A loving, nurturing God, maybe, mindful of the smallest sparrow. Or a vengeful God, loosing thunderbolts and smiting those who thwart Him. Either way, we users are intimately aware of our providers' whims. But that's not all we're aware of. It's not like a meat counter, where the end product arrives neatly wrapped in plastic.
Internet providers make their sausage in public.
If I'm getting dropped packets I can do a traceroute and ping hosts until I find out who's responsible. Users tattle on their providers, too. If I have a bad experience with the phone company, I'm basically stuck. It's not like I'm going to sit down with a phone book and share the story with as many customers as possible. But if an Internet provider gets me sufficiently pissed off that's exactly what I'll do - and I'm not alone.