DSL in the US is advertised a certain way to grab the attention of those thinking about cable. It's billed as a "not shared" connection. Your DSL is much like cable here, you could have up to 50 people on the same segment, all sharing that 1.5 meg (or whatever) and your speeds will rise and fall with the number of users.
DSL in the US isn't like that. At least at the user level.
All Internet connections are shared at one point or another. Cable connections are shared at the segment, where all the home users are sharing at the home level. DSL is shared at the gateway level.
When I log on I get my advertised 1.5 Meg. When my 50 neighbors log on, I still get 1.5 meg. However, if the entire city logs on, it is going to create a bottleneck somewhere and DSL users will see it.
Although all internet connections are shared at one point or another, it's how it administrated. If you have a 20:1 ratio on Cable, your not going to notice your neighbors. But most places in the US have much higher ratios because the cable companies are out to make money, not provide the Internet at a fast pace. The infastructure needed to do so is expensive. DSL is better administrated and you avoid most bottlenecks.
