It's not perfect, but it's definitely better than it used to be. It's true that just about every Mom+Pop ISP in Ontario (maybe Canada) offers DSL access. Also, these ISPs can be much cheaper than Bell, especially if you buy a (used) DSL modem to avoid the $10/month modem rental costs. For a list, check out CanadianISP and do a search for DSL providers. It's pretty good, but there are some caveats. Many of them still re-sell bell services, though there are some other networks that are starting up. Ultimately though every single one of them needs to rely on Bell for the provisioning. There's the usual wait to get signed up (and not co-incidentally it's always faster to get signed up with Sympatico), but in the end you can be up and running on one of them in a few days. I still use Rogers@Home myself though, as DSL requires one to own a Bell land line. I don't know why it should matter that I have a phone number with bell to get DSL, but it does, so your DSL will still require the ~$25/month to Bell for your land line. If you already have a land-line though, you'd be crazy not to go with one of the other DSL providers out there. Just do some research and check to see who's reselling what before you jump in.