Thus, the geographic spread of ISPs determines the cost of Internet access for most of the US population. A critical issue for policymakers is whether commercial ISPs will naturally provide wide geographic scope of their own accord, in pursuit of profitability. The influence of commercial forces on the availability of Internet access does not encourage Greenstein to believe that ISPs will necessarily provide universal access. To document the economic forces at work, Greenstein characterizes the location of over 14,000 dial-up access points offered by commercial ISPs in the spring of 1997. He charts the availability of cheap Internet access in different geographic areas, not its adoption by users.
Markets differ widely in their structure, from competitive to unserved.
Just under three-quarters of the US population, including virtually all major urban areas and some rural areas, had easy access to commercial ISPs in spring 1997. Approximately 15 percent of the US population lived on the margin between easy access and none, in inadequately competitive markets. The balance of the US population had access to ISPs in neighboring areas. Virtually every national vendor provides access in the major urban areas, where access is, predictably, plentiful. This is consistent with the view of many analysts that Internet access is becoming a commodity business.