Anecdotally: I've lived in the sort of place he's describing and the internet was an overpriced monopoly. Farmers and people in larger cities both paid much better prices for better service. But the ISP had some deal where they had exclusive rights to run equipment on the power poles (or other companies needed their technicians present first or some bullshit which they would delay to the point of impracticality).

At $115 he probably didn't get the lowest speed and could have done like $60 for internet and $40 for phone but yeah, I can believe it.