Disclaimer: I haven't read the whole thing. I just read the Ars Technica commentary and the executive summary.
Perhaps I don't fully appreciate my options, but it seems like broadband is broken in the US. Current services use either telephone or cable wires, which are almost always owned by a single company. The barrier-to-entry is too high because of government regulation.
Consider what it would take me to start a traditional broadband company. I would have to do the work to lay new cables to homes. This is not economical to do for 1 or 2 homes at a time. You have to get permission from the city to dig up the street - permission they're not likely to provide to a startup.
What about non-traditional broadband, say over a WiFi mesh network? That's great, but such a network still needs gateways to the broader internet - it's the whole peripheral vs. central nervous system thing.
Perhaps I don't fully appreciate my options, but it seems like broadband is broken in the US. Current services use either telephone or cable wires, which are almost always owned by a single company. The barrier-to-entry is too high because of government regulation.
Consider what it would take me to start a traditional broadband company. I would have to do the work to lay new cables to homes. This is not economical to do for 1 or 2 homes at a time. You have to get permission from the city to dig up the street - permission they're not likely to provide to a startup.
What about non-traditional broadband, say over a WiFi mesh network? That's great, but such a network still needs gateways to the broader internet - it's the whole peripheral vs. central nervous system thing.
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