for 7.1 Mbps. Both of those pricing plans require a 1-year contract. Add $10/month to each plan if you do not want to sign a contract. (They don't list any speeds higher than 7.1 for Verizon customers on their website so I don't know if they offer them.)