Something disturbing is happening in the online broadband space. Fear, manipulation, and sneaky presentation of facts aboundall of it designed to lure competitors' customers, either by planting doubt in their minds about the honesty of their current providers or by tricking them into thinking that they've found a bargain.

The other morning as I prepared my lunch, I heard a new Cablevision Optimum Online commercial. Stopping to watch, I noticed that it wasn't one of those catchy ones, with the guy singing the phone number. Nor was it one of the beautifully produced ones that show people walking around with multimedia playing all over their bodies. (They're supposed to be grist for promoting a better life through broadband use, but I think they're the basis for a horror film. Whatever.) This commercial was different. It featured a woman against a white backgroundOptimum's preferred color when it wants to be serioustrying to set the record straight about what you get from Optimum versus "the phone company"Verizon. Whenever cable companies want to take on Verizon, or other telcos that are homing in on their broadband and TV business, they invoke the seemingly derogatory "phone company" slur. Ooh, that's scary. I would never want a "phone company" delivering my broadband and TV, would I?

Obviously, as a Verizon FiOS customer, I would, but back to the commercial. In this 30-second-or-so spot, the Optimum lady spends a lot of time talking about all of the hidden fees you incur as a Verizon customer and how, even after you sign up for what that company is touting as a great deal, prices will go up. And she sayshorrors!that if you try to get out of the deal before your contract is up, you play cancellation fees. A lot of this is true. It was also true when I was with Cablevision, but the great thing about the battle going on between Cablevision and Verizon is that Cablevision has been forced to offer better service and more competitive prices since Verizon started cutting in on its business. Cablevision will still jack up prices after an initial honeymoon period, too. That period can last a year or two. And here's the kicker: The Optimum lady said that Verizon would deliver your broadband on its plain old copper lines.

At first I thought, "Well, that's a bald-faced lie!" I watched the Verizon FiOS tech install both my and , and I can tell you in no uncertain terms that the company delivers a fiber line right to a box attached to the side of my house. It's fiber all the way back to the company's switching office.

But wait. The Optimum lady said Verizon's broadband service. She never actually mentioned fiber or FiOS. That's when I realized that she's right. If you buy Verizon's other broadband service, DSL, it will be delivered to you via good, old-fashioned copper wires. Of course, DSL runs at a fraction of the download speeds you get through either fiber or Cablevision. On the other hand, no one is getting TV through DSL. I don't think anyone can say (or is saying) that DSL is directly comparable with Optimum's Triple Play (broadband, TV, and phone) or even Optimum's Internet service by itself. Yet, if you're not paying attention, Optimum's tiny bit of misdirection leaves you with the impression that Verizon's FiOS service is a lie and is fiber in name only.

At the same time, Cablevision is touting its 100-Mbps, . It even got most of the major national media to name it the fastest cable in the country. This could lead people to think it's the "fastest broadband in the country." Yes, Cablevision's offering is, for now, twice as fast as Verizon FiOS's current fattest residential pipe, and Verizon charges a whopping $144 a month for just 50-Mbps download speeds. Still, Cablevision's new 100-Mbps service is simply a carrot to lead people to the rest of its more affordable, nonDOCSIS 3.0based (and therefore slower) offerings. Just as hardly anyone is actually paying $144 a month for Verizon's 50 Mbps (since cheaper, though slower, FiOS packages are available), no average consumer is going to pony up almost $100 for home broadband serviceregardless of speed. It is a brilliant marketing ploy, though. These superhigh speeds will roll out across the country, but only a handful of well-heeled customers will pay for them. Those users will inadvertently become foot soldiers in Cablevision's efforts to battle FiOS in the more affordable broadband space.

Cablevision is not lying about anything; it's just doing a bunch of hand-waving to make you look at it, instead of at the other options out there.

The other commercial I've taken notice of lately is NetZero's. Company CEO Mark R. Goldston stands there and explains how you can get online for less and save tons of money in the process. Who wouldn't want to pay $9.99-a-month for, as the ad puts it, the "same Internet". I want it. Look at all the money Goldston says I'll save. It's amazing. In these tough economic times, it's an idea that really resonates with a lot of people. Here's the problem: It is INSANE. Mr. Goldston is offering dial-up as an alternative to broadband. Dial-up! No matter how much pre-fetching and artificial boosting you do, it's still dial-up.

Not that long ago, I watched the semi-classic You've Got Mail. The 1998 film starts with someone dialing onto America Online. The sound track you hear is the old modem dialing, probably at a 14.4-baud rate, then connecting and handling the connection with the then-well-known set of toots and whistles (we used to call it a "handshake"). This is the world that NetZero wants us to return tothe only-on-when-you-dial connectivity, with all its worries about sending too-large photos, trying to view too big a video online and giving up, and wondering how you can slice up files so they're small enough not to choke your narrow dial-up pipe.

I get that people are hurting, but if that's the case for you, save up your Internet activities for, say, a once-a-week visit to Starbucks, McDonald's, or your local library. Don't suffer through dial-up again.

The thread of connection among all these things is fact versus obfuscation and sometimes outright fiction versus fantasy. Broadband is not available to everyone everywhere, but that should be the goal. And the broadband we get should be on the fastest, most reliable pipes out there. I'm not trying to say whose pipes those are, but if we all want to find out, then we have to demand the factsand only the facts, pleasefrom everyone.