I've thought the "open access" type model would work for a couple years now and I'm glad to see it being discussed here. Community Fiber may work in pro-active

I've thought the "open access" type model would work for a couple years now and I'm glad to see it being discussed here. Community Fiber may work in pro-active cities. However problems may reveal themselves in other cities when the politicians make campaign budget promises and usage statistics make some people angry they're paying for people who use more internet than they do. You can't expect every mayor of every small town in the US to understand enough about fiber equipment to make the right purchases for their local infrastructure. The fundamental problem is the cost of the last mile infrastructure is too great to allow much competition. (Though existing companies have worked with lawmakers to further cement their position.) Open access would allow companies to compete with their service, knowledge, and connection to the internet at large, while reducing the cost of gaining you as a customer to plugging you in at the central hub. At one point long ago our nation decided that broad communication networks which included every household benefited the whole enough that shouldering the upfront cost was far worth the rewards. We wired up every household with a copper line and access to phone service. Now that the internet has surpassed and commenced the phone we have forgotten the lessons of the past and are struggling along with "good enough" copper instead of again shouldering the cost and laying down fiber lines. It would cost a lot to reach rural areas and connect every last household. However fiber is great in that you can upgrade the equipment at the end to continue to increase speed, and in a country where websites can assume all of their potential customers would have very fast internet radical technological advancements could occur. The technological advancements will occur in the end. The biggest question is whether or not the US will reap the rewards that it has been these last several decades, or if another country will. There is no faster way to irrelevance than doing nothing.