what are tier 1 internet service providers 
consumers and businesses are accustomed to the idea that they should be able to connect to the internet from anywhere whether at home or while sitting in a local coffee shop to deliver connectivity at high speed companies have to invest in expensive infrastructure that includes fiber optic cables because of the high cost of investment tier 1 isps often appear like a monopoly in their regions a specific company may appear to have near total or total control of the market in a particular area in the united states companies may appear to operate in an oligopoly rather than a monopoly where two or more companies work together to achieve market returns this idea is reinforced by the fact that some of the major american isps became so prominent by using the infrastructure that they inherited from the original telecom monopoly that was ma bell current tier 1 isps continue to invest in infrastructure and they may well be the only players in that market until new technologies that don t depend on fiber cables in the ground emerge think the likes of starlink an entity inside spacex founded by elon musk which is developing a low latency broadband internet system that aims to meet the needs of consumers around the globe enabled by a constellation of low earth orbit satellites the ongoing demand for faster speeds and an improved internet experience means that most of the biggest isps have invested heavily in 5g wireless technology others have tried to enter the tier 1 isp market and have met with mixed results alphabet google s parent company ran google fiber as part of its access division as of 2024 google fiber is only available in select cities in 19 states alabama arizona california colorado florida georgia illinois idaho iowa kansas missouri nebraska nevada north carolina south carolina tennessee texas utah and washington 2examples of internet service providersmany of the largest isps are also large telecommunications companies that provide a wide array of services for example in addition to data and broadband internet services at t t provides local and long distance telephone service managed networking telecom equipment and feature film television and gaming production and distribution verizon communications vz is another isp that has a diversified range of services the conglomerate offers local and long distance voice as well as broadband video data center and cloud services and security and managed network services to help low income families and older people handle the cost some isps offer special programs the federal government also opened an emergency broadband benefit ebb program on may 12 2021 to provide help to families to get these services the ebb was replaced by the affordable connectivity program on dec 31 2021 3