To follow up on kat's suggestion, checking the Yellow Pages under Internet may give you an idea who the providers in your area are. We have two ISPs (on different computers) - GWI (a local Northern New England provider) and Verizon (one of the big guys). We've had reasonable luck reaching a real person by phone at both (though it takes longer on "hold" and more transfers on Verizon) though I think only the local provider has a real person answering e-mailed questions.

Verizon provides a lot more free web space; GWI has better spam filters (Verizon just lost a law suit because it was blocking legitimate email as spam); we can usually get onto Mudcat with Verizon when many other people can't get through; people in Australia can't see all my free web space on Verizon.

I throw these out not because I think either one is the solution for you (unless you're in northern New England, in which case you might want to take a look at GWI) - but to sort of prompt you to think about what's most important in an ISP, so you can quiz other people in your area about the one they're using.

Best of luck!
JudyB