For all of the bumps and warts of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as a consumer I remember the era fondly. My personal Internet connectivity improved more significantly (in terms of percentage improvement over time) in that era than it has since. Since that regime was dismantled, innovation in Internet connectivity has seemed far more stagnant and difficult for upstart companies to disrupt. It is a bit disappointing that we have elected to go down the path we have rather than revisit the model from 1996.