Thanks for all the replies.

So ADSL is a technology developed to cope with the installed telephone lines, not a technology developed independently and then shoe-horned onto the existing lines? This makes much more sense to me now!

The one thing that annoys me about cable is the asymmetry of upload speed compared to download. I have a 60 meg DL, and 3 meg UL. I do enough uploading for this to be a bit of a pain in the arse!

ADSL seems to have MUCH better upload speeds. As I understand it, it is due to the bandwidth allocation of the cable system (DOCSYS?) and the 'traditional' bandwidth requirements of earlier consumer internet times.

I wonder if we'll ever get a Google fibre style company in the UK?