My friend did this in the mid-90's. He had a T1 to his house (this was circa 95-97) and ran an ISP from his actual garage. It was all modem based at the time of course. Didn't think anyone could compete with the big TelCos but I'd gladly switch if I could. I'm in NYC and it seems to me that the major players here have a stronghold on the business. I could be wrong though. I have verizon fios now and it's just ok. Better than TimeWarner that I had for years until I moved.