[verall]

Yes, and I'm sure if I could and it would get me a competent ISP I would climb a skyscraper and do headspins on top. Local municipalities have given sweetheart deals to basically everyone that agreed to lay cable. This difference is that in the couple years Google was an ISP they didn't pull any obvious bullshit [yet] on their customers like other ISPS.

It seems pretty clear to me that ISP is like landlord - they need to either be nonprofit or it is a matter of time until whoever is in charge discovers or is replaced by someone who knows that most of the customers are pretty darn stuck and can be shaken for loose change.

I feel like the fact that cities are willing to kowtow to google for Please God Any Alternative To Our Isp Overlords is evidence that the ISPs are doing something that is particularly bad and most small governments are powerless to stop it.