"especially as you have smaller players that are able to buy last mile lines wholesale at/near cost to compete."
The US has just as much as this.
US rates are lower for the more common bandwidth options [1][2], and as soon as you consider Purchasing Parity - Canadian rates are very high. 'Equipment' / CAPEX is a tiny part of the cost of said networks, so it really should cost a lot less to manage networks in Canada if salaries are lower. Once that factor is taken into consideration Canadian prices are very materially higher.
That US companies are cheezy with their 'increasing rates' is kind of a different story.
Which smaller ISP in the US is able to resell lines from Comcast, TW, AT&T, and Verizon with nationwide coverage?
I'm not aware of the US mandating lines be resold at controlled costs dictated by the FCC, but I don't deal with consumer/eyeball networks so perhaps I'm missing something? From the frequent complaints I see about duopolies in most US networks, I'm quite skeptical of this.
In metro Vancouver, I'm able to purchase 1G VPLS fiber links for around $800/mo, and dark fiber in the $1000-$2000/mo range for the most part, with similar pricing in Calgary and Toronto. Quotes I've seen in Seattle and Los Angeles have been typically 3-6x that range.
I can purchase municipal dark fiber in Coquitlam or New Westminster (suburbs of Vancouver) for $400/mo, and I believe Montreal is $500/mo. I'm not aware of being able to buy metro dark fiber for anywhere near that anywhere in the US.
The US has just as much as this.
US rates are lower for the more common bandwidth options [1][2], and as soon as you consider Purchasing Parity - Canadian rates are very high. 'Equipment' / CAPEX is a tiny part of the cost of said networks, so it really should cost a lot less to manage networks in Canada if salaries are lower. Once that factor is taken into consideration Canadian prices are very materially higher.
That US companies are cheezy with their 'increasing rates' is kind of a different story.
[1] https://mobilesyrup.com/2019/12/18/canada-top-five-highest-c...
[2] https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/693.nsf/eng/00169.html