[Cialug] OT: Need plummer - internet pipes congested

[Claus]

Since the latter half of this year my internet bandwidth became really 
flaky.  Mainly in the evenings.  Using any kind of video streaming like 
youtube is out of the question as I have to let it buffer up for ever 
before it gets viewable.  Even browsing sometimes becomes a pain. 
Download bandwidth test do sometimes show extremely low rates while 
upload is just fine and dandy.  Of course in the mornings, when I should 
be going to work everything works as expected.

My own test concluded it had nothing to do with my local network.  I 
pugged the Cisco 678 (bridging mode) directly into the phone line 
outside of the house and connected a laptop with my public static IP. 
Conclusion: Just as bad.

I called Qwest customer service and the tech support wasn't very 
knowledgeable, backpedaling from any statement she made that could cause 
an issue to blaming my good old trustworthy Cisco 678.  She was nice 
enough to schedule an appointment with a service technician that came 
out on a Sunday morning.  Certainly not a time I have bandwidth issues. 
  However the technician did confirm there was congestion in my 
neighborhood/CO.  He was stating that they won't do any upgrades and 
instead wait until Ames gets fiber (i.e. higher than 1.5Mbps service). 
He was confident that this will happen by Summer 2010.  Pipe dream?

In any case it does not resolve my frustration I have about my network 
connectivity and I don't see any viable options.  The only other option 
is Mediacom and I'm not sure we're a good fit either.

I'm running my own personal servers (Email, web, DNS for personal use), 
I'm on Qwest's AMESIAWS CO and use Freese Notise as my ISP.

Is there anything that could be done to resolve the issue with Qwest?

Has Mediacom become more friendly in regards of server usage and can I 
get static IPs?  Does Mediacom encounter the same trouble with network 
congestions?

Thanks,
   Claus