Reply #14: Interesting, Joanne...Last mile dark fiber...

[Dunvegan]

...that's the cut-out between the telco CO (central office) and all of all phones and home and small office Internet connections.

A telco's carrier signal originates from a their CO, their Central Office, and dissipates over distance, much like the radio signal from your favorite AM radio station starts to deteriorate the further you drive out of town. The maximum distance that you can be from the Telco's Central Office is 15000feet (which is just under 3 miles).

Last mile carriers run the copper or fiber which is costly between the telco and you, yet the telco still profits from as being the signal carrier.

Running the fibre or copper doesn't necessarly hand you the keys to switching...but I'd have to look into it a little more to know what latitude last mile companies do have.