@txradioguy
Until the small ISPs find a solution for the last mile (from the POP to the home) with fiber speeds there can be no alternatives.
If the market is so free now why do all the companies have the same plans and the same rates? Why do they all change billing models at the same time?
I've worked in Telecom and still have customers in telecom.
Actually where I live they don't. If everyone had the "same plans and same rates" as you claim...there would only be one company everywhere in the country. A National Broadband company...similar to how Deutsche Telcom rules the roost in Germany.
What I was paying and getting from Spectrum when I lived on post is completely different from what I'm getting from Windstream now that I have my own home.
I had choices between fiber cable and dsl when I made my switch...with speed choices between 25mbps and 100 mbps with pricing to match.
And as for the last mile issue...there's always satellite internet. I had that in Germany as well when again T Mobile (a.k.a. Deutsche Telcom) didn't provide service into the villiage where I lived.
There are ways...and the free market will always find a way...it's not up to the Government to pick the winners and losers in this or anything related to the free market.