Sorry to be cold about this but as high speed connectivity becomes more necessity than luxury, the market will still react. For example, I could move to the top of a mountain with no electric however most of us would not. If I was buying a home and I could not get decent high speed Internet, I would not live there because that is my business and I need it. If rural areas cannot get the kind of services they need from the carriers they have, they will have to react and break the monopoly. The economic model still works but is not as fast and efficient.
There is always satellite which will all know if painful but it is an option so there is almost always not a real monopoly. Granted, if all I have to do is beat satellite, my bar is lower. You are right about becoming your own ISP. If you want to lose a lot of money in a hurry I would advise you to go to Las Vegas or become a facilities based small ISP. Steven Naslund Chicago IL >>>There's the problem. In my neck of the woods, there is one and only one >>>provider. They have a guaranteed monopoly for the next few decades. They >>>got a huge grant to put in FTTH from the government and they still have >>>pricing from the last decade. >>>An 8/1 connection is $120/mo and require you to get dialtone (they say it's >>>FCC mandated) to the tune of an additional $20/mo (that's with no long >>>distance and every possible feature stripped). (Side-note: when the power >>>fails during the winter, they turn off all internet access after 5 >>>>>>minutes so they can save battery power for the phones--which travel the >>>exact same fiber path as the interntet). >>>I'm not a huge fan of Comcast's recent actions, but if they rolled into the >>>area with the same offer they have "in town" (100/25 for ~$75/mo), I would >>>switch faster than you could spell monopoly. >>>There's plenty of fiber lying within 1/4 mile from my house (runs between >>>Seattle and Portland), but none of the companies are interested in being a >>>local ISP, or leasing to a non-business, and I couldn't afford to start my >>>own, let alone trenching my own fiber to other residents who are >>>also fed >>>up. >>>It doesn't matter to me what "the big players" do because as a consumer, I >>>still don't have a choice. So while I find my local provider's practices >>>utterly despicable, I can't exactly speak with my wallet unless I quit being >>>an IT guy, cancel my internet, and start raising goats or something. >>>-A
