I was going to make a similar comment, but this boils down to information asymmetry. For how cheap it is to deliver reasonable Internet access to everyone, I p

I was going to make a similar comment, but this boils down to information asymmetry. For how cheap it is to deliver reasonable Internet access to everyone, I put it up there with the same importance as most utilities. If you're building out electricity to a farmer, you can certainly add Internet infrastructure onto that for very little relative cost. Why should giant corporations buying the farmers products have access to nearly limitless amounts of information, while the farmer is relegated to maybe an industry periodical and the local cafe gossip. That worked before the 1900's, but these days information moves too quickly. So yes, I think Internet is probably not quite yet essentially a basic need to participate in the economy and society - but it's pretty damn close. And it's only going to continue to get more important as "old world" services are turned off in favor of those on-line. In my lifetime I will see the DMV close it's last in-person renewal desk. And the private world is already there in requiring online-only transactions to do certain forms of business.