Initial installation of cable modem
service is a pain since I had to take a day off waiting for the cable guy
to show up (between 8-5). He did show up at 5pm.
I had the service up and running since April 98 and 3 months into it, the
original modem had to be replaced, it's been great since.  Depending on
time of day and speed of site visited, speed varies from 8Kb/s all the way
up to 170Kb/s. On average it's around 80Kb/s.  Far below the promised near
T-1 speed.  Recently Mediaone upgraded its routers which helped the
throughput by 20%.
The cable serves my home network of a server and 3 workstations, even when
all are online, speed degradation is negligible.
Monthly service charge of $40.00 is unbeatable compared to other hi-speed
service (ISDN or ADSL).  I can't imagine being without cable modem.
The best thing since the invention of PC.

Happy cable surfer.