There is no good answer to that question, unless one is fortunate enough to live in an area served by a coop ISP or another super-local business. Our choices are so awful that they hardly even count.

AFAIK in most of the US there are only two cable companies in a given area (both of which typically will be national companies with lobbyists, and also utter shit).

The traditional "telephone" company and the traditional "cable" company, in a given district, each have monopolies that prevent competition.

Since both can now serve cable TV, they only have to compete with one another.

In my area it's Time Warner, which is utter shit, and AT&T.

Anyway, I just don't have cable because they rip you off at best.

If you have a choice of two, you are lucky. Cable franchise rights with cities are usually exclusive. Your choice is usually satellite, cable, or antenna.

Regional operators tend to be better than the national ones.

For example I used Midcontinent Communications when I lived in their service area, and it was excellent. Best ISP and cable company I've ever dealt with.

Unfortunately, they are very limited to the upper midwest/great plains region, and probably serve a million households at most.

PhonoScope.