Whose internet is it?

The telecoms claim they are innovators.    I don't buy it.   The only reason they ever "innovate" is to make it cheaper to offer similar services at the same price or new or different services at a higher price.  The only reason they ever lower their prices is competition.  Take my internet provider... Please...

The telecoms did not invent the internet.  A government funded defense research project did.

The telecoms did create an infrastructure for the version of the internet we use today.  Its a version that drives profitability and continuing operations.  Horray! Now we can surf the net!  They did not create the only possible internet.

What we know of as "the internet" is actually a set of smaller networks that interconnect.  Where and how these inter-network connections are made determines the overall structure, cost and realizable bandwidth of the internet as a whole.   Do you  wonder why you are paying for 50Mb/sec internet but not seeing that speed on every download?

What if we ignored the incumbent telecoms as our providers and started over?  What would the new internet look like?  Who would own its parts? Who could connect to it? How fast could it be? How fast would it really be?  Would it be faster than what we're getting from the incumbent providers? How much would it cost to build?  How much per household? How much for every household in a city, a state, a country or the whole planet?  No.  How much really.  How would we finance it?   Could we beat up the current telecoms?  Could we eat their lunch?   How would the current providers respond?  Would they eat our lunch?   Should we skip lunch?  I have no answers.  Do you? Do the math. 

For now, I'm sticking with my ISP.