Comcast “Internet Essentials”

Cue the emotional piano music. Show statistics to set the context. Now praise Comcast for doing something it was forced to do.

Comcast’s new video, “Internet Essentials” begins by conveying the disparate relationship between the percentage of Americans with broadband access at home (70%) and low-income Americans with broadband access at home (45 %). Then, a Delaware governor, two local charter school employees and a police athletic league director provide testimony about the benefits of the new Internet Essentials program.

This program offers internet access for $9.95 a month plus tax to some low-income families. You may only qualify for this service if you have a child that receives free lunches through the National School Lunch Program (sorry non-parents and many other parents); if you have Comcast service in your area (sorry some of you rural folk);  if you have not subscribed to Comcast service in the last 90 days (sorry low-income people trying to get internet service with Comcast recently); and if you do not have an overdue Comcast bill (sorry again low-income people who struggle to pay bills like many of us do). If you were wondering about Spanish-speakers, they may have issues receiving customer service in their language. One of our local Albuquerque partner organizations called Comcast customer service to inquire about Internet Essentials and spoke to someone in Spanish, but then received a call back with further information that was all in English. Finally, if you don’t have a Social Security number you have to go to a Comcast Service Center with a picture ID and a bill to prove your identity and residency. So for everyone else there is Internet Essentials.

Comcast’s Internet Essentials did not come from a deep sense of obligation to ensure low-income families have the ability to communicate in a 21^st century.  However Comcast fosters this idea in the commercial’s on-screen text that reads, “That’s why Comcast created Internet Essentials…To bring affordable internet service and computers to more families.” It actually came as a requirement from the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission who approved the $30 billion Comcast NBC merger that happened earlier this year. Media Literacy Project knows that big media conglomerate mergers always amount to higher prices, fewer choices, and loss of jobs in our communities. Comcast is the country’s largest internet service and cable provider that now owns one of the largest media content producers in the world.

Another untold story is the fact that this deal comes with an expiration date and is only offered for two years. While even Comcast has admitted that internet access is essential in order to access health information and participate in educational opportunities, we will have to see if their sense of obligation compels them to extend their service to low-income families after the deadline. This ad tells us that Comcast cares but their history of charging unnecessary high rates for broadband access and leaving out families of color, low-income, and rural communities tells us otherwise.

This is a much needed service for many families and if they qualify they should take advantage of it, but they should also know they are not getting a “fast” internet connection. This $9.95 home internet service only comes with download speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 384 Kbps. This is compared to other Comcast high speed internet offers that give you up to 22 Mbps speeds. That is a huge difference! Not to mention that the “up to” means that these speeds are not guaranteed. We see that the values expressed in this ad are that low-income families with children should be connected, communication is essential, education is important, and internet access in one’s home is of great value. Comcast values profit and since the merger it has been making even more of a profit. Providing this slow internet for just two years to 2.5 million families is not a solution to our country’s broadband problems. Providing affordable, efficient and equitable Internet access to everyone is what we need.

The end of this video instructs viewers to spread the word, so Media Literacy Project is spreading the word along with the hidden one.

For more information visit http://www.savetheinternet.com/