William Kemble in The Daily Freeman reports that State Sen. Terry Gipson, a Democrat who represents citizens around Rhinebeck, wants to keep telephone poles on the sides of the highway, and Verizon wants to evolve to a wireless future, in a battle that begins in Fire Island. "In May, Verizon applied for approval of statewide substitution of Voice Link, cellular service for wired service, but was limited by the commission to use only on Fire Island," Kemble writes. But Gipson says wireless service is "less reliable during power outages than copper-based wireline service and this increases customers’ vulnerability to power outages.” Verizon Vice President Tom Maguire counters that wireless won't hurt the environment. “It makes much more sense to go that route considering that most of the customers use wireless devices anyway as opposed to digging up half the place and trying to fix a copper network that there’s no guarantee that anybody is going to use the copper network once we fix it,” he said in May. The public can comment on the Fire Island case, with its statewide implications, via email to secretary@dps.ny.gov, or mailed to Secretary, Public Service Commission, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, N.Y. 12223-1350. Comments should refer to “Case 13-C-0197-Voice Link on Fire Island.” Comments can also be made by phone, toll-free, at (800) 335-2120. Press “1” to leave comments. Read the full story in The Daily Freeman.