First some math:
As an example you live in a 12 story apartment building that is 24 users give or take the annoying neighbor. considering the average user is pleased with a 512 connection. 512x 24=approx 12 Mb consider half are using the connection at one given time so 6-8MB
12 Mbps / 24 users = 512 Kbps
12 Mbps / 12 users (half) = 1 Mbps
Seconddly, the cable guys don't get download through a local provider AFAIK, they don't used DSL, they use a satellite connection from another country (a Eurpian country AFAIR), they only go through Ogero on upload. This information might be outdated since I haven't checked in a while.