Community company Wansdyke Telecom will need £2 million of investment from local people to get its people power broadband scheme under way.
The enterprise, which is pledging to bring fast fibre optic broadband to rural communities in north east Somerset, wants to do away with promises of "up to" certain speeds.
It says it will need more investment to get a core network established.
Spokesman Matt McCabe said: "It's all about getting the core network to local communities and then signing up customers. But we think £2 million is what we need to get started and to reach the point where we can begin funding our own digs."
More details of what investors will get should be available in the next couple of weeks.
Mr McCabe said of its speed promise: "Everyone knows that when you buy broadband you get quoted an 'up to' speed, and then after a while you realise that you will never get anywhere near that speed.
"So, what we're planning to do is offer everyone a speed promise. If you buy our entry level 10 megabits per second package, that's the speed you'll get."
Wansdyke will be offering broadband packages with "between" speeds, with entry level being between 10 megabits per second and 20 megabits per second, at a cost of £35 per month including line rental and unlimited calls.
Mr McCabe said: "What we want to do is charge people for the speeds they will actually be using, and not for a speed they might achieve at 4am on a Sunday morning when no one else is using the internet."
It says its fibre optic broadband will start at 100 megabits per second.
The company – set up by people frustrated at BT and council progress in rural areas – has already laid the first stretch of fibre optic network in the Newton St Loe area and the plan is to extend it westwards.
