My little California town gives me a bunch of choices, including a couple cable providers. I use the local internet provider that's been around since the early 90s, and I pay about $80.

The nice thing about using a local provider is being able to walk over to their business and talk to someone, and pay my bill directly.

Like other states, there are terrible areas in California, and many places with high risk. Thankfully, there are people willing to live in those places instead of all trying to cram into the nice places.