Comcast suspends data caps, makes Xfinity WiFi free for 60 days

Comcast Cable / Xfinity service van driving on the street. Comcast is the largest home internet service provider in the United States.

Andrei Stanescu via Getty Images

Yesterday Comcast and AT&T were among ISPs announced some relaxed policies to help people suddenly stuck at home due to countermeasures taken in the fight against COVID-19. Today,along with an announcement that wireless carriers are suspending cancellations and expanding access,Comcast,the largest ISP in the US,followed up with a slew of new policies that will be in effect for the next 60 days to help people stay connected.

For the time being,it's suspending the data plan that capped bandwidth usage at 1TB per month,and it's opening access to Xfinity WiFi for free to everyone. The Internet Essentials program for low-income families that costs $9.95 per month will be free to new subscribers for the first two months,and it has also committed to no disconnects or late fees.

Comcast:

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: As announced yesterday,it's even easier for low-income families who live in a Comcast service area to sign-up for Internet Essentials,the nation's largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program. 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. Additionally,for all new and existing Internet Essentials customers,the speed of the program's Internet service was increased to 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream. That increase will go into effect for no additional fee and it will become the new base speed for the program going forward. News,Information and Educational Content on X1 and Flex: For those with school-age students at home,we've created new educational collections for all grade levels in partnership with Common Sense Media. Just say "education" into your X1 or Flex voice remote. To help keep customers informed,we also have created a collection of the most current news and information on Coronavirus. Just say "Coronavirus" into your X1 or Flex voice remote. 24x7 Network Monitoring: Underpinning all of these efforts,Comcast's technology and engineering teams will continue to work tirelessly to support our network operations. We engineer our network capacity to handle spikes and shifts in usage patterns,and continuously test,monitor and enhance our systems and network to ensure they are ready to support customer usage. Our engineers and technicians staff our network operations centers 24/7 to ensure network performance and reliability. We are monitoring network usage and watching the load on the network both nationally and locally,and to date it is performing well.