The battle for America’s broadband: The Internet debate taking the country by storm

Should a city, county or district dissatisfied with lousy corporate service have the authority to construct and offer its own Internet?

Is the Internet today, like electricity a century ago, a utility that -- as a group of Democratic senators opined in 2014 -- Americans “cannot live without”? Portland (OR) says yes. Along with some of the nation’s largest cities, like Los Angeles, Boston and San Antonio, Portland has joined Next Century Cities, a group that advocates for municipal ”self-determination” on the issue. And just as cities like Portland emulate Kansas City’s laissez-faire strategy, so companies like AT&T (which once bragged of its universal access policy) seek to imitate Google’s demand-driven approach. The result is a fragmentation in the provision of the Internet. All city residents get the same water, gas and electricity. But the kind of Internet you access may depend on what neighborhood you live in.