This is kind-of intended for Karl, but also looking for some general comments and input from others here as well...
It occurs to me that one way DSLR could help people in this country get better broadband speeds is through the development of a community broadband activism toolkit. In addition to being a voice of reason on key issues like creation of municipal broadband, we could develop something - links, online tools, additional forums, and other things - that could be used by people to begin discussing topics like creating municipal broadband with the public and our elected officials.
I'm certain that I'm not the only one out here who sees the value in something like this.
I'll take it a step further. Why not seek to organize a grass-roots group to promote better broadband service in the United States? Call it something like Citizens for Our Broadband Future, and set up a forum so people can get organized, first, on a national level and then within states and communities. All the work can't be done online--there will eventually need to be face-to-face meetings on the local level, but an online forum is a great place to start.
Next we will hear that the Georgia House will prohibit complaints against supermarkets that don't stock the brands of bread, cereal, or whatever the customers want, so that the supermarket plutocrats can do business their way, and no other as long as they offer one kind of bread, two kinds of cerial that they select, and so on, while yelling all the time "Free enterprise, bubba, Love it or leave it!
This is much like the way communist countries operated at one time; just imagine, the "Bolshevik Georgia Legislature".