Fairpoint just another step back in the tech world for New Hampshire

I remember back when fiber optics were something that only businesses could afford. The first time I heard it would be available to residents in this country I was floored: here was something that could really take off. The sky was the limit for what companies could offer consumers as far as technology: downloading entire episodes of TV shows, downloading movies, an entire discography of your favorite band. Anything. 

I lived in Derry when Verizon first started digging around and setting up FiOS. I was extremely excited about this, especially when I saw the price. I knew it would only be good for consumers as finally something would be able to compete against Comcast. Not only would it compete, but for something that would be much much faster and be able to offer much much more, it was at a much cheaper price. Win-win for the consumer.

And then the Fairpoint deal happened. This state really screwed up by allowing that to happen. We actually were in a unique situation, as most of this country was not even able to sniff something like FiOS. People I know all around the country were envious that we would be able to have it before them. But it was gone in a flash.

I know far too many people in New Hampshire that would love something like FiOS but are stuck with dialup. Or DSL. Or satellite internet. I'm sorry, but DSL is far from being the best choice out there. Sure, it's an option, but the more options, the better. And FiOS is head and shoulders above even broadband.

So what happened? Well, Verizon knew what was going down, so they stopped laying fiber north of Derry. That's right: if you live in Manchester or Concord or anywhere north of there, too bad, so sad. That's right, two of the biggest cities in this entire state have been shut out from having what people in Derry have. Rather than push our state ahead of the game as far as laying an excellent foundation for infrastructure, we take two giant steps back.

Don't kid yourselves - even if Fairpoint wanted to come up with something like FiOS they can't, they are way too small. Didn't people wonder why a smaller company (Fairpoint) was buying out all the landlines from a multi-billion dollar corporation (Verizon)? Does that make sense to anyone?