From: nilknocgeo@earthlink.net   
      
   "Robert Heller"  wrote in message   
   news:xMGdnV2gbJFe4SnOnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d@giganews.com...   
   >a lot of money.   
   >   
   > Unless the copper is falling apart (in places it litterally is). Yes, it   
   > costs   
   > more to replace the *existing* copper with fiber, but if you are going to   
   > *replace* the infrastructure, replacing it with *old* [dead end]   
   > technology is   
   > just plain stupid. In the case of Western Mass (probably all of the rural   
   > areas of the east coast), the copper is old and has NOT been maintained   
   > well   
   > over the past several decades. The climate all up and down the   
   > Appliciacian   
   > mountain chain is hard on things like telephone wire -- it rains alot,   
   > there   
   > are hurricanes, snow storms, etc. And Verizon has not been incrementally   
   > replacing the cables and the telcos that Verizon sold most of it off to   
   > don't   
   > have the funds to replace the cables (and at least one is bankrupt). The   
   > cables are old and it bad shape and need to be replaced. It is *dumb* to   
   > replace them with copper.   
   >   
      
   There is also the capacity issue.  With a huge number of new houses, the   
   number of existing lines was exhausted.  Thus replacing copper with fiber is   
   the only path to follow.   
   Western MA is not growing like the NC mountains.  When I connected, the had   
   11,000 new connections that year, with no cable to provide alterntive   
   service.  Cell phone providers such as AT&T had abandoned the area (except   
   for Boone itself).  Even Verizon offers only partial service.  People drive   
   onto the farm road on the hill opposite me just to connect, and that is   
   really dangerous. so one man uses a 4-wheeler to do it.  And don't quote   
   census figures to me.  People are enumerated in the city where they have a   
   permanent dwelling, eve if they pay for phone service in a different house.   
      
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