The cable company should have no problem at all getting a cable into your house. If it's only a quarter of a mile, RG6 coaxial cable should do alright (although RG11 would be much better). If they won't provide the cable, you should be able to get 1000' spools for ~$125-150. RG11 does great over very long runs. I used to run the TV station at my high school, and we would broadcast many events live, from all around the school. The longest distance from one side of the school to the other was easily 1200' worth of cable, and we'd get pretty strong signals coming off the RG11 runs, although any more than that may need a signal amplifier. There's some good info on cables
here. Of course, check with your cable company first, to make sure they offer service in your area, and have them check the quality of the signal to make sure that particular tier can support broadband. If the signal is good at that point, you should be essentially home free into getting broadband to your house.