I live in a place with a municipal telco, and let me tell you, it is night and day. The service is top notch, and it always just works to the point where on the rare occasion that they do have a problem, I spend hours trying to figure out what's wrong with my equipment, because it happens so rarely. It costs more than the local cable company, because the price you pay is actually what it costs to deliver the service, but there are never any wild swings in prices, and when service gets cheaper, you just get upgraded for no additional cost. I wish all companies worked this way.