One thing I like about the UK is the concept of regulated competition. The purpose is to ensure that there is always a competitive market place - so for instance in Internet technology, wholesale provider provides DSL layer 1/2 to multiple ISPs, who provide the PPPoA/E termination and value added services (e.g. email). There is often other technology available to the same addresses - cable, FTTP. The result is that for most addresses there is a choice of about 200 ISPs. The one I use (Andrews and Arnold) is expensive, but I have a /28 and a /48, I can run servers, the line is monitored once every second using their custom-build hardware, and I've had them ring me to say there is a fault on the line which will be cleared within half an hour. Also they implement the Shibboleet protocol. I pay for this, and for most consumers it would not be worthwhile - but that's the point. There is genuine competition with real differentiation between ISPs.