Long ago, in the ancient mists of prehistory, the internet was a luxury.

Today, the internet’s part of... well, everything. Yet most Americans get online the same way our stupid caveman ancestors did: Paying corporations for permission to access private telecommunication networks. Since internet service providers (ISPs) own much of the infrastructure that America’s internet runs on, they get to make the rules—determining prices, speeds, and, depending on where you live, if you can even get online.

Yet even as the internet weaves itself deeper into every aspect of our lives—functioning less like a luxury and more like a public utility—ISPs have more control than ever. Last December, Ajit Pai, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), ignored public sentiment and scrapped Obama-era net neutrality regulations, granting ISPs even more power to control their customers’ access to news, entertainment, and online services.

But there’s a different way to get online, and it might be a better one: An internet infrastructure that’s owned not by corporations, but by the public.

Portlanders don’t have to look far to see one in action.