And she's getting DSL? How? Serious question, not rhetorical or snarky. It's possible the tech has changed.

Back when I got it, you had to be within a certain distance of a major phone switching station to have it work. I lucked out by being in a relatively urban area. Had the cable internet been invented yet, I probably would have gone that route.

There's satellite and stuff for rural areas. What does she do for television?

Anyway, it's not a good example for your "not competitive" point. There are many goods and services where people who live in isolated areas don't have a lot of choices. That's just the way it is. For example, government intervention wouldn't be able to realistically give a rural inhabitant easy access to five different grocery stores when they are only within easy driving distance of one small town.