Opinion

Hurricane AARP

If you thought Superstorm Sandy was destructive, take a look at what AARP has planned for our shore towns.

Yes, that’s the American Association of Retired Persons. The lobbying group is famous for its left-wing advocacy; now it’s fighting Verizon’s plans for Sandy-ravaged communities, like Mantoloking on the Jersey Shore and Fire Island on New York’s. AARP claims Verizon’s Voice Link, which connects land lines to a wireless network, means second-class service because among other things it doesn’t (yet) handle data.

Verizon says it makes no economic or technological sense to restore a 19th-century copper technology that is expensive to install and maintain. And in Mantoloking, at least, residents can get Internet and phone service from cable. The company also says it will work out solutions for individuals who need their copper restored for, say, transmitting medical data.

Meanwhile, New York’s Public Service Commission has announced a public hearing for later this month.

Let’s be clear.: AARP is fighting for yesterday’s technology. It helps to remember that AARP and the Communications Workers of America were part of the coalition that two years back helped kill a bipartisan bill that would have opened up New Jersey’s highly regulated telecoms market. They see new technologies as a threat because they require less labor to install and maintain.

AARP should be old enough to remember what prices and options were like when government was in charge of phones.

If Verizon’s service is as inferior as AARP claims, the way to fix it isn’t to have government regulators decree what technologies companies can and cannot offer. It’s with a free and open telecom market that will give competitors an incentive to come in and offer residents a better service at a better price.