Comcast Launches Internet for Low-Income Families

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

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When Comcast acquired NBC Universal, a condition of the sale was for Comcast to offer low priced internet access for low-income families in their franchise areas. Comcast has instituted a plan called Internet Essentials which will provide the basics of broadband internet for $9.95 a month. Candidates must meet the program’s criteria for eligibility.

"Access to the Internet has the potential to be a great equalizer and a life-changing technology. Internet Essentials helps level the playing field for low-income families"
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Eh, I was skeptical when I saw the title, but after actually reading the details it sounds like a good program. $150 for a netbook plus $10 per month for 1.5Mbs down and 384kbs up? That may actually help out a lot of people to get at least some kind of connection for education. Hope it works out well. :)
 
Mad Cat said:
Eh, I was skeptical when I saw the title, but after actually reading the details it sounds like a good program. $150 for a netbook plus $10 per month for 1.5Mbs down and 384kbs up? That may actually help out a lot of people to get at least some kind of connection for education. Hope it works out well. :)
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2nd that as well.
 
not like they are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. some other telco was given the same requirement for a merger were they have to provide a cheap plan for $10 for low income families. don't recall now if they had to sell them a netbook also, want to say that was part of their requirement also.
 
Just wondering how much more these kind of plans will be data capped over the regular home services...

Any bets?
 
Since regular connection limited to 250gb of bandwidth, I bet this has even less bandwidth limit lol
 
Translation:
Comcast customers that are already overpaying are forced to subsidize service for families already receiving some of their taxes in financial aid.

Why not just offer a lesser service for $10, and allow anyone to apply whether they have kids or not?
 
Usage is same - 250 Gig limit - NO MODEM RENTAL.. modem is included with the 10$ fee..

I have a neighbor I already mentioned this too.. Great for the kids.

Axe
 
It all sounds good on paper, but a few gripes...

Comcast is not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. It was a mandated condition in order to acquire NBC Universal.

The real cost of subsidizing cheap internet for poor families is going to be borne by the "regular" subscribers paying full pop.

One of the criteria is "one of their children has to be receiving free school lunches via the National School Lunch Program." What about poor people who don't have kids or whose kids are too young to be in school yet? What about seniors on a fixed income who can't afford internet? They're all shut out.

"Access to broadband in students' homes will help them connect with their teachers and their school's educational resources as well as enabling parents to do things like apply for jobs online or use the Internet to learn more about healthcare and government services available where they live."
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Unemployed childless poor people and seniors need the latter as well. There are lots of aid programs that focus on "the children" and their families. But if you chose not to have kids or yours don't meet the criteria, you don't qualify.
 
Anyone currently, or recently enrolled in a public school system, or college (other than online courses) tell me if internet access was mandatory or come close to required for that educational program? Internet access seems to me to be useful, but hardly a life improving service. Informational? Yes. Convenient? Again, yes. But some great social/economic equalizer? I just don't see it. For many, it is just interactive TV.

Don't get me wrong. My head would probably explode without it. I am a major info-junkie. But other than improve my typing skills, and spelling/grammar, I don't think it have improved my life. Enlighten me :)
 
When I went to college we didn't have internet at home, but the school had a computer lab that was always open to students.
 
artimusbill said:
Anyone currently, or recently enrolled in a public school system, or college (other than online courses) tell me if internet access was mandatory or come close to required for that educational program?
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Even if it is, computer labs are available for free to students and the public at large via libraries already paid for by that family's neighbors for their benefit along with the food for their kid and all the other social services that they consume but are not contributing to.

Internet at home is very nice, but it is not a right.

This was pushed on Comcast and they will push it on to the consumers, so the government is just seeding more redistribution of wealth. It sure is easy to be charitable with OTHER people's money, isn't it. You don't often see them passing around a hat to put in their OWN money or insisting on a personal paycut in congress... in fact, didn't they just vote themselves raises again?
 
It's not hard to beat the system for free lunches, I've seen it done.

Now those individuals get internet too for at least 12 years - and longer if they have more kids - with no price increases, no activation fees or equipment rental fees..:rolleyes: AND grandfathered in as long as they're popping out kids.

I know it will benefit some honest people, but couldn't they come up with a better set of criteria?
 
Wow, Comcast is doing something decent and altruistic (even if they were forced to)? I'm going to go watch out the window for the horsemen in the sky.
 
