I have to count myself lucky in service providers.
My first broadband was DSL from BellAtlantic, which turned into Verizon. Cable modem service wasn't available where I was, so DSL or a dish were my options. I'm in NYC, and a telco central office was in walking distance, so DSL was quite possible.
Getting it was an exercise in frustration. BA screwed up everything that
could be screwed up, beginning with mis-entering the credit card number I provided. It took three months from placement of order to working service, and required to me to stay on hold for an hour on a slow afternoon at the office to finally get through to Customer Care and begin the process of getting mistakes corrected. My boss came into the computer room after I was done and said "I heard you on the phone with BellAtlantic. I'm sorry you had to go through that!" I replied "Larry, it's okay. BA are idiots and have their collective head up their butt. I go through this nonsense for the company, too, but you
pay me for it! When I have to do it for free on my own time it gets wearing." (I was my shop's system, network, and telecom admin. I was
very happy when the parent company got a telecom manager, and dealing with the telco became
his problem.)
I'm a TimeWarner cable customer. TWC remembered I'd inquired about broadband, and when cable modem service became available where I was they dropped me a note. I could get cable modem internet service three times faster than my DSL line for the same proce, and I could pick up a self-install kit for $99 across the street from my office. Sold! Got the kit, did the setup, and in 15 minutes I was connected. I also didn't have to authenticate. BA's DSL used PPPoE, and required me to log in for things to work. TWC's setup assumed that I was a legitimate customer because I
was connecting to them.
I actually kept the DSL line for a while as a high-speed backup, and for a period I had two ISPs through two different network interfaces. This mightily confused the software firewall I ran, which appeared to decide the two ISP's email servers were trying to talk to each other through my machine and blocked both. A new firewall cured the issues. I dropped the DSL line to save money when cable modem service proved reliable.
My TWC Internet bandwidth has been steadily increased at no change in my rates. TWC is fending off VZ. Back when it was competing with DSL. Now it's competing with FIOS. The most recent change was an upgrade from 20mbps Turbo service to 100mbps, again at no price increase. It required a new cable modem, but TWC supplied it. As it happens, FIOS is not available where I am, and I don't expect it to be, but TWC is still playing defense against VZ. I can actually get 300mbps service if I feel like paying for it, but don't do things like Netflix, and don't need it.
The last step, back in 2008, was taking TWC up on their triple-play offer and adding VOIP to my existing cable and Internet service. I'd held off because I effectively don't make LD calls, but VZ's local loop service charge crept up to just above TWC's VOIP charge, and I took the offer. (Immediately after, I found myself in a project that required living on the phone LD for the better part of a month.
)
NYC is TWC corporate HQ, and TWC senior executives rely on the service, so problems tend to get fixed fast.
The worry a while back was an offer from Comcast to buy TWC. I was well aware of Comcast's reputation for non-existent service. An assortment of friends are techs and things like network engineers as their day job. They provide detailed technical chapter and verse on how Comcast sucks, but are stuck with it because there
aren't viable alternatives where they are.
Fortunately, Comcast withdrew the buy offer. Problems getting regulatory approval were a cited reason, and their dismal service reputation was a factor in issues on
getting regulatory approval. I smiled broadly at that, though I didn't expect it actually taught then anything.
I've actually been
pleased with TWC service, but location is a factor. TW provides cable service to large patches of the country, and TW customers elsewhere have made the same sort of noises about TW that my contacts make about Comcast.
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Dennis