> The issue is that offering halfway decent internet to people in rural areas would cost them lots of money and […] Which was the original purpose of AT&T bein

> The issue is that offering halfway decent internet to people in rural areas would cost them lots of money and […] Which was the original purpose of AT&T being a regulated monopoly: they were 'mandated' to build out telephone lines everywhere, but were allowed to raise prices in urban areas to help subsidize the cost. See also electrical utilities. If we're not going to have The Market™ do things, then perhaps government should step in. Have the state or country run the fibre and handle ISO Layers 1 and 2, and then have ISPs handle things at Layer 3 (IP): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_broadband https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_broadband * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-access_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-access_network See UTOPIA Fiber in Utah: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Telecommunication_Open_Infrastructure_Agency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Telecommunication_Open_In... * https://www.utopiafiber.com/residential-pricing/ https://www.utopiafiber.com/residential-pricing/