Seattle-area firm focuses on towns under 50,000 to bring data at affordable price: By partnering with local utilities in these smaller towns, Maverick can reduce its capital risk and focus entirely on service. The company charges $25 to $60 per month for rates from about 128 Kpbs to 1 Mbps. They may be in 23 markets by fall 2005, including their current deployments being built out in Kennewick, Silverdale, and Poulsbo.
Although this brief company overview doesn't mention it, an important application for having these kinds of robust Internet connections is for Internet telephony. If you're in a rural area, "local calling" is quite local. A VoIP line from Vonage or Packet8 could dramatically decrease the charges for calling within the state as well as for long distance.