14 DAY TRIAL // Comcast has announced that it will be offering up to six months of free Internet to new subscribers, but also an “amnesty” for families that haven’t been able to pay their bills.
The company seems to be trying to repair some of its damaged image after a lot of bad PR brought on by the poor speed issues reported by clients, but also trying to perhaps get some good will in its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable.
The company has been offering cheap Internet service for people of modest means for only $10 (€7.47) per month. The Internet Essential program is offered by the telco to low-income households with children of school age. This hasn’t exactly happened on Comcast’s own free will, but rather at the request of the federal government upon the company’s acquisition of NBCUniversal a few years back.
However, people have complained that it is too difficult to sign up to the program and that the eligibility criteria was too strict, shutting off a great deal of families from taking advantage of the low rates.
Furthermore, the amnesty program Comcast has in mind will allow families with unpaid bills to get access to the low-cost service, which includes people who couldn’t get into Internet Essentials due to past due balance with Comcast.
“If customers have an outstanding bill that is more than one year old, then as long as they meet all the other eligibility criteria, they can apply to the program and we will provide amnesty for that back due bill for the purpose of connecting to Internet Essentials. If customers’ outstanding bills are less than a year old, however, then we would like them to settle that debt with us before they can be eligible to apply for the program. We are willing to work with families whose debt is reasonable enough that that they could pay us back in installments,” Comcast wrote on the topic.
Furthermore, new Internet Essentials subscribers who are approved to join in between today and September 20 will also benefit from up to six months of complimentary service. Even families whose debts have been erased are eligible for the offer, making this a great opportunity to save some money on Internet access.
“Throughout the back to school season, Comcast will actively engage with parents, teachers, non-profit partners, and elected officials to help spread the word to low-income families about the program,” the company said in its announcement.
The program provides 5Mbps download and 1Mbps upload speeds and has brought 350,000 families in the United States online.
