Comcast Increases Access to and Speeds of Internet Essentials

Comcast Increases Access to and Speeds of Internet Essentials to Support Americans Through Coronavirus Pandemic

As the country deals with the effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), Comcast is taking immediate steps to help connect more low-income families to the Internet at home. Effective Monday, March 16, 2020, new Internet Essentials customers will receive two free months of Internet service. The provider is also increasing the speed of the program to 25 Mbps downloads, and 3 Mbps uploads for all new and existing customers.

After your first two free months expire, you can either cancel the service (which you can do at any time) or keep it as a regular paying Internet Essentials customer. You will receive an easy to use self-install-kit that includes a cable modem (to receive service at your home) with a WiFi router (to connect your devices without wires). There is no term contract or credit check and no shipping fee for equipment.

Key Takeaways

  1. Speeds will increase from 15/2 MBPS to 25/3 for all new and existing customers, and will become the speed of the service going forward.

  2. New families who connect will get 60 days of Internet service for free.

  3. The Internet Essentials program is normally available to all qualified low-income households in Comcast’s service area for $9.95/month.

Comcast wants to make it as fast and simple as possible to access this service:

  • To receive the increased Internet speeds, existing customers will not need to do anything. The new speeds will be rolled out nationally over the next few days.

  • We’ll send all new customers a free self-install kit that includes a cable modem with a Wi-Fi router. There will be no term contract or credit check and no shipping fee.

  • To sign up, applicants can simply visit www.internetessentials.com. The accessible website also includes the option to video chat with customer service agents in American Sign Language. There are also two dedicated phone numbers 1-855-846-8376 for English and 1-855-765-6995 for Spanish.

It is Comcast’s hope that broader access and faster speeds will help all of our Internet Essentials customers more easily work from home, access educational resources, obtain important government health care alerts, and stay in contact with their families during this difficult time.