[TeMPOraL]

> The ability to leave a company and take your business elsewhere is what keeps companies performing and doing better by their customers. They offer cheaper rates, along with better service, etc.

That works well in theory; in practice, a lot of industries - telcom being a prime example - hacked their way around this. You can't "take your business elsewhere" when a private company owns the last-mile infrastructure your apartment is connected with. Or when your landlord decided to sign an exclusive agreement with one.

When I see residential electric/gas utilities, I see a service that pretty much always works as advertised. A service that does what it's supposed to and nothing more. No deep electromagnetic inspection to offer me "zero charge" electricity for my ACME appliances. No "smell packets" injected into the gas line the way ISP inject ads and bullshit into HTTP connections now. I don't even care much which company logo is present on my monthly bill; the total monthly savings I could make by switching providers are worth around two or three standard Starbucks lattes, at best.

The core issue is that Internet access should be a commodity. Telcos are doing everything in their power to avoid that. Like so many other companies, they forgot about the concept of "honest business", in which a customer pays them money in exchange for a valuable service, no bullshit attached.