Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caricature_of_%22Organized_Big_Business_Interests%22.jpg

Iowa State Fairopoly | Board Game | BoardGameGeek Iowa State Fairopoly | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

These “internet dark age” years lead me to the conclusion that ISPs are monopolies operating in America illegally, and nobody seems to care. Let’s take a look at a new subdivision for example. If ISP1 agrees with the land developer to provide their services to every single house, there is sometimes an agreement that keeps other ISPs out for a certain time. That sounds like a violation of the anti trust agreements to me. In my humble opinion, if the ISPs shared the cabling I believe this would go a long way to stop the monopolies. The internet connects the world, but the ISPs keep the neighborhoods segregated. If there was a way that a connected house could choose their provider, then when the homeowners or renters decide that ISP doesn’t have good customer support, they could cancel and call another, merely needing to swap ISP hardware such as modems. My country ISP is in the process of running fiber, as most are. I have now been calling for 2 and a half years to see when fiber would be run. 2 weeks ago they ran a fiber trunk from their office to the nearest town which runs right in front of my house. They now say it will take another 14 months before that trunk line is operational and can provide fiber to my house! You might be asking yourself, why does any of this even matter? It matters because I’ve had to work with several ISPs, some personally, others professionally. There are ISPs out there that have such low customer service numbers they seem truly terrified of something like this and would most likely be willing to risk just about everything to keep their monopoly alive because without it, they wouldn’t have a business.