Monkey34 said:
It's not hard to beat the system for free lunches, I've seen it done.
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Its not, as my coworker's wife's kids get free lunches, despite the fact that he makes more than I do and she works as well.

They do not count the money her biological father pays in support as her income, and since my coworker hasn't officially adopted the child as his own, her income alone is counted and so the kids are eligible.

That said, I don't mind school lunches as kids need to eat, but kids don't need fast internet at home anymore than they need cable TV or a bicycle or any of the other luxuries in life that most people work hard to buy for themselves and their own children.
 
10 dollar per month still seems expensive.

2 dollar a month for low income if they really want to help them
 
Ducman69 said:
That said, I don't mind school lunches as kids need to eat, but kids don't need fast internet at home anymore than they need cable TV or a bicycle or any of the other luxuries in life that most people work hard to buy for themselves and their own children.
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1.5mbps is not fast. I'd consider it the bare minimum needed to do homework/research at home.
 
Monkey34 said:
It's not hard to beat the system for free lunches, I've seen it done.

Now those individuals get internet too for at least 12 years - and longer if they have more kids - with no price increases, no activation fees or equipment rental fees..:rolleyes: AND grandfathered in as long as they're popping out kids.

I know it will benefit some honest people, but couldn't they come up with a better set of criteria?
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Agreed. We all know there are many honest people trying to get by, but theres also people just out there to be lazy and not get anything done.
 
TheBuzzer said:
10 dollar per month still seems expensive.

2 dollars a month for low income if they really want to help them
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2 dollars per month? Why not give it away for free. $10 is quite cheap and even for a poor family within reach. And to those that think the cost will simply be passed on to other customers ..that's already happening with the extreme tier on up.

Almost all of us are overpaying for the higher speed tiers regardless. Comcast doesn't generally do things that help out those in need and more often then not they employ people that are downright scum bags (a recent installer (not a contractor) who stole thousands of dollars worth of equipment and even stole $800 worth of equipment from a customer with cancer).

Its about time super cheap access is within reach to all. It'll also push competitors to offer similar packages.
 
They should have been required to offer it to everybody, not just those with children on food aid. AT&T was required to create a low cost DSL option and sell it to all when they acquired Bellsouth after all. Then when their mandated period of offering it was up they raised the price, then a few months after that AT&T raised it AGAIN.

Comcast offers limited cable (just locals) to anybody for around $11, so $10 basically covers the line maintenance costs. (for those saying that everybody else will have to 'subsidize' the $10 people) I don't think many people realize the profit margins on each additional subscriber for an already established cable system.
 
pigwalk said:
When I went to college we didn't have internet at home, but the school had a computer lab that was always open to students.
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Public libraries also offer free access. Some years ago I was taking some online classes but had a Mac at home and some of their stuff required PC so I'd have to go to the library. It would be overrun when the nearby high school let out.

Godmachine said:
Almost all of us are overpaying for the higher speed tiers regardless...

Its about time super cheap access is within reach to all. It'll also push competitors to offer similar packages.
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We pay $61/mo. for 15/2, which is the best we can get here. There's really no competition to bring the prices down.
 
They get as much upload speed as I do on a 15mbit down plan from Time Warner Cable....
 
zeroARMY said:
1.5mbps is not fast. I'd consider it the bare minimum needed to do homework/research at home.
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Uhhh no, not even close. Can it be uncomfortable to "research" (for grade school kids, really?) at dial-up speeds, but fact of the matter is it can be done quite easily.

That said, everyone look at your phone bills, see that Universal Lifeline surcharge... that's the phone company giving cheaper service to others throughout the "kindness" of their heart... well through the hearts of everyone paying that fee since they're the ones doing it.

So while it might not happen immediately, Comcast will find a way to pass on that cost to all its customers.
 
Well, if Comcast raises the price I pay, then I will just switch back to Mediacom... Just wish Mediacom would hurry up and get DOCSIS 3 in my area, which was the whole reason I switched to Comcast in the first place.

And yeah , the people around here that might "benefit" from this plan generally wouldn't buy into it anyway. They would think it was cutting into their drug/booze/bling budget.

The "low income" people who actually have kids generally get as much tax payer money as possible and pretty much don't care it if would "help" their kid's education by having a "high speed" connection. If it ain't "free"(paid for by taking money from people who actually work) then they aren't going to get it.
 
