It is BS...they make it faster by taking colors out of images. When I was on dial-up, I had NetZero's 5x faster crap and it was no difference at all if I wanted to actually see the images on the web. Don't get earthlink, they use proprietary software. Don't be fooled by all the advertisements, find somebody local, or go with SBC dial, which doesn't use software.
Don't get satellite because its $600 startup fee, $100 per month, and only 384Kbps down/36Kbps up, compared to typical cable at 4Mbps/384Kbps. Satellite also capps you at 168MB per day and if it rains your screwed. If you do want to cancel it, it costs you another $300.