Dr_b_ :
Political agendas don't lead to good policy making, although its impossible to remove politics from government agencies, it would be in everyone's best interest if it were possible. AP is holding to pro-business republican party line, probably also positioning himself for post FCC job in industry or other government elected office - if you heard him speak on other topics its quite obvious.
Don't forget he was nominated for the position by Barack Obama (though at the suggestion of Mitch M.) and then confirmed UNANIMOUSLY.
They are ALL bought off (both sides), which is why we need a RICH business man (with proven abilities to RUN something large and MAKE MONEY doing it with massive efficiency) at this point to run the country, which is basically the largest business in the world. The problem we have is most of the 536 (incl POTUS) people currently running our govt, have no idea how to manage ANYTHING and have never done anything in life but RUN FOR OFFICE over and over and over, while padding their wallets yearly via more and more lobbyists paying checks to sell us out.
We desperately NEED people who know how to make money and probably more importantly FIRE employees that SUCK, are on the take, or don't take their position as OUR employees, SERIOUSLY. They seem to all have no idea THEY WORK FOR US! I will be VOTING against any incumbent with more than 4yrs in office (and less too if they sucked so far). Maybe they will get the message. Term limits should exist to stop this lobby-bought for life crap anyway. We still have the EXACT veterans scandal going on now (see recent report) 2yrs later, with nothing changed and NOBODY has been FIRED. I expected HUNDREDS fired by now (thousands?), without PENSIONS for negligence etc. I'm looking at YOU John Mccain. Chairman of the ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE, and NOBODY fired yet. YOU sir, are FIRED ASAP. Multiple people changing seats, stepping down (sliding sideways into other great positions), is FAILURE. Anyone involved in this should not be allowed to EVER work in govt related jobs again. Period. That harsh? Tell it to the dead veterans families and those STILL waiting on lists just to get help. We should be talking about jail time for those who got bonuses for throwing forms in the trash (shredded, whatever) from vets. I could go on about scandal after scandal and thousands more that need firing and or jail time, but you get the point. There is a reason congress has a 17% rating nation-wide. FIRE them all next Nov please! VOTE (them out! both sides!).
Bring on the Google's, municipalities, etc to compete NOW and we'll see how fast they start spending on upgrades. OP was right, they only respond when google threatens coming to their area. We need massive threats from companies (or cities) to are getting into ISP business ASAP. Why apple/msft etc are not following google is beyond me. Together they could force upgrades (or actually do it themselves) all over USA just by saying "we're coming with Gbit unlimited for $50-70 to city X, Y, and Z". You'd hear announcements from Cox, Comcast etc in weeks if not days. AT&T actually BEAT Google into Austin and Google was going first (supposedly), so clearly they have plans already in place to upgrade basically overnight, but are just waiting to do it when FORCED by competition.