That's not possible: CDNs exist not just to reduce latency, but to reduce data-transfer costs by having content within the ISP's own network where data transfer

That's not possible: CDNs exist not just to reduce latency, but to reduce data-transfer costs by having content within the ISP's own network where data transfer is literally gratis to the ISP because it's running on their own hardware: they just charge companies like Netflix and Akami rent to sit within their network. By your proposal I would be paying the same per-byte rate for both Netflix and Vimeo, even though Netflix has a CDN and Vimeo doesn't - so Comcast would be profiteering from Netflix both ways and the Netflix data doesn't cost Comcast anything. That puts Vimeo at a disadvantage. Utility systems in most countries work on a grid system: natural-gas and electricity is pumped into the grid by supplier/producer companies, managed by the grid-infrastructure people, and measured at the point of consumption. This works because both natural-gas and electronic-potential are both fungible and do not originate on your utility-grid company's premises (assuming your utility-grid company is not also an energy-producer). Bytes transferred over the internet are not fungible, so it is incorrect to compare residential gas and electricity billing to residential Internet billing. Also consider that just as data itself isn't fungible, the value of that data varies tremendously: A high-quality VOIP connection is probably 128kbps and needs modest latency needs, but it absolutely has to always work - whereas Netflix et al. is high-bandwidth but not latency sensitive and occasional outages and poor routing is acceptable; disregarding network QOS, I'd still gladly pay far more per-byte for a hyper-reliable VOIP 128kbps connection than a 1Gbps link for Netflix.