CenturyLink left 86-year-old woman with no Internet service for a month

I have been saying for a while now (10 years+) that internet should be treated like gas, electricity and water. Today its an essential service.

However, at least in OZ, ISPs are not accountable for outages, and should be.

Here, if electricity is out for a certain period, you can claim for spoilage and if its longer than a govt set period, the electricity company must pay you.

same for the other services (but rarely happens).

ISPs should be considered an essential service, and if they are out for 4hrs, then it should start costing by paying the customer.

And possibly there should be clauses for outages that have "catastrophic outcomes" (im not gonna define it, but you get the idea) should result in suitable claims for damages.