From who? Dial-up SLIP/PPP and ISDN could hardly be considered competitive with a DOCSIS product. The market is far more competitive now, with increased FTTP deployments and advanced wireless.
Before the frequencies were reallocated to mobile usage, Sprint ran a cable-modem-over-wireless product called Broadband Direct that was pretty nice for its time. The system had a 30+ mile range to the towers, so lots of area could be covered with few towers.
The DSL/cable discrepancy also used to be smaller, and there were more, smaller cable providers.
The DSL/cable discrepancy also used to be smaller, and there were more, smaller cable providers.