128kbps (ISDN) may be considered unsatisfactory now...
But back in the day it could knock ADSL into a cocked hat.
I'm referring to the days when for some time there was no ADSL to compare with and for consumers (and SME's) it was a huge step up from a 33.6kbps modems which were the next best thing.
Even when ADSL arrived, for a long time IDSN was available in more places than ADSL had yet reached and when even if you could get it ADSL could mean as little as 250 kbps, with high contention ratios if you were unlucky enough to live on a street with well heeled, tech savvy neighbours
That 128kbps of ISDN on the other hand was all yours, so it was quite possible that your "unsatisfactory" ISDN line would leave your neighbours ADSL for dust.
Which isn't to say that ISDN wasn't obviously the inferior technology given the potential that ADSL had to offer, once it matured. I just wish sometimes that we wouldn't be so quick to forget the context and the history of technology in our rush to be so dismissive of older technology just because it is, well, older.