Tag: Comcast

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News News Blog

Coronavirus: Comcast, AT&T Offer Free Wifi Hotspots

CREDIT: Comcast/ATT&T

Comcast/ATT&T

Comcast has opened its Xfinity Wifi network to everyone across the country for free as more people rely on the internet for work, education, and personal health.

Internet connections have changed social distancing, offering ways for people to get together without, y’know, getting together.

For example, some schools are pushing distance learning while campuses are closed. The Memphis Zoo is offering “Virtual Wild Encounters,” bringing animals to homes on Facebook. Friend groups are huddling on Google Hangouts. The Memphis Kroc Center is offering classes on its Facebook page.

It’s during this time, that Memphis’ two largest internet providers, Comcast and AT&T, are helping to keep those lines open. Both companies have opened its wifi networks to anyone across the country free of charge.

Here’s what Comcast is offering:

• Xfinity WiFi Free For Everyone: Xfinity WiFi hotspots across the country will be available to anyone who needs them for free – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers. For a map of Xfinity WiFi hotspots, visit www.xfinity.com/wifi. Once at a hotspot, consumers should select the “xfinitywifi” network name in the list of available hotspots and then launch a browser.

Pausing Our Data Plan: With so many people working and educating from home, we want our customers to access the internet without thinking about data plans. While the vast majority of our customers do not come close to using 1TB of data in a month, we are pausing our data plans for 60 days giving all customers unlimited data for no additional charge.

No Disconnects or Late Fees: We will not disconnect a customer’s internet service or assess late fees if they contact us and let us know that they can’t pay their bills during this period. Our care teams will be available to offer flexible payment options and can help find other solutions.

Internet Essentials Free to New Customers: New customers will receive 60 days of complimentary Internet Essentials service, which is normally available to all qualified low-income households for $9.95/month.

Here’s what AT&T is offering for the next 60 day (as of March 13, 2020):

• Not terminate the service of any wireless, home phone or broadband residential or small business customer because of their inability to pay their bill due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

• Waive any late payment fees that any wireless, home phone or broadband residential or small business customer may incur because of economic hardship related to the coronavirus pandemic.

• Keep our public Wi-Fi hotspots open for any American who needs them.

• The coronavirus pandemic is causing many hardships. If you find yourself in financial trouble and unable to pay your bill, we’re here to help you. Please contact us at 800-288-2020 for AT&T broadband, residential wireless or small business services and 611 from your AT&T device for wireless.

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News News Blog

Comcast Announces Data Cap in Memphis

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The Memphis market now joins the areas affected by Comcast’s data usage allowance plan, after the company announced a 300GB data per month limit on all XFINITY Internet plans and tiers. Other cities included in the plan are Huntsville and Mobile, Alabama; Augusta and Savannah, Georgia; central Kentucky; and Charleston, South Carolina.

The Bluff City is also among neighbors: customers in Knoxville and Jackson, Mississippi, have been limited since September.

Customers are offered a usage monitor on their accounts, while also receiving notifications from Comcast when data usage hits 80 percent, 90 percent, 100 percent, 110 percent, and 125 percent of the limit. An automated phone call will also be made to the customer when he or she reaches 300GB. After the data limit has been reached and usage continues, the customer will be charged $10 automatically for every 50GB used over the limit for that month.

Customers who are “casual or light internet users” on the Economy Plus plan can opt-in to the Flexible-Data Option, which is catered to “users who typically use 5GB of data or less per month,” according to the website detailing the option. If users stay below that threshold, the account will be credited five dollars per month. However, Flexible-Data customers who go over 5GB will be charged one dollar per GB used over the limit.

According to Comcast’s usage calculator on their website, one computer hooked up to the internet would have to stream 64 movies, 150 half-hour TV episodes, and 150 three-to-five minute video clips in one month to get to 250GB.

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Opinion

How Do You View U-Verse?

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I had AT&T’s U-Verse installed in my house last week. If that old saying about only using ten percent of your brain is true, then I am probably also only using about ten percent of U-Verse so far, but I don’t have buyer’s remorse either.

AT&T and Comcast seem to be waging a war for dominance of Memphis, or at least the part of Midtown where I live. For months, our mailboxes have been stuffed with three or four mailers a week from each company plugging their bundled service packages of Internet, land line, and television.

Before last week I had AT&T (Bell South) Internet service and land-line service and Comcast cable, for a combined monthly bill, including taxes, of about $125.

