(FORTUNE Small Business) – Broadband Lite

WHAT'S THE PITCH? With not enough users buying at the usual prices, providers are offering cheaper plans at slower speeds. A year ago Covad's lowest plan was $89.95 per month for business-class DSL, but now it offers 384Kbps DSL for $39.95 a month ($21.95 for the first four months).

THE PLAYERS Major cable companies such as Cox and the large Baby Bells, such as SBC (traditional DSL providers). Also Covad, under its own name and through resellers like Speakeasy.net.

DOES IT WORK? Why wouldn't it?

Souped-Up Dial-Up

WHAT'S THE PITCH? Install some software on your computer and get speeds up to 300% faster than the standard 56kbps dial-up connection.

THE PLAYERS Startups Xcelaweb ($12.50 a month) and Propel ($4.95 a month), both with the same approach.

DOES IT WORK? Propel does. I saw pages load in 6% to 60% less time than with a regular connection. Xcelaweb generally did nothing for me; I saw a 30% improvement in one instance but a 55% slowdown in another! Other pages loaded about the same as a normal connection. Both offer free trials, so run your own tests. --Larry Seltzer