Comcast Announces Progress, New Enhancements of Internet Essentials Program

Comcast provides the power of the Internet to low-income families and helps close the digital divide through its innovative Internet Essentials program. Internet Essentials offers low-cost (less than $10 per month) home Internet services, computers for less than $150 and in-person and online digital literacy training.

Between August 2011 and December 2012, Comcast connected more than 150,000 low-income families (approximately 600,000 Americans), with children who are receiving free or reduced-price lunch through the National School Lunch program, to the Internet in their homes. In those same 16 months, Comcast distributed more than 25 million brochures for free, fielded more than one million phone calls to the dedicated Internet Essentials call center, hosted in-person digital literacy training sessions for more than 10,000 people, and sold more than 15,000 low-cost computers to Internet Essentials participants.  

Comcast Internet Essentials customers report they enjoy being connected to the Internet at home, with more than 86 percent of users saying they go online each day. Customers also said their children use the Internet at home frequently. The most common online activity is completing schoolwork, with 96 percent of customers reporting their children use the Internet for homework and class assignments, followed by news and information gathering, social media, email, researching health care, bill paying and job searches.

There is still much work to do as millions of Americans are still on the wrong side of the digital divide. In effort to continue to help connect more Americans to the Internet, Comcast is introducing several program enhancements in 2013:

• Beginning in 2013, qualifying families with children in parochial schools and homeschools may also be eligible to participate in Internet Essentials, bringing the total number of eligible families to 2.6 million. 
• Later this spring, Comcast will launch an online application request form so families can more easily and conveniently order an application online anytime, from anywhere.
• In the second half of the year, Comcast will introduce Internet Essentials Opportunity Cards so that non-profit partners and others can pre-purchase up to a year of Internet Essentials service for eligible families. 
• Comcast will also offer a new option for families to purchase Internet-ready desktops or laptops for less than $150. These will be offered in addition to the low-cost netbooks the company currently offers.  A pilot program will begin in select markets soon and will roll out in additional markets in the months ahead.
• Finally, Comcast will celebrate the outstanding work of partnering school districts to help close the digital divide.  In conjunction with the celebration of Comcast’s 50^thAnniversary this fall, the company plans recognize the top 15 performing school districts with a Gold Medal of Excellence Award.  Each recognized school district will receive 50 laptops to either give to families or use in the schools.  

To learn more about Internet Essentials, including the new program enhancements, and to review eligibility requirements, visit www.internetessentials.com (for English) and www.internetbasico.com (for Spanish) or call 1-855-846-8376 or, for Spanish, 1-855-765-6995. For educators, non-profit organizations and others interested in helping to spread the word, visit www.internetessentials.com/partner for more information.