KILLEEN, Texas —
Many of the new homeowners living in the new community off of Charles Goodnight Avenue were excited about moving to their new neighborhood. When they moved in, they called the local internet companies to get squared away.
The newly built area with Prewitt Ranch Road to the north and Reeces Creek Road to the south just had the second phase put in, but that phase was built with no high speed internet connections.
"(We're) pretty angry, because it just wasn't told to us going through the process of picking out a home," Ricardo Walker said.
Like many other homeowners, Walker spent hours on the phone with Spectrum trying to find out what was going on. But while homeowners were told many things by both Spectrum and the local builders, an official Spectrum spokesman and a representative from Reeces Creek Developers said several of the claims, which were made by Spectrum customer service representatives, were false.
Claim 1: The builders and developers should have put cable lines in
Spectrum and CentryLink are solely responsible for burying cable lines. Reeces Creek representative Steve Sheppard told Channel 6 the developer can put in pipes to help put the lines across the street, but the lines themselves are the cable company's job.
"We don't design that for any of these companies. That's turned over to the companies to put their stuff in," Sheppard said.
Claim 2: The developers or the builders were supposed to pay Spectrum to put in lines.
Homeowners wrote emails to Channel 6 describing several claims the builder or developer was supposed to pay for the lines.
"I have been on the phone for hours at a time with both Spectrum and CenturyLink with no luck. Every phone call ended with the builder was supposed to pay or the cable company was supposed to pay," Joshua Wanex wrote.
"What it comes down to is Bradley and his builders could/can pay for the fiber optics needed to be put down so we who have recently built homes in this phase of goodnight ranch could receive internet access," Walker wrote. "Every cable company from CenturyLink to Spectrum have disclosed this information to everyone who has inquired."
After sending multiple emails to Spectrum communications director Brian Anderson, however, Channel 6 got a different response.
"Infrastructure is installed at our expense, not the developer," Anderson wrote. "There are some limited situations where individual business or homeowners may request a survey to determine the construction costs associated with extending service and then pay those costs themselves. However, that is not an option for subdivisions such as this area of Killeen. If someone suggested otherwise, then we are sorry for the confusion."
Sheppard also told Channel 6 “I would like to talk to the person who said we have to pay because we have never paid ever.”
Claim 3: Spectrum "missed" their opportunity to put in lines.
One homeowner said he was told by multiple Spectrum representatives that the company "missed" the opportunity to put in infrastructure.
"They all acknowledged that the area was missed in some way or other but didn't say how," homeowner Jeremy Connors said.
Sheppard also told Channel 6 that it would have been more cost effective for Spectrum to put in lines before driveways went in, but Anderson said in an email that this was not the deciding factor.
"It is not at all unusual for us to extend infrastructure and services into a neighborhood after construction has been completed. There is no alleged construction “window” for us to miss. It would be inaccurate for you to report that," Anderson wrote.
Channel 6 did, of course, ask Anderson why there is service in one part of the subdivision and not the other, but Anderson would never directly answer the question. It appears the area is still being studied for possible service expansion.
"We are continuing to study the requirements of the project, but we have no time table to share at this moment," Anderson wrote.
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