Mad Cat said:
Eh, I was skeptical when I saw the title, but after actually reading the details it sounds like a good program. $150 for a netbook plus $10 per month for 1.5Mbs down and 384kbs up? That may actually help out a lot of people to get at least some kind of connection for education. Hope it works out well. :)
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Thats depressing. 1.5Mbps/384kbps is the standard package for Fairpoint in my area, and it costs $40 a month.

And that $40 a month price tag doesn't include the millions that the state has given to them to prevent them from going bankrupt, twice.
 
Lethal said:
We pay $61/mo. for 15/2, which is the best we can get here. There's really no competition to bring the prices down.
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$85/month for Landline+DSL @ 3/1 (Soft cap @ 200gbs cuts me down to 1/1)

...and $35/m with Sprint for upto 5/1 WiMAX or 1-2mbps/500kbps EV-DO (No caps)

(Yes, when/if WiMax gets closer I'm dropping the DSL...)


sfsuphysics said:
Uhhh no, not even close. Can it be uncomfortable to "research" (for grade school kids, really?) at dial-up speeds, but fact of the matter is it can be done quite easily.
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This. My first modem was 14.4kbps. (though to be fair I was using lynx back them - first PC using a GUI-based browser was 56k)
 
Ashton said:
This. My first modem was 14.4kbps. (though to be fair I was using lynx back them - first PC using a GUI-based browser was 56k)
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I got through college and grad school (so yeah I needed to actually do research) with a 1.5M/384k ADSL connection, and it was more than fast enough. These "low income" people are going to do just fine with what they have.
 
why do we need to help the poor. shouldnt the poor help themselves. hey listen the more we give to the poor the more they will be dependent of our givings. the only way to get out of poverty is to have the mind set to do better as ive done. i know what its like to be poor and i can tell you its not fun. i got out of it because i strive and had the mind set to be not like that for the rest of my life. i got myself out of poverty not any government giving me things.
 
canmanone said:
why do we need to help the poor. shouldnt the poor help themselves. hey listen the more we give to the poor the more they will be dependent of our givings. the only way to get out of poverty is to have the mind set to do better as ive done. i know what its like to be poor and i can tell you its not fun. i got out of it because i strive and had the mind set to be not like that for the rest of my life. i got myself out of poverty not any government giving me things.
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We're not giving the poor anything. This "low-income" tier is still expensive when compared to most first-world nations. They're paying for the service themselves, and the company is still making money on the deal.
 
Monkey34 said:
It's not hard to beat the system for free lunches, I've seen it done. /QUOTE]

The school lunch program is one of the most abused governent programs around.
Most districts do not check incomes or bother verifying if the kids qualify. All the parent has to do is check the box on the application form.

There was a store a few years ago, about a school district in a upper middle class area, where 75% of the kids where getting free lunches, even though according to government income data, less than 10% of the housholds where considered poor. Turns out people where being told to just check the box that they qualified for a free lunch, since it ment more money for the district, and that they would never do an income check. The reason is that many federal and state programs are based on how many kids are on the free lunch program, and each kid signed up would add hundreds of additional dollars to the districts budget.

One local school district decided to automatically enroll EVERY kid, since about 80% already qualified. The state allowed them to so they could get more federal dollars.
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Ashton said:
My first modem was 14.4kbps. (though to be fair I was using lynx back them - first PC using a GUI-based browser was 56k)
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My first modem was Hayes 1200, although I usually used it at 300 baud due to the high cost, until I finally found an off-line reader. :)

By the time the first web browser was released I had upgraded to 14.4k
 
Lethal said:
We pay $61/mo. for 15/2, which is the best we can get here. There's really no competition to bring the prices down.
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Well that's in your case. Not everyone in the country is as strictly limited. I have 2 choices as many do and if one is offering something like this for low income families the other ISP will be quite interested in how that will go as adding new customers .. is always adding profit. Its not as if cable has to be run to these residences .. its already there and ready.
 
oh yay. now the poor kids will be able to waste all their time on facebook instead of doing their homework.
 
wizdum said:
We're not giving the poor anything. This "low-income" tier is still expensive when compared to most first-world nations. They're paying for the service themselves, and the company is still making money on the deal.
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If Comcast is making money on their $10/mo. then why are they charging everyone else tons more?
 
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