This is in response to the July 12 editorial, “Too early to judge FairPoint.” I, for one, think FairPoint is doing fine.

After being a Verizon customer most of my life, and at one point working for New England Telephone, FairPoint has come through for me. I live in Otisfield, stuck between a rock (Oxford Networks) and a hard place (FairPoint in Casco, servicing the western part of town).

Dial-up Internet service has been the way of life here for the last 10 years. HughNet and Wildblue helped to speed things up a bit, but the service left a lot to be desired, especially if the house phone rang. There is no cable in town because it’s not cost effective. People choose to live out here, though, and know the drawbacks.

FairPoint promised DSL, and it came through three weeks ago for a lot of residents in the East Otisfield/Bell Hill area. FairPoint is dealing with antiquated equipment left by Verizon after it’s monopoly of the telecommunications industry for the last 50+ years. I admit, it takes a while to get through to FairPoint’s customer service, and some employees I’ve dealt with at FairPoint seem to be leftovers from Verizon (and their attitude reflects that, in poor customer service). But there are other FairPoint employees willing to go the extra mile to prove FairPoint deserves to be in business here in Northern New England.

Marilyn Strout, Otisfield

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