" Half our county has to be served by Cox rather than Time-Warner, and their service record is much more spotty."

Hmm, Amos, didn't know that. Our local cable service in New Orleans is Cox, and I'm happy enough with 'em.

Now, we were among the very last metropolitan areas to get cable TV ~ I can't remember the year, but by the time we had access to cable, everyone in the country had it too. So our cable infrastructure has never included any of the oldest technology.

And then, after Katrina, Cox did a good job rewiring their entire service area. For example, you could get Cox digital telephone service in many neighborhoods (including mine) a full two years earlier than you could get a conventional phone line from AT&T. (And of course, wherever digital cable telephone is available, so is cable TV and internet.)

Cox and the local politicians claim that N.O. is now the nation's "most digital" metropolitan area, with an almost-all-new cable & fiber-optic intrastructure.

So, Cox in New Orleans is OK, but is very probably not representative of Cox elsewhere...