The "last mile" is not as much a problem over here in The Netherlands than it is in the US. It's more that Xs4all was one of our first ISPs, always on the forefront of freedom of speech (fighting tooth and nail against a court order to block TPB or dragnet-like intelligence monitoring by our gov), highly competent and overall a very well-known name.
Exactly. I don't mind paying a bit more to support an ISP that fights for our rights and those of others, and gives us access to the full power of the internet. Maybe KPN will continue the latter, but it's hard to imagine them doing the former. I mean, if KPN does fight on the forefront of internet freedom, that would be absolutely fantastic, of course. But it doesn't sound like them.
The last mile is a problem for many people who live in the rural areas but they're able to easier get FTTH because getting to the percentage for petition is much easier in small, local community. Many people get terrible DSL speeds and are doomed to use ADSL2 (if they can get that). Companies like KPN dropped the ball with FTTH, instead milking VDSL2 till it could no longer compete with Ziggo's cable.
