Comment by cyberax

> I switched away from AT&T. You even keep your number. Switching govt services not an option unless you take more extreme measures.

I can vote for a politician to fix the government services. And the local politicians know that keeping the government running well enough is needed to be re-elected.

I have zero leverage on AT&T.

Some services can be government-operated or private. Trash collection is one of them, for example. I lived in many cities, and municipal trash collection companies were always better and not any more expensive.