I used to live in a little podunk town in Idaho. I got fantastic 7 meg qwest DSL. We purchased a house last year right in the middle of a town that was still small my most of your standards I'd imagine, but several times larger than where we used to live. Maximum speed? 1.5 meg. It absolutely sucks. We're in the heart of a large residential area, and it's close to two large grocery stores, many gas stations, restaurants, and other very popular businesses, so I figured they'd have to upgrade our area some day.
I asked a local tech, a sales rep, and a customer service rep and got the same answer each time when I told them my address.
Me: "Any plans for upgrading our area in the future?"
Them: "Nope."
Me: "Ever?"
Them: "Nope. No plans. Ever."
They seriously said that. Pisses me off all to heck. "Gee, let's move to a bigger city so we can get crappier internet service ..." Now I have to go back to the local cable crooks because there is really no other competition here. Lamesauce. Qwest 7 meg was excellent service when we had it.