Another example would be power (electricity). In some states, you can choose to buy power from solar, renewable sources, etc. The underlying infrastructure is the same; but the offerings change.
In the case of Internet, the government basically would give you access to some NAP or exchange; to get onto the Internet, you would have to buy access from some provider. Providers could differentiate themselves by a variety of services: some offering total privacy; some offering caching services so you get your content faster; some offering DVR/cloud services; etc. etc.
It is time we started treating access to the Internet as a service provided by the municipality, like water, power, sewage, roads, etc.
What you mentioned exists in Houston for sure, and quite possibly elsewhere. It's probably not perfect but it's HUGELY better than state approved utility monopolies.
1. In FL I was in a fairly small college town, 150k people. GRU was the utility company. We paid $13/mo connection fee plus a marginal rate of $0.084/kWh (plus the "fuel adjustment" which is of course never in your favor) since it was basically impossible to use less in the heat (https://www.gru.com/Portals/0/Legacy/Pdf/RatesCharges.pdf). In TX I now pay $0.08 with no connection fee or adjustments of which about $0.02/kWh goes for line maintenance and if I commit to buying at least 2MWh/mo I can pay even less.
2. A friend from Florida had a brother who was working for the Florida Utility Commission (http://www.psc.state.fl.us/) approving or denying utilities' requests to raise their rates. Once he's been there for a few years his plan is to become a consultant to help the utility companies game the system and raise their rates.
Another example would be power (electricity). In some states, you can choose to buy power from solar, renewable sources, etc. The underlying infrastructure is the same; but the offerings change.
In the case of Internet, the government basically would give you access to some NAP or exchange; to get onto the Internet, you would have to buy access from some provider. Providers could differentiate themselves by a variety of services: some offering total privacy; some offering caching services so you get your content faster; some offering DVR/cloud services; etc. etc.
It is time we started treating access to the Internet as a service provided by the municipality, like water, power, sewage, roads, etc.