Verizon Plans to Hit Vermont with a "Nor'easter"

The NY Times has an in-depth article discussing the plight of Vermont and rural New England residents and their struggles to gain access to high speed internet. Their concerns are real -- lost jobs, lack of school resources, and the inability to run small businesses while constrained by insufficient internet connections.  And Verizon is planning to make things worse by selling off its rural phone lines in order to focus its resources on cities and suburbs -- a plan insiders say is dubbed "Project Nor'easter."

In a cruel twist of fate, Americans who need high speed internet the most are often ignored and overlooked by high speed providers. High speed internet is no longer a luxury -- it is a necessity in a competitive global economy. Each day a small business that does not access to broadband internet falls farther and farther behind competitors that do have high speed broadband internet.

For many rural Americans each day is an adventure navigating slow and unreliable dial up internet to run a business. Many worry that their business are becoming obsolete.

Unfortunately rural Americans who need high speed internet face a harsh reality. How can rural communities survive, while the age of broadband is passing them by?

Rural Areas Left in Slow Lane of High-Speed Data Highway