I must be an anomaly. 6-months ago I switched to a CLEC for phone and DSL and have been very happy.
However: even before that with FairPoint and before that Verizon I was happy with DSL service - except for the speed.
I think a lot of the frustration with broadband ISPs is they want to use broadband to sell customers other services rather then focus on delivering the bits. That coupled with the fact that in most regions little competition exists so providers do not have much incentive to improve customer satisfaction.