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I'm seriously conflicted here.

You shouldn't be - Comcast being a monopoly in virtually every market it is in, is basically itself like an arm of the federal government delivering internet - with all of the quality issues you so rightfully fear.

That's why preferring the city utilities is an easy choice to prefer, because when you are given the choice between two governments, always choose the smaller option.

I've seen some small municipalities have excellent community fiber. Longmont, Colorado is one such where residents seem to love it...

I have Comcast gigabit myself, and while it is OK (often preforming more at half-gigabit levels, but whatever) I would JUMP at the chance to switch to a community fiber solution if offered.

Cities are putting up fiber-as-utility all over right now. Just here in Colorado, we have some 6+ cities running their own fiber, they have 1+G connections to the homes (and more to businesses) for less than $100 (several are around $50 for that 1G up/down).
Centennial CO Fiber
Longmont CO fiber Ft. Collins, CO Fiber Oops. Turns out that we have over 100 towns/cities adding/already added GB fiber-as-utility on their own.

How is all this disagreeing with me?

What's happened to your property & sales taxes?

Property tax in Longmont, CO is unchanged since 1991. Sales taxes went up from a total of 8.26% to 8.515% effective January 1, 2018, after a ballot measure approving it was voted on by the residents in November. History data does not seem to be readily available.

There's some complaining that property tax assessments have risen sharply in recent years in Boulder County, where Longmont is, but that's county-wide, in both incorporated and unincorporated areas.

What's happened to your property & sales taxes?

Property tax in Longmont, CO is unchanged since 1991. Sales taxes went up from a total of 8.26% to 8.515% effective January 1, 2018, after a ballot measure approving it was voted on by the residents in November. History data does not seem to be readily available.

There's some complaining that property tax assessments have risen sharply in recent years in Boulder County, where Longmont is, but that's county-wide, in both incorporated and unincorporated areas.

Here is one that built their own: (like to rates & services)

http://www.longmontcolorado.go...

Longmont, CO
Ft. Collins is just figuring out how to do this.
Centennial information is probably the most detailed. Check this out.

There are more that have put in fiber and several others looking to do so. In general, they are taking the approach of 'wide out west'. Basically, they are installing and owning the fiber, BUT, then either sub-contract to another company to manage the fiber, while also allowing multiple companies to provide services. With this approach, you have a city-owned monopoly on the fiber, but all else is contracted on a competitive basis.
This really is the smart way to go. In fact, I would love to see utilities be forced to split their grid assets off (or their generators) and then focus on just 1 things.

If the government did it, they would be putting the finishing touches on their plan to roll ISDN

Like they did in Chattanooga, TN, Longmont, CO, and tens of other cities across the US? Oh wait, you said ISDN, not Gigabit fibre.

I'm not a big government fan, but when it comes to services that have reached utility level (aka everyone needs them to function in society, like water, electricity, and now internet access) the profit driven "free market" approach only seems to create monopolies that drive up prices and lower the quality of service.

Sigh. Again, this isn't a free market. Remember "billions in subsidies"?

The other issue is that this isn't like water and electricity. The same standards of delivery for those services was the same 100 years ago. Broadband has changed dramatically in the last 5 years. There is simply no comparison.

I have no problem at all with municipal broadband competing in a market on a level playing field (meaning they also have to provide service to places that might not be lucrative), which is mostly what you see in Chattanooga. But it can't be an either/or.

If the government did it, they would be putting the finishing touches on their plan to roll ISDN

Like they did in Chattanooga, TN, Longmont, CO, and tens of other cities across the US? Oh wait, you said ISDN, not Gigabit fibre.

I'm not a big government fan, but when it comes to services that have reached utility level (aka everyone needs them to function in society, like water, electricity, and now internet access) the profit driven "free market" approach only seems to create monopolies that drive up prices and lower the quality of service.

Demand is high in Longmont, CO. I know there are other projects in the same boat. http://longmontcolorado.gov/Ho... Early adoption always has snags, but it's finally at a point where it won't sink a community to invest in municipal broadband.

I just picked up municipal fiber in Longmont, Colorado. The company has a page that lists a number of options you could use with their service. I went with the NetGear Nighthawk and am quite pleased with it. Most of the devices in my house are wireless, but I do have a couple of machines plugged into its wired ports and do get ludicrous speed with it. It's a pretty consistent 600 mbps up and down according to speedtest.net, and my one-to-two gigabyte skydiving videos upload to youtube faster than I can type the description of the jump.

In Denver, CO we can choose between Century Link DSL (speeds suck) or Comcast (expensive and service sucks). If the city of Denver jumped in that would at least give us three choices. Competition is good, right?

I've seen ads from Century Link that they plan on offering 1gbs fibre service in Denver. I haven't looked into it, so have no other information (timing, area, cost, etc.) In the meantime, your neighbors to the north in Longmont approved municipal gig a while ago and signup for the service in the first area has begun. Apparently a dark fiber loop was laid a decade or two ago while other work was being done, but state laws - the usual we've heard about here on slashdot - prevented the city from using it to offer service. State law changed, the city voted to utilized the fibre, then again voted to fund it with bonds for a phased but quick rollout over three years instead of using subscriber proceeds for a rollout over decades. The fiber is getting expanded to all parts of the city, absolutely anybody who wants it will be able to get it, from what I understand.

http://longmontcolorado.gov/de...