Nearly every ISP in the business loses money on every account they open. Netcom adds, they incur a loss of 25 cents. When the time comes for an ISP to grow its system, it's terribly difficult to pay for it. Individual users do not support The Net. The Future Communications firms solved a similar problem earlier this century.
Large corporations can avoid paying higher prices.
But most businesses cannot get volume discounts or build their own infrastructure. Small businesses put up with this because they need phones to survive. They supported a monopoly structure that allowed the telephone company to grow. But most small businesses do not need the Internet. Many small businesses have Web sites.