{p}July 17, 2024 – Locals are thrilled to learn that Buncombe County leaders have secured funding for a new $10-million contract with AT&T North Carolina that will expand internet to 967 homes. (Photo credit: WLOS Staff){/p}
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) —
Outside her back porch in the Upper Hominy Valley, retired Buncombe County teacher Donna Pate enjoys deer and hummingbirds that are part of her life living in a home in the woods every day.
She has lived in her home for 23 years but, she along with neighbors, has been left with little to no broadband Wi-Fi connections to the outside world.
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“Every morning I have to turn on the router,” said Pate, who said the DSL connection often does not work. “It’s the same message over and over again. It can happen five, six, seven times. It’s happened three times since we got here.”
But Pate and others are thrilled with the news that county leaders have secured state and county funding for a new $10-million contract. AT&T North Carolina will expand internet to 967 homes in Hominy, Leicester, Fairview and Broad River communities across Buncombe County.
Buncombe County Commissioners approved $3.6 million in American Rescue Funds as a match for the project included in the total amount.
“The reality is: whenever they build out the infrastructure for the internet… other households will be able to go ahead and connect, too,” said Commissioner Terri Wells.
Wells spearheaded the push to get the expansion and made it part of her campaign when she ran for Commission.
Living in Sandy Mush, I know what it’s like to live in the rural areas of the county and not have high-speed internet,” she said. “I know on the ground level, the impact.
Wells said the pandemic brought it home, as parents struggled to help children attend school remotely with no internet access.
“We are so appreciative of Terri Wells and that whole group for trying to help us,” said Pate.
“It’s huge for our valley,” said Stagg Newman who also lives in Hominy. “We already have broadband from Charter but twenty-some of my neighbors further up the Valley cannot get it.”
That is about to change with a plan over two years to expand the AT&T broadband service, installing fiber along phone poll lines or underground.
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