Originally Posted by Lucio 
So, if a bunch of scientists, with a few million quid lying around could pull this off, why are our ISP's with turnovers into the billions fail to complete even a basic upgrade?
Because the majority of ISPs essentially sell someone else's service in one form or another.
For example, most ADSL ISP's are just reselling BT's IPStream. Those that are lucky enough to have a LLU exchange still use copper wires to the home.
Virgin is better - at least they own their own equipment to the door and keep pushing up speeds (if you get it is a different matter though).
The Grid looks like an 'internet' built from the ground up. As it stands, the current internet is frightfully inefficient in what it does. If you start again you can correct these issues.
That and nearly all ISP's don't have scientific research and development premises
