I think part of it is you don’t want to create a class of “underpriveledge” people on the Internet.
If you want to drive an economy you start at your base level and give them the opportunities then as people go up in money you give them EXTRA opportunities.
If you start by giving people in the middle range the basics and throw those under the middle or bone or two to keep their stomachs from growling, you’re creating an underclass.
For instance, dial up is pretty much all you need for reading the Internet. If you just read it’s fine. But bloggers and YouTube are not not accessable via dial up. Well you might be able to, but it’ll take forever.
I have had employers want to interview me via computer with webcams, I have had employers insist I take a pre-interview test, which they only make in Flash, which is poor in dial up. Fortunately I have access to a library with high speed.
Not everyone does.
I then found out about a program the phone company in Illinois is required to give DSL for $10/month. (Of course it’s the lowest DSL speed - up to 700+kbs). Also, of course, the don’t advertise it at all.
Look at libraries, without them it’d be like saying “poor people” who can’t pay for books should just stay stupid. Poor people who will never experience anything except through the power of a book are the people who need them the most.
When you’re economy depends less and less on manufacturing it depends more on service and people’s creativity. Anything that limits a person’s ablity to express himself hinders this process.
Finally DSL, cable and such are not really free enterprise. They are “effective monopolies” That means there is such limited competition they can do pretty much as they please.
In America opening up all the phone lines, (built by AT&T) lowered the cost of long distance tremendously. We need real options in cable TV, DSL before competition can drive down rates