What if you could own your own Internet connection?

What if you could own your own Internet connection? That's a very different model where residential, businesses, or other institutions would pay for the installation and maintenance of their own "last mile" link to the Internet, thus improving broadband reliability and choice. Although the idea may seem far fetched, in Ottawa, Canada, a trial experiment is already underway trying out the consumer-owned model for a downtown neighborhood of about 400 homes. Bill St. Arnaud, Chief Research Officer at CANARIE spearheading the Ottawa trial says: "If broadband services like telephony and broadcast TV are going to be free, the challenge then is to find a way to build out and pay for the infrastructure. This is why we believe user owned and controlled optical last mile networks are important." The main challenges with this model are economic, rather than technical. Most importantly, ownership has to be made appealing and affordable to consumers. The construction company is using conservative estimates that only 10% of homeowners will sign up and there will be a per-customer cost of $2700. If you assume 50% take-up, then the per-customer cost drops to $1100. Both figures might seem like a lot, but people pay for a variety of improvements to their home -- like remodeled kitchens, or a deck -- that also cost large sums.