If you want more ISP competition where you live, I suggest getting active in your town government. A while ago, I called up the town hall of the suburb where I

If you want more ISP competition where you live, I suggest getting active in your town government. A while ago, I called up the town hall of the suburb where I grew up, and asked for a copy of their contract with Comcast. It technically doesn't grant them a monopoly -- that would be illegal -- but in effect it does. The contract says Comcast must serve any resident within two business days of the request. It also says the town can't give a better contract to another ISP (I forget the exact legal terms, this was years ago). That means a startup ISP can't launch neighborhood by neighborhood. In order to provide service in the town, you need to build out connectivity everywhere, upfront. That is a multi million-dollar construction project which stands no chance of being paid back within a time period any investor would be comfortable with. Even another large ISP wouldn't want to take this risk, which is why they still haven't done so in my home town. Best case is that you get around 5-10% of residents within a couple years. Even if your service is much better than the incumbent's, it can be hard to educate consumers. Most people won't know what they're missing, they'll be too lazy to switch, etc. So, if you want to attempt to solve this problem in your town, there are a few things you can try to do: - Make it so that startup ISPs can build out neighborhood by neighborhood. Yes, this means the hardest-to-reach/least profitable areas will be served last, but it's better than nothing. - Get your town to fund construction. There are plenty of ISPs who would jump at the opportunity to serve your town if they didn't have to pay the capex. Have your town reach out to every startup ISP you can find and work on a deal. - Build a municipal ISP. It's not that hard, more and more towns are doing it.