My concern with this is that I don't trust the ILECs to build a "wide pipe." I suspect they will keep the pipe narrow to artificially create a scarsity of bandwidth so they can "justify" this preferential treatment.

If they artificially keep the pipe narrow, then they also will not be able to offer high-bandwidth services as well. No? So the question is who will blink first. Since I believe in my model, I just have to wait them out.