I hate to be Debbie Downer, but --- this battle has already been lost. Not just this battle, this war has already been lost.
Go ahead, write a letter. But you won't. Maybe, just maybe, you'll make the effort fire off an angry email. Yeah, right. That will really accomplish something. Err, no it won't.
Don't like what I said? Neither do I! But, tell me, in specific, concrete terms, what can "the little guy" do about this? Nothing, except for opting out. E.g. using Ooma instead of ILEC dialtone. Use Netflix instead of a cable subscription. Big deal. You're still buying IP dialtone from the oligopoly. And the number of cord cutters is still relatively insignificant.
The state of this situation is getting worse, actually; remember that net neutrality lawsuit Verizon is trying to push through? Their lawyers made it clear they want not just to prioritize traffic, but to block some altogether.
So really, short of getting your service from infrastructure laid down directly by a CLEC, there really is no opting out. That's why I still say writing a letter of concern is the very least you can do.
EDIT: It's worth mentioning here that not all regulators are spineless. Pay attention to how New York is handling the Fire Island case. After Verizon refused to install new infrastructure (offering them wireless service as a substitute), some of the state officials proposed fines of somewhere in the six figures per customer. Verizon buckled under the pressure, and wired the whole island for FiOS.
It gets better too; despite Verizon's protests, the state is launching an investigation into how much it costs them to provide wireline service.
So seriously, please don't be apathetic about this. The people of Fire Island weren't, and it seems to have worked out for them.
No, using Netflix just feeds these bureaucracies more money. Torrent everything that you can, and encourage others to do so. It really is the only way to take these horrible entities down.
If you want to support the content creators, then give them a direct donation after torrenting the content instead of letting the record companies or what have you get its dirty hands on a huge chunk of it.
Go ahead, write a letter. But you won't. Maybe, just maybe, you'll make the effort fire off an angry email. Yeah, right. That will really accomplish something. Err, no it won't.
Don't like what I said? Neither do I! But, tell me, in specific, concrete terms, what can "the little guy" do about this? Nothing, except for opting out. E.g. using Ooma instead of ILEC dialtone. Use Netflix instead of a cable subscription. Big deal. You're still buying IP dialtone from the oligopoly. And the number of cord cutters is still relatively insignificant.