said by droobie :

People with cable options probably wouldn't get DSL anyway. However, cable is hurting in several rural Verizon markets. For instance, the amount of satellite dishes in St. Johnsbury VT HAS to be scary for Charter Cable. Charter isn't working terribly hard at HD in that area either. The satellite guys pluck those customers off every day.

DSL can be done properly (and faster) than it generally is done by the telco. New technologies are constantly coming for DSL (especially in Australia where DSL is a big player). However, Fairpoint and Verizon are back in the ADSL1 game and don't seem to have an interest in upgrading. The only saving grace is CLECs like Great Works Internet.

Also - Verizon won't qualify people past 10000 feet for speeds higher than 1500/384. They will, however, charge you the 3000/768 price for that 1500/384. Admittedly, it's cheaper than Fairpoint's 1.5/512 service, but it's still stupid since it's technologically possible. I have a strong 3584/868 lock at 15000 feet using a 2Wire brand modem with echo cancelling.