Sissy is 99.999% correct
This missing component is the greed within some of the major ISP's and communications providers at the executive management level. The desire for higher profits "now", "this quarter" for the primary purpose of maintaining stock values (which is how they are compensated on in the form of stock options and bonuses) drives the decisions to keep re-investment and operating costs down and profits up.
The re-investment into higher band width infrastructure would be a better model to follow for a true market based, opportunity driven service offerings. How many of us dream of the day when we are able to tap into that fiber optic pipe that is being tunneled through our neighborhoods?
In most rural communities, the only reasonable alternative to the ???dial-up??? dinosaur is a cellular 3G approach. Even that is in limited areas. However, some remote counties in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin are investing in the fiber-optic technology to provide connectivity for their businesses and home users. According to BusinessNorth, companies in northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin alone have received more than $150 million in federal grants and low-interest loans to build fiber optic networks in rural areas.
In our major urban and suburban communities, the communications monopolies (Centrylink, Comcast, TimeWarner, AT&T, etc.) cannot justify the same level of investment. And why should they? As long as they can milk the cash cow for as long as they can they will do so. At least until an innovative startup provides a more reasonably priced alternative that cuts into their market share.
