A couple years ago they upgraded from a 25 pair cable (originally installed 1980 or so, with portions replaced in 1988 or so when our road was redone) to a 50 or 75 pair cable. It improved dial-up a bit (on a 33.6 modem). A 56K modem I got summer 2003 worked well. I got "high speed" phone line based broadband internet, not DSL, but some technology called Etherloop, which isn't blazingly fast (1Mmps tops, maybe 600K in reality), and a bit dated gear (I must rent). It is akin to running a 14.4 modem when everybody else is using a 56K modem.
