I can't believe the uproar caused by an article from the technology journalism superpower that is the Rutland Herald...

I live in NH - if you could all calm down for 2 minutes I will try to explain:

Verizon.net ISP provided a convenience site whereby Yahoo!, AOL and MSN users could read their email from a pretty, Verizon-branded portal. (Let's call this portal "Third Party Web Site".) or they could read their email directly from the sites of those webmail providers.

Starting soon, Fairpoint is taking over for Verizon in VT, NH, and ME (that's Maine, not "me"). Not suprisingly, "s/verizon/fairpoint/"

So the now *Fairpoint* customers can't keep using "Third Party Site" which is provied by Verizon.net (which still exists, just not in VT, NH, and ME)

In its place, customers can now use the new "Fairpoint Third Party Web Site" or they could use the sites of their direct webmail providers.

Now go back and RTFA again. Get it now? Not as scary?

I'm no Fairpoint fanboi by any means, but this is the worst case of Slashdot hysteria I've ever seen.

I'm wondering about the "pulled to the surface and repaired on deck" part.

I imagine a cable laying on the sea floor going more or less "straight"
from A to B. Is there enough slack in the line to bring the broken
ends to the surface and hold them together?

(Clearly, the answer must be 'yes'. But I'm just wondering if anyone knows
more about it. Do they intentionally leave in some slack just for such a
reason when they lay a cable like this?)