The telcos in the US are uniformly obnoxious and offensive in their delight in advertising, fees, etc, and trying to rip me off in all sorts of ways. Without a

The telcos in the US are uniformly obnoxious and offensive in their delight in advertising, fees, etc, and trying to rip me off in all sorts of ways. Without a doubt, if the City Internet & Federal Mobile Phone Service were as "just works" and "no marketing" as the septic system and the water system, it would be a measurable quality of life increase. It's also worth contemplating if the brute fact of the matter is that public goods & natural monopolies (cable companies, cell towers perhaps) should be regulated as a utility. Particularly if the preferred mechanisms for interacting with a government in the US require/highly suggest the use of a computer or cell phone. If that assumption is being made (and it is), then it's not just a luxury, or even a popular service... it's becoming a common utility.