I've just spent 3 weeks on the East End of Long Island, where cablevision has the franchise. The house had their high-speed internet... and it was out twice - both times for the better part of a day.

When we called Cablevision they seemed concerned, but not in any urgent sort of way. Pleasant, and the scheduled appointments both times to send a repairman out. (we told them it wasn't on ourside as we'dl troubleshot the router, modem, cables, etc). But they rolled a truck anyway.

What was interesting was how central the web is to our family. My wife has a laptop, and do i, and my old son brought his desktop computer. We use it to plan our days, figure out the weather, email (of course) as well as Skype and IM. It isn't a luxury or a work tool - it's part of how we conduct our lives.

So to have cablevision see it as more of a add on than a critical service is a reminder that high speed internet (even in a place like the East End) isn't yet seen as a utility. It is true that things are more mellow out here... but non the less, if you're going to do your banking, calendar, maps, weather, and entertainment choices on-line then the person providing that service can't be casual about providing that service.