Comcast Announces Comprehensive COVID-19 Response to Help Keep Americans Connected to the Internet
March 13 2020 - 6:36PM
Business Wire
Company Opens Xfinity WiFi Network Nationally
for Free, Offers Unlimited Data for Free, Confirms Its Commitment
to Connecting Low-Income Families
On the heels of offering new, low-income Internet Essentials
customers two months of free internet and raising the speed of that
program’s service to 25/3 Mbps, Comcast today announced additional
steps to help ensure people stay connected to the internet as more
schools suspend classes and companies encourage employees to work
from home due to the Coronavirus.
“During this extraordinary time, it is vital that as many
Americans as possible stay connected to the internet – for
education, work, and personal health reasons,” said Dave Watson,
Comcast Cable Chief Executive Officer. “Our employees also live and
work in virtually every community we serve, and we all share the
same belief that it’s our Company’s responsibility to step up and
help out.”
Comcast is taking steps to implement the following new policies
for the next 60 days, and other important initiatives:
- Xfinity WiFi Free For Everyone: Xfinity WiFi hotspots
across the country will be available to anyone who needs them for
free – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers. For a map of
Xfinity WiFi hotspots, visit www.xfinity.com/wifi. Once at a
hotspot, consumers should select the “xfinitywifi” network name in
the list of available hotspots, and then launch a browser.
- Pausing Our Data Plan: With so many people working and
educating from home, we want our customers to access the internet
without thinking about data plans. While the vast majority of our
customers do not come close to using 1TB of data in a month, we are
pausing our data plans for 60 days giving all customers Unlimited
data for no additional charge.
- No Disconnects or Late Fees: We will not disconnect a
customer’s internet service or assess late fees if they contact us
and let us know that they can’t pay their bills during this period.
Our care teams will be available to offer flexible payment options
and can help find other solutions.
- Internet Essentials Free to New Customers: As
announced yesterday, it’s even easier for low-income families who
live in a Comcast service area to sign-up for Internet Essentials,
the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption
program. New customers will receive 60 days of complimentary
Internet Essentials service, which is normally available to all
qualified low-income households for $9.95/month. Additionally, for
all new and existing Internet Essentials customers, the speed of
the program’s Internet service was increased to 25 Mbps downstream
and 3 Mbps upstream. That increase will go into effect for no
additional fee and it will become the new base speed for the
program going forward.
- News, Information and Educational Content on X1 and
Flex: For those with school-age students at home, we’ve created
new educational collections for all grade levels in partnership
with Common Sense Media. Just say “education” into your X1 or Flex
voice remote. To help keep customers informed, we also have created
a collection of the most current news and information on
Coronavirus. Just say “Coronavirus” into your X1 or Flex voice
remote.
- 24x7 Network Monitoring: Underpinning all of these
efforts, Comcast’s technology and engineering teams will continue
to work tirelessly to support our network operations. We engineer
our network capacity to handle spikes and shifts in usage patterns,
and continuously test, monitor and enhance our systems and network
to ensure they are ready to support customer usage. Our engineers
and technicians staff our network operations centers 24/7 to ensure
network performance and reliability. We are monitoring network
usage and watching the load on the network both nationally and
locally, and to date it is performing well.
For more information and updates from Comcast related to
Coronavirus, visit: http://www.comcastcorporation.com/COVID-19/
About Comcast
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and
technology company with three primary businesses: Comcast Cable,
NBCUniversal, and Sky. Comcast Cable is one of the United States’
largest high-speed internet, video, and phone providers to
residential customers under the Xfinity brand, and also provides
these services to businesses. It also provides wireless and
security and automation services to residential customers under the
Xfinity brand. NBCUniversal is global and operates news,
entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo
broadcast networks, television production operations, television
station groups, Universal Pictures, and Universal Parks and
Resorts. Sky is one of Europe's leading media and entertainment
companies, connecting customers to a broad range of video content
through its pay television services. It also provides
communications services, including residential high-speed internet,
phone, and wireless services. Sky operates the Sky News broadcast
network and sports and entertainment networks, produces original
content, and has exclusive content rights. Visit
www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200313005547/en/
Jennifer Khoury Jennifer_Khoury@Comcast.com (215) 286-7408
Joel Shadle joel_shadle@comcast.com (215) 286-4675
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