Bob, I got my T-1 thru Sprint, and is was a frustrating deal getting it setup (this install date kept moving), but they did finally get it in, and I have been happy with Sprint and the service and support since then. I originally got pricing theu Sprint and UUnet. UUnet is clearly the leader in terms of a better infrastructure, but they are very pricey compared to just about anyone else. Once you are hooked up you will be hard pressed to tell the diff between UUnet and Sprint and anyone other major carrier).
UUNet wanted to charge me about $1500/month (including the local loop portion that Bell Atlantic/Verizon) charges, and that was for a BURSTABLE t-1 line (which means even though I had a full t-1 "pipe", I was only allowed to use 1/10th its capacity(128K) , on average, per month or would be bumpped into the next price range (could go has high as over $2000 month and I didn't like the variability of not knowing how much I was going to need to pay each month).
Sprint on the other hand costs me a lot closer to $1300 month for a FULL unmetered T-1. SO I have the full capacity of the pipe available to me and never need to worry about how much bandwidth I use.
Setup costs ran about $5-6 grand for a router and instllation but you could get away with a much more inexpensive router in most cases (I got a Cisco 2620 which was about $2800, you can get routers for a few hundred used).
A few months after instllation I ended up putting in a Watchguard firewall (another $3K expensive). This may or may not be necessary in your situation, but I have a 12 station network full of client data that I need to protect).
My guess is that in the 6 months that I got my T-1 from Sprint, the price has probably dropped even more, and will continue to do so don't get locked into a long fixed price contract. Better to pay a little more each month for a 12 month contract and then be able to renegotiate a better price in 12 months.
Good luck.
