I used to work in the repackaged broadband sales world. Do not buy any of these 'national' companies broadband, unless they own the infrastructure (AT&T OWNS their cable...).
If you are buying from AOL or Earthlink (are they still around) or some of these other providers, you're wasting money and paying too much. They are reselling you bandwidth from a local company at an inflated rate, plus you are now going through their portal to access the net which is extra stops along the way and adds more latency.
Go to your local cable or phone provider for service. As I recall, Verizon owns line in Southern California and a few other major markets, they might be a good choice as well.