Here's the breakdown of the prices:

http://www.ffxivinfo.com/service.php

Basically in a nutshell, entry is the most basic subscription package. You pay every 30 days and you get max of 1 character per server. Standard gives you up to 8 characters per server with different options in pricing based on how many you subscribe for at once. The game play on both of them is the same.

I would give it at least a week. It was almost a week after I submitted my ticket before I said fuck it and went to buy a new copy of the game cause I was tired of waiting. Of course half my week also consisted of the weekend and Labor Day weekend. People are saying if manage to get through to them on chat or phone you can speed it up. I waited 6 hours one day in chat with no luck and I never tried the phone. People have said the phone wait time can be from 2.5 hours+ or no luck at all.