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I was just IMing with my friend who lives in the “hood†in Princeton (Maclean St.) and he was complaining because the BlueJersey podcast was taking so long to download. He only has dial-up internet connection. How could this be?? It turns out that Verizon does not offer high-speed internet in his neighborhood. They only offer high-speed internet where they think they can make a profit.
Now Verizon wants to get a statewide franchise from our legislators. They want to take over all of our communications with a legalized monopoly, putting all competition out of business with one easy bill. They’re putting out press releases like this one claiming customers want this – while the competing cable companies, which on their website Keep it Local produce another poll showing the opposite.
Verizon is fooling customers by promising them the moon and the stars in service, without mentioning the downsides.
Wealthy customers and neighborhoods will continue to be favored while others will be neglected -- this might be ok when we're talking about some other market-driven service but not communication.
Without competition, service will become even worse (as if Verizon service could become worse).
With a statewide franchise, local public access channels will be dead.
But there are huge amounts of money involved and the legislation is backed by some Democrats.
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