extending cable internet

I would think you would either just pay the CableCo what they charge to run the last 4-500' or you could make the run yourself. You could trench the distance and lay some PVC and snake a rope inside it in preparation for the cable and they might run the 500' for free if you had it all ready for them to pull through - the cable doesn't cost all that much itself if they won't pay for it and PVC isn't too expensive. The digging would be the big part unless you're on a farm and already have the equipment to do it.

Above ground (I wouldn't recommend) you could follow whatever you already have running above ground (electrical ?) using the same poles, etc.

FWIW, the drop bury I've seen done in two different subdivisions here used a team of 3 guys with landscape shovels hand digging a a tiny sliver trench and direct burying the cable. Comcast contractors... who arrived in a beat up 4 door sedan, no uniforms, no identification, and didn't speak english very well, heading to my backyard with shovels.

Equipment and PVC... heh... well, not so much.

For a run that long, you'l absolutely want to use the lowest loss cable you could afford. But you may not have the choice--providing your own cable and such might only invite them to say they can't afford to support that which they didn't isntall. You might be stuck with paying them for extending things farther.

If you wanted to be inventive, and are friendly with the neighbor, a piont to point wifi network between your house and his might be a good way to go. Or running cable to his house. Probably breaking the terms of service from the cable company, but you DID try to pay for service from them and they turned you down. But... technically feasible certainly.

Well, around here it is run in PVC and we have all underground utilities. PVC is cheap and makes it a lot easier to upgrade the cable (which they did recently to probably new RG6 [no graphics on it]).

You said you could run power / build a shed at the drop.

You can setup a point to point wifi bridge from the drop to your house.

I am not current on all the brands ... but if you can find a wireless router, that will accept a wifi access point as a client, and then setup the wifi access point in your house connected to a hub/switch. Maybe two routers where one can be set as a client?

I had it setup where I had a normal old style Linksys router, connected to a Linksys WAP11 access point in one building, and a Linksys WAP11 access point connected to a 8 port Linksys switch in another building ... which connected the two buildings wirelessly, and all worked liked a champ!

As a matter of fact I still have the "kit" (The befsr11 router, the two wap11's) .... for sale if interested (if you don't mind old 802.11B technology)