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Killeen homeowners say realtors, developers never mentioned lack of high-speed internet

The realtor who sold the homes claimed he informed homeowners about the issue as soon as he found out about it. Reporter Andrew Moore asked the neighbors if that was the case.

KILLEEN, Texas — Homeowners in a Killeen neighborhood still can't get high speed internet after months of questions.

"The family is still upset about it, just like everyone else in the neighborhood is," Christian Wilson said. 

After multiple days of questions KCEN Channel 6 still doesn't know the exact reason why this section of a south Killeen neighborhood doesn't have high speed internet. 

When Channel 6 asked what happened that prevented service from going in, communication director Brian Anderson responded via email, saying "We are continuing to study the requirements of the project, but we have no time table to share at this moment."

RELATED: Spectrum responds to neighborhood with no cable internet

So, KCEN Channel 6 reporter Andrew Moore started to ask a different question: Why buy a house without internet in the first place?

"We were never told," Christian Wilson said. "Never told about this."

Like Wilson, many of the people Channel 6 talked to bought from Ashford Homes, and spoke with Ashford Homes project manager Mark Dean and realtor Bradley Sheppard. 

When Wilson moved into his new home in July and discovered there was no internet, he said his family told both Dean and Sheppard about the situation. 

Joshua Wanex moved into the area in August, and he said Dean explained why there were no internet lines shortly after he signed. 

"He said he gave the developers time whenever the lines were open along the street, to come out and lay their lines, water, city whoever needed to," Wanex said. "They never come out so they filled them in."  

RELATED: Killeen neighborhood built with no cable internet option

Wanex was only told this after he signed his contract, and was stuck in a home without high-speed internet, but this showed Dean knew what was going on with the internet issue new customers were facing. However, at the end of August, Ricardo Walker closed with Ashford Homes and an independent realtor on his property. 

Dean is the project manager for Ashford Homes, but Walker said the company never told his realtor about the lack of internet. When Walker found out, after signing his contract, he contracted everyone involved to try to get an answer. 

"The property manager told us it was on the builders, the builders told us it was on the cable company," Walker said. 

But even after Sheppard and Dean with Ashford Homes had the issue brought to their attention, Channel 6 was told they did not tell potential buyers afterwards. 

Tiffany Boster closed on her home with Sheppard and Ashford Homes in October. When asked if Sheppard told her before hand about the internet issue, she said no. 

"Would it surprise you at all that he knew there was an issue?" Moore asked. 

"Oh, he had to have known," Boster said. 

Channel 6 confronted Dean about how long he had known about the issue Monday, but he would not answer our questions as to why he did not inform buyers after he found out high-speed internet was not available. However, Sheppard insisted over the phone he was disclosing the issue to everyone as soon as he first found out about it. 

But, he couldn't specify when he found out. Channel 6 then asked Sheppard how he was letting people know about the issue.

"It's all word of mouth," Sheppard responded. "We don't have a disclosure form." 

Moore told the new homeowners about this response, and this time, they weren't buying it. 

"If you know something is messed up out here, you should let everybody know," Wilson said. "That's how I feel." 

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