Having a good "ISP," Internet Service Provider is critical to most businesses these days.

A local woman who runs an Internet Service Provider (ISP) says the government might force her, to shut down. And as Peggy Fox tells us when an ISP goes down it can take a lot of other businesses along with it.

Peggy Fox reporting

One Fairfax, Virginia printing company is moving out to Sterling. The company doesn't need a more expensive walk-in location because nobody places orders in person anymore.

Having a good "ISP," Internet Service Provider is critical to most businesses these days. And many small businesses use small ISPs for that one-on one attention.

Fairfax ISP Patriot Net has about 4000 clients, it's most important is a telework center located in the same building as Patriot net.

George Mason University manages three telecom centers. More than 80 federal employees work in the centers and it is Patriot Net that provides the individual services for each of the workers.

Patriot Net and other ISPs fear the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will force them out of business.

Patriot Net CEO Cynthia De Lorenzi is worried the FCC will side with Verizon and stop forcing the phone company to share its lines.

De Lorenzi has started a "Gigabyte March" on the Internet where concerned parties can post their opinions for the FCC. An FCC spokesman says they are trying to preserve competition and that it's the courts demanding the FCC justify those rules that force Verizon to share its network.

Nine News talked with a spokesperson for "Verizon," he says the company values its relationship with hundreds of Internet Service Providers.

According to the spokesperson Verizon is looking for more flexibility in its commercial agreements.

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