Francis X. Gilpin and Scott Harrell

Suzi Pilat clutched a glossy Verizon Communications Inc. advertisement. The vice president of a small Internet service provider in Clearwater, Pilat eyed Verizon's latest pitch to dial-up customers to upgrade to faster digital subscriber lines. The Verizon ad promised to put new customers on a free DSL modem without activation fees for $29.95 a month. […]