Comcast is increasing the speed of the Internet Essentials package from 25/3 Mbps to 50/5 Mbps as of March 1, 2020 at no additional cost. The change is part of what the ISP says is a long-term commitment to digital equity and that offering low-income households speeds above the FCC-defined minimum will help “accelerate” those plans throughout 2021. .
On the one hand, it seems an extension of good faith to finally bring low-income families and communities to the decent Internet. But on the other hand, it highlights how Internet providers like Comcast have always had the ability to do so.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates that Comcast can improve its service for families and community members who need it at any time,” said Devren Washington, lead policy organizer for the Movement Alliance Project. in a statement. “25 Mbps is not enough when children, caregivers and communities rely on an internet connection.”
Comcast previously increased its Internet Essentials speed from 15/2 Mbps to 25/3 Mbps in March 2020 in response to the covid-19 pandemic and initially created the low-income internet plan as part of their negotiationhere you arewith federal regulators to acquire NBCUniversal. But until this March increase, the company provided Internet Essentials customers with lower broadband speeds the minimum set by the FCC for five years.
The Comcast ad too, by the way, arrives almost a week later Buzzfeed posted an interview with a former Comcast employeeand, Chase Roper, who said the current speeds of the plan are not fast enough for students to attend class using Zoom. Video conferencing does not require much download bandwidth — andT requires a lot of bandwidth too.
G / O Media may receive a commission
“With spending all our time in ZA lot, you’re charging a lot more than before, “Katharine Trendacosta, associate director of Policy and Activism at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Gizmodo.” The FCC-the minimum defined is set at a level that makes it easier for companies like Comcast to claim that they cover more people, but, as the pandemic has shown, this minimum is not enough for the modern era ”.
Comcast says it has also pledged to establish it 1,000 “lift zuns“(In other words that is, free wifi access) in community centers across the country, in December 2021, including several in Philadelphia. “A lot of the kids who come to our clubs either don’t have internet at home or they have it, but they can’t study at home for various reasons and they need a place to go,” said Lisabeth Marziello, president & CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia in the Comcast press release.
On the one hand, it’s great that Comcast works with organizations like the Boys & Girls club to provide students with reliable Internet access. Still, Comcastlifting areas ” they are probably the result of the communities fighting for them. Before the start of the 2020-2021 school year, teachers, parents and Internet advocates protested that Comcast provide better Internet to Philadelphia students. The Philadelphia Inquirer at the time, protesters wanted Comcast to not only increase customer speeds on its Internet Essentials plan, but also open more free wifi zones. It was August 2020 and Comcast’s Internet Essentials customers are Right Now about to get better internet speeds, almost in the middle of the spring semester.
It’s a disturbing reminder that ISPs have the ability to restructure their Internet packets and even waive the data limit and excess costs, whenever they want, they simply decide not to. . In November 2020, Comcast announced it would start loading Xfinity clients in the northeast of U.S. sets $ 10 for every 50 GB of data above its monthly data limit of 1.2 TB. This change went into effect last month.
At this time, customers who do not yet have an unlimited plan—like those who pay for the Internet Essentials package—you can get the waiver of any excess fee. But that stops later this month. Then, customers receive a “courtesy” credit each year if they exceed the data limit accident.
Gizmodo contacted Comcast to ask about the timing of today’s announcement and find out if the company has it plans to raise data limits soon, but have yet to receive a response. Meanwhile, Massachusetts lawmakers do asked the ISP to remove the data limits at least until the pandemic ended.