I recall that in the late 90's there was a regulation in place that forced the phone and cable companies to lease their coax or DSL lines to competitors who wan

I recall that in the late 90's there was a regulation in place that forced the phone and cable companies to lease their coax or DSL lines to competitors who wanted to offer service as an ISP. I recall getting mailers from various little companies with offers. There was a difficulty in determining what the proper lease rate would be for the little guys. And in the end it apparently didn't work out. I don't know if the law was changed or if the cable and telephone companies were able to set the lease rate so high that nobody else could be profitable.