Fairpoint Commits To DSL Rollout in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont

I've written in the past about the Verizon Northern State (Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont) sell off to Fairpoint Communications and have expressed my concerns about the lack of bandwidth in these states. An article in the Benninton (Vermont) Banner on July 12 described DSL rollout by Faipoint in Bennington County and also discussed expansion in all 14 Vermont counties. Fairpoint spokeswoman Beth Fastiggi is quoted in the piece as follows:

By 2010, we hope to have at least 80 percent of households in the state with DSL access and.... we hope to have every customer in half of our exchanges access by 2010 as well.

The piece makes it clear that initial rollout coverage will not be available to everyone. Fastiggi is further quoted:

We're doing certain areas in each town — nothing we're doing encompasses the entire town. I don't want to say we're expanding bit by bit, but we are moving neighborhood by neighborhood.

Regarding the future for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont customers, Fastiggi is quoted:

The current expansion is all using DSL. The network we're building is capable of being upgraded. It can use the higher-speed DSL service, and can use fiber.

The Banner piece also claims Fairpoint's DSL service starts at $17.99 per month which (at the time of this writing) I have not been able to confirm. I could also not confirm downstream and upstream bandwidths.