In a moment of weakness, curiousity, or longing for wireless, I took a cold call from an AT&T representative pitching U-Verse one evening about a month ago. Some 45 minutes later, I signed up. I was sold by the salesman’s pitch on the benefits and the competitive price of about $125 a month for the first year.

Several months ago we signed up for U-Verse but AT&T’s techs, despite working at our house for half a day, were not able to install it. This time the two technicians finished the job in about five hours. You have to be in the house the whole time. It happened to be my birthday so I was off work, but this was no party. The techs sure earned their money, especially the one who had to crawl into the basement crawl space.

I’m a first-grader when it comes to technology and a cheapskate when it comes to household finance. I asked the tech guys here at the office of Contemporary Media what they thought of U-Verse, and they said, unconditionally, “go for it.”

So far, my wireless connection has been flawless and has allowed me to move my laptop computer from upstairs to downstairs. Speed is noticeably faster, especially on videos, even though I did not order the fastest package. I have not yet figured out how to reconfigure my printer.

As for television, there are now not two but three remotes on my living room table, or four if I misplace the one for the stereo tuner. Of course I get more TV garbage than ever, but it is easy enough to find the 10-20 channels my wife and I watch regularly. We spent a little time last weekend watching the Tennis Channel, which we did not get in our Comcast package. We also watched the “fart mask” segment from Jackass. Yes, we are living on a doomed planet. We don’t have the desire or patience so far to record programs but I suspect we will sooner or later. I like the music channel and played around with it for a while. Surfing one click at a time now wastes even more time than before and leaves me muttering to myself “Get a life.”

Telephone service is the same, except for the pause and hiccup of a few seconds before there is a dial tone. I wonder how many other fogeys can’t give up their land lines.

Canceling Comcast was simple enough. One phone call, no argument, no hassle, no balance due. I got a $50 Visa credit from AT&T, which took about 15 minutes to register and will activate in 30 days.

I guess if I ever sell my house or rent it to boarders I can brag about the “free wireless” like a Hampton Inn. I expect to have to go to the mat with AT&T a year from now over new taxes and higher rates, but that was probably coming anyway with my old combo package.

Any suggestions welcome, but remember, speak slowly and use one syllable words if possible.

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News The Fly-By

Channel Change

Last week, a group of Germantown High School students traveled to Nashville to accept student Emmys in the Arts & Entertainment, News, Sports, and Writing categories, as well as eight honorable mentions.

But the students in charge of GHS-TV were in no mood to celebrate. If the Competitive Cable and Video Services Act (CCVSA) passes in Tennessee, the station will be forced to cease operations.

A state bill filed by AT&T in February would allow cable and video companies to bypass the local franchising process and seek franchising rights at the state level. According to AT&T, the local process makes it difficult for new cable companies to enter the market. AT&T says the changes from the proposed bill would create more competition and thus lower prices and create more options for consumers.

But Germantown mayor Sharon Goldsworthy and the city’s Board of Aldermen disagree.

At a town hall meeting last month, the mayor explained that Germantown’s franchise with Comcast (formerly Time Warner) is non-exclusive, meaning any company is welcome to make an offer. In fact, Goldsworthy said that she has not heard any more proposals from AT&T since an initial version of the bill was filed more than a year ago.

Opponents of CCVSA contend that a local franchise is best suited to the needs of the community and that lower-income areas of Germantown may lose access to channels. They also contend that AT&T would have an advantage at the state level over other companies. But it’s the fine print that’s deadly for GHS-TV.

Germantown charges companies such as Comcast for use of its public right of way, the strip of land between the sidewalk and the street, for underground cables and equipment. Revenue from that fee helps fund the city and public channels such as GHS-TV. If the CCVSA passes as is, revenue from the right-of-way usage fee will decrease and GHS-TV will be forced to make crippling budget cuts.

Additionally, the bill would require local stations to produce eight hours of new programming per day, something GHS-TV founder Frank Bluestein says is far more than what most major cable networks produce. That change alone would spell death for the 25-year-old television network.

Many citizens of Germantown have spoken against the bill, including Germantown High School faculty, Jack Parnell, father of former Saturday Night Live regular Chris Parnell (and a graduate of the GHS-TV program), and a long line of concerned students.

“Students around the world don’t get an opportunity like we do,” said Archie Mitchell, anchor for Wake Up, Germantown! “This [bill] is not going to help our future.”

The Memphis City Council is also considering a resolution opposing the bill.