certainly the fibre to the home (FtttH) endgame needs engineering, both technically and politically, to ensure that USO is guaranteed - the alternative is a deeper digital divide than currently exists with 1st generation broadband, as evidenced by your sister’s predicament.

I founded http://www.neoeon.com back in 2003 to address rural digital exclusion in East Yorkshire

- it is a testament to the failure of ADSL to deliver any semblance of broadband USO that today, some 3 years since BT announced that service was available at every exchange in the country, Neoeon continues to provide broadband service for hundreds of rural residents and businesses who otherwise have no reasonably priced alternative available, not even via the much hyped 3G mobile broadband dongle.

(of course, broadband has in a sense been universally available for years already, if you have deep enough pockets to install and lease a dedicated fibre feed, however the whole point of any USO is accessibility which means affordability surely)

The first wave of community broadband networks discovered that they could create their own independent local broadband infrastructures using wireless innovation;

I’m convinced there is a fantastic opportunity today for those same communities, and any other that so desires, to choose the path of local FttH infrastructure, ideally mutually owned and perhaps guided by a commercial partner for an initial term that encompasses the design, build and operation of the resultant local access network.

When you think about it - who needs BT when you can DIY?