As much as I love the idea of locally building network infrastructure and making it a true commonly owned system... it doesn't work for rural areas. As soon as

As much as I love the idea of locally building network infrastructure and making it a true commonly owned system... it doesn't work for rural areas. As soon as you hit the city limits, it's no longer the city's problem. We gave hundreds of billions of dollars to AT&T/Verizon to build infrastructure for everyone, and they took that money and told their shareholders "look how well we scammed the US!" What we should do is go back to those companies, tell them they've failed and owe us it back plus interest, and use that money at a federal level to build an internet backbone for every single US citizen, period - like the Federal Highway Administration, but for broadband. But, alas, the GOP will start screaming "Socialism" and that will never happen...