Oh that last mile. There are many providers of connectivity solutions out there, but getting them to your door can be a major challenge. There are initiatives to provide WiFi access, and some vendors are building their own facilities, but it doesn’t address the problem.
The Local Exchange Carrier (LEC)
The LECs are what we got when the Bell Telephone monopoly was broken up into smaller monopolies. They own the last mile into homes and businesses in their region. Connectivity either comes from them or rides the “last mile” over their lines. For example say you want to bring in a Sprint Internet circuit in Chicago. You would have to obtain a local loop from AT&T to complete the connection. This, of course, comes with an access charge, but it also complicates troubleshooting. You enter into a situation where multiple vendors are pointing fingers at each other.