The primary issue faced by most US consumers is a lack of competition. The pie is very large and there is little opportunity for customers to protest poor service with their wallets. There’s just nowhere to run.

Community fiber is typically run by a local power utility, one with customer service infrastructure already built in.

Fiber is fast. Really fast. Chattanooga’s local power utility operates a fiber optic Internet service that currently offers a 1 Gigabit speed package (1,000 Mbps) for just $69.99/month. For most of us that would be a 50x speed increase or better. Many fiber services are also symmetrical, offering the same upload speed as download speed.

Cable companies will no doubt fight this tooth and nail. I’d imagine just the threat of an emerging local alternative will force a change in Big Cable’s heinous customer service policies.