To the Editor:

Regarding Scott McLeod’s piece last week about the availability of internet service (www.smokymountainnews.com/opinion/item/19234), it is a big problem.

My husband and I moved to Maggie Valley from Colorado after he retired. The man who sold us his house had DSL. There is a DSL line coming to the house. After we moved in, we were told that AT&T would not give us DSL service because they were “capped out.” 

First they told us that they would contact us. Then we were told that we needed to call them in the winter when they would have lines available. They told us everything except that Santa would give us a DSL line.  

If we had known about not having internet we would not have bought this house. I have warned my friends and family across the country about the internet problem when buying a home. I don’t think we’ll be able to get what we paid for if we sell our home because everything now depends on internet.

We are on a fixed income. I am paying $130 per month for 40 gigs with Sprint. That’s the best I can do. If I go over that, it's $50 per gig. I know because one month we had company and used 52 gigs. That's $600 in overage charges. Luckily, my husband called Sprint and they gave us one month of “forgiveness.” It is absolutely frightening.  

I feel like I am living in the 1800s and I don’t feel like anyone cares.

Carol Rooney

Maggie Valley