Quality was not good. Other systems have very, very high capacity. Fiber optic cable connections are loaded with bandwidth. Enough bandwidth to add telephone service without interfering with the nightly news on the television. You might ask why a Computer Law article is full of this information.
Cable modems provide very high speed connections.
That question and some others are being debated before the Federal Communications Commission and some city councils. Although the merger would increase competition for telephone service it may kill competition for internet service. Ok, I know it is really only about 53k and that there are ways of combining two modems. Not unless the cable company is required to open its lines to use by its own competitors. Although federal legislation has almost relieved local government entities of any control over cable television rates, the cities still control access to streets and public rights of way.