one good resource to check up on your local ISPs' popularity is
www.broadbandreports.com
right now, im about to switch to cable from 2 years use of ADSL
my local ADSL provider is the local phone company, service isnt horroble but it could be better...
speed isnt up to what my friends' cable that can get in this area too
and Shaw High Speed cable has just spent millions of dollars on splitting the nodes and adding routers to their servers
not much network congestions and really up to 2x the speed of ADSL
good service too from what i heard
same price after 6 months of discount
that is why im moving
and im trading my PCI internal ADSL modem with their cable modem to keep so i dont have to pay the monthly modem rental fee