What's with the 3Mbps limitation on DSL, and why does Verizon refuse to offer higher?

Question

Verizon's High-speed Internet website states they have two services offered above my 3Mbps plan. I've spoken to a few people at Verizon's customer service center (including a supervisor), and all are adamant on their stance that they cannot offer a higher service for my area (southwestern PA).
It was stated that the max speed is determined based on the distance from the central office. The thing is, the central office is located in my town, and I'm just under a mile away from it.
According to ADSL2+ specifications, the highest download speed advertised is 24Mbps. The modem I have currently claims it can reach an attainable rate of 17Mbps. All ADSL standards (aside from two oldest ones that are irrelevant since my current 3Mbps is higher than them and Verizon isn't using them) go above 3Mbps. The supervisor I spoke to had no idea what a ADSL2+ standard was, and was unable to tell me what standard Verizon is actually offering; but I could probably find out from the modem diagnostics page or something.
So with all that in-mind, Verizon offers DSL packages that are higher than my current tier (the highest being 7.1 to 15 Mbps), the max ADSL2+ speed being 24Mbps, and the max attainable rate for my modem is 17Mbps with me being less than a mile away from the central office. And even after all that, Verizon is intent on stating they don't offer higher speeds than 3Mbps, and are adamant in stating they cannot provide higher speeds than that.
I'm also on Verizon's Double-play bundle with DirecTV. The speed restriction is even more insulting considering you can't even use DirecTV's On-demand service without the internet speed crawling to a halt. And if the internet is being used prior-to using On-demand; On-demand becomes unusable.
So.. does anyone know what is up with this? I'm paying for "High Speed Internet Enhanced", and I'm getting speeds not even respectable of that (compared to today's standard), paying $44/month for it, and even though all technical aspects say they can bump the speeds up higher; they refuse to.
I can use public WiFi that offers faster speeds for free. I can connect to any xfinitywifi hotspot and get pretty close to double the speeds I'm paying for. Can even tether to my slow cell phone with barely-supported-in-my-area 3G and get better speeds. There's zero reason why a paid landline connection can't go faster than those...
I find the situation pretty ridiculous, and have even filed a FCC complaint about it.
reddit Discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/verizon/comments/2u46yc/whats_with_the_3mbps_limitation_on_dsl_and_why/
Some quick modem statistics:
Mode: ADSL2+
Traffic Type: ATM
Status: Up
Link Power State: L0
Copper Loop(kft): 0.0
(Downstream/Upstream)
Line Coding(Trellis): On On
SNR Margin (0.1 dB): 239 195 (23dB 19dB)
Attenuation (0.1 dB): 280 145 (28dB 14dB)
Output Power (0.1 dBm): 61 122
Attainable Rate (Kbps): 17928 1251 (17.93Mbps/1.25Mbps)
Path 0
Rate (Kbps): 3360 863 (3.36Mbps/0.86Mbps)

Answer 1

It's possible that you are coming out of a remote terminal or remote DSLAM, rather than a full blown central office. Verizon seems to have an unspoken rule or habit of only provisioning 3Mbps and below to customers on the remotes. To augment that, it's been seen in some cases that they are running Fiber to the remotes, but only supply the equivalent of several T1 circuits rather than OC-3 Fiber or better.
To find out why the speeds are being limited, we would need to know what kind of DSLAM is in use, and how far you are from the nearest Verizon CO. The attenuation you have suggests you're one mile of wire length away from the source of DSL, which is either an RT or a CO. From that point, we would also need to find out what kind of connectiivty Verizon has running to your DSLAM.
If you're coming out of a CO instead, it's also been seen that Verizon has a habit of selling only 3Mbps out of congested COs or those with lesser connectivity running to the CO.
The thing you can do, is pressure Verizon into giving you at least 7Mbps. With those stats you should have no problems at all. It's going to take weeks of pushing to get the job done, but it is possible. I'd start off by calling Techincal Support, who would be able to assist with this. Emphasize to ignore the availability database - this is just a bunch of records controlled by what Verizon wants to input in.
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The first to bring me 1Gbps Fiber for $30/m wins!