Comcast’s $9.95 a month Internet Essentials includes
› High-speed Internet service with download speeds up to 10 Mbps› A free Wi-Fi router› Access to free digital literacy training› The option to purchase a computer for less than $150› No credit check› No term contract› No installation fee› In-home WiFi includedSource: Comcast
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To find out of you qualify for Comcast’s $9.95 a month Internet Essentials, go online to internetessentials.com or call 1-(855)-847-3356. To apply for EPB’s NetBridge service, they need to go the principal’s office to get two forms to verify that their child is eligible for free and reduced lunch.
Comcast announced a move this week meant to chip away at the "digital divide," or lack of high-speed internet access in low-income households.
The internet provider opened its $9.95-a-month Internet Essentials service to those in public housing, including people who get Section 8 vouchers.
Previously, Internet Essentials was only open to households with a child who gets free or reduced lunch, so Comcast says the change should let more senior citizens and other poor people access the service.
"This change means a household does not need to have a child who is eligible for the National School Lunch Program," Comcast spokeswoman Sara Jo Walker said. "We see this as another opportunity to expand Internet Essentials to reach seniors. More than 32 percent of HUD-funded affordable housing residents have someone at least 62 years old living with them."
The change marks the largest single expansion of the Internet Essentials program since its inception in August 2011, she said. Comcast launched the low-cost service as a condition of its purchase of NBCUniversal that year.
"We have more than 1,000 families in Chattanooga that have taken advantage of the Internet Essentials program, and we have connected over 16,000 families in Tennessee so far," Walker said.
Comcast's decision this week to make Internet Essentials available to a wider audience is the latest in a number of expansions to the service, which initially was at 5 Mbps, or half the current speed.
Comcast said it has expanded the number of schools at which every student in the school will be deemed eligible, so long as a certain percentage of the kids in that school are eligible for free and reduced lunch - from 70 percent, to 50 percent and now to 40 percent. As a result, Comcast estimates auto-enrollment now applies to about half of the 48,000 schools across its service area.
Comcast isn't the only provider to offer high-speed internet to low-income residents in the Chattanooga area.
EPB last year launched its NetBridge Student Discount Program, which provides 100-megabit-per-second internet service for $26.99 a month to households with students eligible for free or reduced lunch - less than half EPB's usual $57.99 rate for 100 Mbps service. It's as low as EPB can go, since state law prohibits it from offering internet below cost.
"It's a price that we could provide the service without taking a loss," EPB spokesman John Pless said. "We currently serve about 1,150 households, which translates to about 1,880 students."
More than 20,000 Hamilton County students qualify for free and reduced lunch, Pless said, so the municipal utility plans to work with the Hamilton County School District to encourage more families to sign up.
EPB's NetBridge service costs more than Comcast's Internet Essentials, but Pless said EPB's is 10 times faster.
"With our service, we are providing 100-megabit speed. That's pretty important," Pless said, adding, "We have no data caps."
About one quarter of U.S. households lack access to high-speed internet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.