[BystanderX]

I recall reading about this being done, honestly. The community actually running the lines.

I wish I remembered where, I'd link it.

[skorgu]

There's a big ol thread [0] on this in NANOG with lots of juicy implementation details. I'd hesitate to use the word 'consensus' in relation to a mailing list in any way but my take home is that if the municipality sticks to providing L1 (i.e. a physical fiber as opposed to an 'internet connection') it requires a manageable level of expertise and still vastly lowers the cost of entry for ISPs to provide the rest of the stack.

[0] http://mailman.nanog.org/pipermail/nanog/2014-July/068527.ht...

[davidandgoliath]

There's a small town in the UK that ran their own lines, literally. http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Broadband-UK-Fiber-DIY-Fibe... :)