They've Amputated our High-Speed Internet!

So, the first thought was that our intermittent connectivity issues were because of a faulty modem.  So we got the new modem.  But the outages still continued.  So then the Quest guy came out to look at the line.  Just the line outside the house; because it would cost us actual money to have them change the line inside the house.  He took some measurements and said, basically, we have the low-end of high-speed internet, we're the farthest house away from the junction box (or whatever they call it, I have no idea), and he changed things so that all phone and internet signals enter the house through one main jack.  Apparently it wasn't set up that way before.  Things were fine for a few days; then the outages started up again.  It seems like all our neighbors are tapping into the internet before the signal gets to us, so it's all used up by the time it gets to our house.  Of course, that's not the technical explanation.  The technical explanation is impossible for me to understand.
Another Quest guy came this afternoon.  It was supposed to be yesterday; I stayed home all yesterday afternoon so he could come.  But anyway, he came today.  This guy says (and believe me, I am paraphrasing heavily) that the problem is in the outside line, not the house line, but somehow we're still stuck with a problem that's not our fault and no one can explain why it started so suddenly, and the best solution is to further slow down our internet access so that the connection has a chance of being stable.  Even if slow.  But not nearly so slow as dial-up.  Just almost.
I am not a patient person.  I always thought electrons moved at the speed of light, and therefore, high-speed internet access should be just slightly slower than that.  Apparently our high-speed has never been that high, and now it's even less so.  Much less so.
So this post is something of a test to see how much more slow our connection is, and partly a rant about the inadequacy of modern technology.  I mean, I take pride in being a dinosaur, but that's only when I want to be.  So, while I test the limits of slow-speed internet, please enjoy this picture of a quilt I'm working on.  If it even loads.
Edited to observe that the ability to load a photo is apparently the first thing to go.