ISP's are playing the perfect man in the middle game with both their hands trying to make many trips into the same pockets on either side of the marketplace. The thing is that in the US telcos have been collecting millions of dollars for years on the basis of meeting bandwidth targets within certain time frames. They have yet to meet those targets and yet they are allowed by the regulators to keep on charging and collecting all those fees.

There isn't a year that doesn't go by that the telcos and cable companies aren't reporting increased profits in the billions of dollars range and yet the consumer is being faced with actual reductions in service at potentially higher price - just look to TimeWarner's move in Texas.

I honestly don't know what the answer is Paul .. not at this point anyway … although I am sure that there are smarter people than myself who might but I will say that the one thing that is desperately needed it totally transparency in all ISP pricing and all government interaction with anything to do with the Internet - albeit pricing right through to its actions within the medium and its relationships with the corporations providing services.

It is time for them all to realize that access to the Internet is a part of our ever developing social and physical infrastructures.

What are you considering here? Government provided access which could raise issues of destroying competition at the lower end of the market.

Or, the government mandates a minimum price, speed and bandwidth which all providers must adhere to which again will only allow competition at the higher speeds.

Here is Denmark, local libraries are equipped with lots of computers for free internet access and there are multiple “Data stue” essentially internet cafes that are free and funded by local government dotted around every town. There are are at least 3 of them that I know of within a mile radius of me.