The speed of cable is not just dependent on how many people they have on their system, but how much they upgrade their system as they add customers. A good cable company does this (Shaw cable up here in western Canada is very good about this -- they even made big investments in anticipation of @home going under, while a lot of others waited til the last minute). So cable here is terrific (and a good deal at about US$30/month) but your mileage may vary. Both cable and DSL actually provide their customers slower speeds than either is theoretically capable of.