Preference (if money is not the primary object):
Fiber optic (fios) > DSL > Cable (Comcast).
We have amazing DSL where I live is what makes that the deal breaker, just depends on how much cash we want to spend. Even comparable DSL on cost beats the comparable costing cable. As far as what I prefer to have to get what i want done, we have roughly 85kbytes up and maybe 300kbytes down, and I throttle all torrent output to 72 up and about 250 down (all figures are kbytes). If you live in a metro area, investigate all of the DSL offerings, not just those coupled with the primary line layer (in our case, Verizon). We got more speed/price options going with someone who repackages Verizon's lines then we did from the evil V themselves... If your out in the sticks or the edges of the burbs, then cable becomes a much stronger choice (in my experience).
If I was hosting servers, or downloading tons of stuff (or taping 6 shows a week), then I'd consider going to fios, but right now I'm not doing either of those.