Wow, Cox wasn't too bad when I was in Ruston. I don't think anyone can complain about any of the services in the BR Metro area. Hell, besides satellite, we've got Cox, Eatel, and AT&T U-Verse here, so the competition forces them to have good services and low prices. That's what sucks about most areas having only one company running things. Of course, you could also just have the government try to run all your utilities and services, like they do in Lafayette.

There's a very interesting story about competition down here between Cox and Eatel which explains why cable is so awesomely cheap in BR and Lafayette. Cox low-balled everyone in BR to get them away from Eatel, so Eatel put up ads in Lafayette about how great Cox's low prices were. State law forced Cox to charge the same to people in Lafayette, which caused them to lose more money, while Eatel laughed. Then, for the Lafayette Parish government to offer services, they had to be cheap as well, in order to compete. Cox had to take a big revenue loss in order to stay in the area. This kind of competition and game-playing between the companies is why our cable/internet/phone rocks here. I HATE Baton Rouge, but at least this is one thing that doesn't suck. Until this month, I had decently fast internet and HD digital cable with the extra sports & info package for like $90/month, and the stuff NEVER goes down. They've raised me to just over $100 now though... As for AT&T U-Verse, they're new here, so I dunno about them. I may try them out though if I don't move out of this town soon.