I have both Comcast and DSL available here, but the fastest DSL is 5mbit. That barely counts as connected. So in my mind, Comcast has a complete monopoly here even though DSL is available.
Yes DSL isn't as painful as dialup, it's 100x faster or whatever. But the 5mbit is the TOP speed (which we all know you never get) and the likely usable speed is anywhere from down in the dialup range up to perhaps a couple of megabit.