After talking to several of my neighbors in the new Eastport area, it is hit and miss if Centric has hooked up ANY of the network cables. My neighbors house 2 doors down, ALL network cables were active. In my house, zero network cables were hooked up in the garage box.
Centric will connect 1 network outlet to the modem for free. After that, they offer a 4 way switch for free, but you need to pay $129? for them to put the cable connectors on in the garage panel box. This will not cover all the available network lines in our house. We have 2 (upper & lower) in the master bedroom and living room. And 1 upper in the lanai. We opted not to network wire the 2 other bedrooms.
For Centric to install a 10 port switch/put connectors on all network lines in the garage box was about $230? AND a monthly fee on top of that.
I had Centric come and connect the upper living room network line to the modem which just involved installing 3 Cat 6 connectors. 2 for the modem line (each cable end) and one for the upper living room line, and their supplied pass thru connector to hook up the living room line to the modem line, in the garage box.
I then bought a $16 8 port switch and a $29 Cat 6 connector kit which includes everything needed to easily install the Cat 6 connectors in the garage box to the new switch, also housed in the garage box.
Now all my network lines are active, if I ever need to use them.
Seems daunting, but it’s actually a very simple procedure.

And my Centric $40 a month base speed of 100 mbps has our 2 hardwired tv’s operating basically lag free. We are also streaming to 2 iPads and 2 iPhones at the same time.
No need for the 1gb internet speed, as 99.999% of us will never come close to using the base 100mbps speed, never mind their 1 gb speed.

Our graphic artist daughter was here for a few weeks. She is a data hog, up/down loading massive files thru the day. She had no issues streaming with our 100 mbps speed.
Why people think they need, pay for the 1gbps speed is beyond me, as they will NEVER USE that much capacity.
Think having a 4” fire hose connected to your house water supply, instead of the 1” water supply line. You will never use the 4” capacity. Ever!

It’s easy to say you don’t have any Smart garage door openers, cameras, lights, etc. not everyone is in your usage category. Some of us have the 4” water supply line and use the higher speeds daily.

I understand your analysis, but $100-$200 dollars to have a tech come out to your house to put connectors on you ethernet cables and install an ethernet hub is not unreasonable. Centric is in business to make money and the techs don't work for free.

That said, you can purchase a 1Gbs ethernet hub or switch on Amazon and mount it and connect it up in your data cabinet for less than $50. As you mentioned can also buy the tool and connectors on Amazon to install the plugs on the cables as well. If you are handy, this is fine to save money but there are many here in the Villages who are not handy, don't want to do it themselves or are incapable of this kind of work and need a "professional" to come in and do the work.

I know this because I also live here in the Villages and do this work for my neighbors, friends and any referrals.

But I do agree, from experience, some new homes are all wired with an installed hub and others just have a few connections. It may be something to do with the "smart home" package you purchased or not. I also do agree it's foolish to rent the ethernet hub from Centric if that's the case. There are many here in the Villages who can do this work for you including myself inexpensively.

Finally concerning the speed issue, you said "Why people think they need, pay for the 1gbps speed is beyond me". It's confusing to you because you don't understand how the internet actually works and that's OK, I don't mean any disrespect to your comment. For most people who live here in the Villages, speeds from 100-500Mbs are more than enough.1 Gbs is overkill but if you work from home and do a lot of uploading and downloading of files then it can be useful. In my opinion, when shopping for internet service you will find the cheapest for 100Mbs then the next level up will be for speeds of 200-500Mbs. These days 500Mbs seems to be the "norm". If you pay $30 for 100Mbs and you can get 500Mbs for $40 or $50, thats a reasonable option to consider. As many have said except for fiber internet, your speed will vary durning the day and at prime time at night. Having a little more speed capacity will insure you have enough bandwith no matter how much is varies.

Hope this response puts things in perspective.

pre wired cable access
 

In the northern end of the Villages (in the Marion County area) the developer gave exclusive access to Comcast/Xfinity. I have never heard of any quid-pro-quo between the developer and Comcast, but...the residents cannot get access to any other cable provider. Dish is an alternative as long as you don't mind a wind catcher screwed through your $15k roof, or can get a dish to work from a ground install.
When you are not given a choice, someone is making out on the deal and it is almost never the homeowner. It could be that a different cable provider could use the wiring, as long as the standards are universal.

You could get internet service from T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon via their cell network.