DSL is physically more complicated than many people understand. Specifically, these people were the Earthlink folks who were supposed to service the DSL service that was available in my neighborhood. My local phone service was Verizon, who maintain the wires, but for some reason did not initially offer the service.

Wlithout going into a long, but rather amusing account of the half year that I had to pay for, but did not receive, Earthlink DSL, I will merely suggest that it is best to get service from whoever actually maintains the physical infrastructure(meaning your local phone company) because they, and they alone, service the complex system that provides the connection in the first place.