I understand what you guys mean with going to your town/city council meetings and bring up that we should invest in local ISPs, but could someone explain what we should say exactly?
The biggest point to hit on is that with greater accessibility to the internet a community has greater access to the world at large. Businesses need this and currently with the availability of quality internet being so rare in North America businesses are relocating and starting up in these internet oasis's. Use the example of Chattanooga to show how access to affordable, quality, neutral internet can lead to great prosperity for a community. Point out that the ancient copper infrastructure requires more hardware and constant maintenance and has a much shorter lifespan. And that fiber is just really cool, that'll win them over for sure.