system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What is wrong with the cable companies and data carriers

I see a lot of bashing towards companies like Time Warner and AT&T. What is it that they are doing that is causing such an uproar, exactly? I understand that TWC is holding out on faster internet speeds, but I feel that it must go further than that. After a google search all I get is stuff about calls being dropped and so on.
gpt
There are a host of reasons, but they all point to one simple explanation: pretty much everyone needs to use their services, but the lack of any meaningful competition means that the companies have zero incentive to offer reasonable prices or provide even a modicum of customer service. 

People are okay paying a lot of money for stuff as long as they're being treated well. And people are okay not being treated well if it doesn't cost them much. And people don't complain *too* much about shitty and expensive services when they don't feel like they have to buy them. But telecoms fail at all three: they overcharge, they treat you like shit, and they've got you right where they want you.

Why those things have come about is a much, much more complicated explanation involving technological platforms, business models, overlapping governmental jurisdictions, and a century of regulation.