The New York Times had an interesting article a few days ago on the degree to which the incumbent cable and telephone companies are battling each other for residential customers who are willing to subscribe to "triple-play" service plans. The article talks about the battle between Verizon and Cablevision in the New York Metropolitan Area, and also highlights some of the efforts of Time Warner Cable.

After nearly five years of allowing Verizon and Comcast to split the business in my house, I fired both of them. I use Speakeasy for naked DSL and VoIP and DirecTV for television service. This arrangement is a bit unusual, but it persists because broadband is an office expense and TV is a household expense.

The tipping point for us could come if we decide to upgrade to High Definition TV service. This may happen sometime in the Fall or around the holidays. However, thinking about giving Comcast or Verizon all of my communications services business almost gives me palpitations. I've never seen a billing plan from either company that treated home office warriors with the kind of respect we deserve.

This article implies that the cable companies in America are on a charm offensive driven from the call center part of customer service and backed up by discount introductory pricing. My question is: are the cable companies really improving customer service or are they just making people feel loved when they call to discuss their accounts? [ via VoIP Watch ]