Although Mercer County is well wired, we happened to move from a Comcast zone in MA to another cable provider here. It was traumatic to lose my comcast.net address, but I adjusted eventually. The current cable provider isn't too bad. Their customer service is responsive and *gasp* courteous! That said, I find that I use my gmail account more often than my "regular" e-mail. I really like gmail's features even if a few aren't Mac friendly.