Dial-up internet getting St. John's woman down

A woman living on the southern edge of St. John's is fighting for high-speed internet service,rather thanbeing forced to usea dial-up service to accessthe web.

"I live in the city. I pay city taxes. I'm not looking for anything else, but the least I figure I can get is phone service and internet," said Sharon Tucker, who lives in a part of the capital city called Middle Pond.

Tucker, who has been asking for better service since 2006, hascontacted the mayor of St. John's, her local MP, the provincial MHA for her district, and internet provider Bell Aliant.

"I've gotten right to the top," said Tucker. "The best I can hear from [Bell Aliant]is that it is just not feasible to offer us that service here."

Bell Aliant spokeswoman Allison Queen saidthe line upgrade that would make high-speed internet available in Tucker's area would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"We really have done a fair amount of assessment in this area, at this time, it simply is not feasible to expand service," she said.