AT&T has no defense! We have craploads of dark fiber on the REAL internet. AT&T is just doing a typically PISS POOR job of offering LAST MILE ACCESS to the internet. Verizon and AT&T have monopolies in their respective markets, so you'll have to look overseas to compare. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and ROMANIA offer more for less.
btw, the assumption that torrents are all illegal copyright infringers is stupid. World of Warcraft, one of the most popular and valuable entertainment franchises in the world with hundreds of millions in revenue each MONTH uses torrents. If the numbers are based upon protocol usage as opposed to specific sites... Also, I download most of my Linux DVD images via torrent.