A $500/entry price will be a non-starter for most...for underserved rural communities, this will be a boon.....
However this will not kill Comcast or Telecoms, they will just compete..... Expect lower prices.....
The $500 is because of low production rates for the equipment. It also reduced the number of subscribers to a reasonable level so speed doesn't suffer.
It will come down in short order.
My sister in Minneapolis, MN was paying $65 a month a few years ago for internet only from XFINITY/Comcast. She cancelled.
Their deals today include a 1.2tb cap which is a lot except if you watch tv and movies then it may not be. Price now starts as little as $25/month for 25/mps download and $50/month for 200mbs download speed. I think competition must have happened.
https://www.xfinity.com/learn/internet-service/deals
She now only uses her cell phone from T-Mobile.
T-Mobile gives 50gb then slows down the connection if congested till the congestion is less.
I am in Calif and pay $50 a month for 70mbs download speed with no cap. Up in 2 years from $42
T-Mobile:
No overages or data caps apply on our network. Data prioritization will only be noticeable when you access a congested tower and have used over 50GB of data in a particular billing cycle. You will continue to get unlimited high speed data on your smartphone when you aren’t accessing a congested tower.