Low- Cost Comcast

[Lewis]

Comcast Launches Low-Cost Internet for Low-Income Families

Comcast is tapping into its altruistic side a little bit and deploying a brand-new service tier, one that's designed to bring the Internet to families that would otherwise be unable to pony up $40 to $60 for the company's lowest tiered plan.
Dubbed "Internet Essentials," Comcast's new plan will cost a family only $9.95 per month for a connection that features 1.5 Mbps download and 384 Kbps upload speeds. There's a guarantee of no price increases after-the-fact, as well as no activation fees or equipment rental fees for families signed up for the program. Enrollees will even be able to purchase a netbook computer via the Internet Essentials program for $149.99 (plus tax), and Comcast is offering free online and in-person "Internet training."
To join the program, however, families have to meet four different criteria: They have to be located in an area where Comcast can actually deliver Internet service (obviously), one of their children has to be receiving free school lunches via the National School Lunch Program, families must not have had Comcast Internet service up to 90 days prior to requesting to join the program, and families must not have an overdue Comcast bill or unreturned Comcast equipment.
"When we look around the country, we see the disparities that exist," said Comcast executive vice president David Cohen. "Quite frankly, people in lower-income communities, mostly people of color, have such limited access to broadband than people in wealthier communities."
The program, which was actually born as a condition of Comcast's January 2011 acquisition of NBC Universal, is expected to begin at the start of the 2011-2012 school year. Comcast says that it will accept new families into the program for a total of three years, at which point those already enrolled will presumably remain grandfathered in so long as they continue to meet the criteria listed above.
"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," Cohen said. "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."
Comcast Launches Low-Cost Internet for Low-Income Families | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

 

[tim-from-pa]

I think programs like this will be common in the future. The computer is a versatile electronic equipment that will ultimately take the place of entertainment, communication and education, and is indeed doing so already.

When I was a kid, they used to have all types of imagined equipment of the future, ie. a picture phone, a fancy TV that popped out of the wall, a robot to do the housework and other Jetson-like ideas. What we did not realize in the past was that there would be one piece of equipment that could do all this, not separate pieces of equipment for each function.

This is why the computer now goes beyond mere entertainment and leisure. It will probably replace the phone one day (at this point I'm predicting in the portable and compact device form more than a computer that just sits there).

Therefore, just as the needy have access to telephones, they will need access to the Internet in the future because that will be their outside connection.

Here at home I have two lines --- one for TV signal (already digital) and the Internet line for the computer, wireless, and telephone. So as I stated, it's happening already, and if they replace the phone lines, the poor will have to be helped to get Internet.