Comcast has received multiple inquiries about what we are doing to help ensure low-income individuals, families and students have the connectivity they need if they are displaced by work and/or school closures as a result of the Coronavirus. Today Comcast announced that we’re expanding access to and increasing speeds for our Internet Essentials customers as more students, families, and individuals start to learn and work at home.
Beginning this Monday, March 16:
- Comcast will be offering 60 days of free Internet Essentials service for new program participants in all of our markets, and
- For both current and new customers, Comcast will increase speeds from 15/2 Mbps to 25/3 Mbps for no additional fee.
As always, there are no contracts and customers can cancel Internet Essentials service at any time without penalty. The speed increases will be implemented automatically over the next few days without the need for existing customers to take additional action.
For more details and information on how to apply, click here or see attached and below message from Dana Strong, president, Comcast Consumer Services.
As a longtime partners and digital inclusion advocates, we ask that you please help us share this important announcement with families, educators, business and community gatekeepers, as well as mention it in news conferences and releases.
Please let me know if you have any questions and thank you for all that you do to support Internet Essentials and the communities we serve.
As our country continues to manage the COVID-19 emergency, we recognize that our company plays an important role in helping our customers stay connected – to their families, their workplaces, their schools, and the latest information about the virus – through the Internet.
We also know that for millions of low-income Americans who don’t have Internet service at home, this uncertain time is going to be even more difficult to manage. As schools and businesses close and families are encouraged, or even mandated, to stay home, Internet connectivity becomes even more important.
At Comcast, we’ve been looking for ways to help through our Internet Essentials program, which is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program for low-income Americans. Since 2011, it has connected millions of individuals to the Internet.
A hallmark of this program has been our flexibility in adjusting Internet Essentials to meet the needs of low-income residents in our footprint. So, effective Monday, we are putting in place two substantial program enhancements to help these families deal with this crisis.
1. We will make it even easier for low-income families who live in a Comcast service area to sign up by offering new customers 60 days of complimentary Internet Essentials service, which is normally available to all qualified low-income households for $9.95/month.
2. Also, we are increasing Internet speeds for the Internet Essentials service from 15/2 Mbps to 25/3 Mbps for all new and existing customers, which will be the speed of the service going forward. In this way, we will ensure that Internet Essentials customers will be able to use their Internet service for all their increased needs as a result of this health crisis.
We want to make it as fast and simple as possible to access this service:
- To receive the increased Internet speeds, existing customers will not need to do anything. The new speeds will be rolled out nationally over the next few days.
- We’ll send all new customers a free self-install kit that includes a cable modem with a Wi-Fi router. There will be no term contract or credit check and no shipping fee.
To sign up, applicants can simply visit www.internetessentials.com. The accessible website also includes the option to video chat with customer service agents in American Sign Language. There are also two dedicated phone numbers 1-855-846-8376 for English and
1-855-765-6995 for Spanish.
We’re also reaching out to our thousands of governmental and nonprofit partners to help us spread the word. Our hope is that broader access and faster speeds will help all of our Internet Essentials customers more easily work from home, access educational resources, obtain important government health care alerts, and stay in contact with their families during this difficult time.
