Verizon DSL questions?

I was at my father-in-law’s last night. While initially there to help with a new flat panel tv setup, I eventually found out that his internet service (which he gets thru Verizon DSL) is appalingly slow: using the java speed test on this website, I measured 18 Kbs downloads (oddly enough, I also measured > 500 Kbs uploads; strange, very strange…). I called Verizon tech support twice, and the people were polite but technically ignorant, as if they were reading from scripts. But they did verify that there were no service issues in the area, and that the line quality to the apt looked good. So, the slow speed is likely due to some problem with our equipment or setup.

Questions
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1) Can I buy any third party DSL modem and expect it to work with Verizon, or do I need to buy a model from them or at least endorsed by them to expect things to work?

2) will all modern DSL modems have web interfaces that you can access over your LAN?

3) what kind of manual configuration do I need to do on my new DSL modem? Do I need to enter stuff like username, password, DNS etc?

4) instead of manual configuration, is auto configuration possible, as in, simply run a Verizon DSL installation CD? (See below for some more discussion)

5) assuming that I need to buy a DSL modem endorsed by Verizon, which such model do you guys like best? One of the tech people mentioned the Westell 7500, which it looks like I can buy used for $25
»newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/sys/9···830.html
Do you guys like this model? A brief web search turns up tons of people complaining about issues with it (of course, there is self selection here: people with success stories do not post, only people with problems).

6) if any modern DSL modem can be used with Verizon, what models do you guys like and why?