That monstrous early termination fee

Hello all. I work from home in Texas. I'm in the oil industry/finance, so I need super-reliable for both phone and Internet, particularly the latter as the applications I use are data-heavy (financial information and whatnot). Alas, Comcast Business did not satisfy. I could regularly count on three or four "hiccups" per day in which I would lose connectvity (which means phone conversations would be cut off -- talk about unprofessional) and incfedibly slow Internet. particularly when it rains. Comcast was unable to address, other than promising they would "fix the nodes" in my area. 

I got fed up with it and called to cancel. The unpleasant customer service rep, who kept trying to keep me on the service -- not to mention condescending comments like, "I have a lot of customers who are happy with the service," as though all users are equal and have the same requirements as me -- told me there would be an early termination fee of $1600. 

This strikes me as completely ridiculous considering the reason for the termination is Comcast's inabilty to deliver the service that I need and that I contracted for. I would appreciate any advice and suggestions on how to resolve this in a mutally acceptable way, before I go through the trouble of complaints to the Better Business Bureau, the local news stations and a consumer complaint through the Attorney General of Texas.