you are not connected to the internet

Is the message I'm getting this afternoon, in frequent intervals:

1:00 pm, 1:15 pm, 1:32 pm, 1:50 pm, and 3:30 pm.

I noticed a flier in my FairPoint bill advertising DSL for as little as $9.99 per month! That's considerably less than I'm being charged, for really, really bad service.