Comcast Starts $9.95 Internet For Some Families

PITTSBURGH -- Comcast has a new program that lowers the price of its monthly Internet service from $48 to $9.95 for families whose children qualify for free school lunch.

The "Internet Essentials" program is being rolled out for the upcoming school year. It was announced Tuesday at the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh offices downtown.

"It has the capacity to equalize educational activity and to bring the same high-quality educational materials to kids in our hardest-hit urban districts and the kids in our wealthiest suburban districts," a Comcast spokesman said.

Thanks for this update. I’ve debating whether I want to switch over to FIOS. Currently paying Comcast outrageous monthly fees. Will get FIOS and go wireless for internet. This wealth redistribution has to stop and for me it begins with Comcast and their monopoly.

You’re welcome.

Actually, I had signed up for FIOS a few weeks ago, but since the CWA is on strike in my area now (and they are the installers) they cancelled my installation appointment. Now I’m up in the air as to whether I want to continue, and get involved in this union mess.

Well, it's not like computers are prohibitively expensive. It's 2011. 15, 20 years ago, sure, you had to have some cash to throw around, but you can get a basic, no-frills PC for not a whole lot of money.

There's also the fact that having internet access is essential for academic work nowadays. Yes, even in elementary school. I'm young enough that I can remember the web becoming A Thing, and old enough to remember how to use a card catalog.

The web has been a life saver for me many times over.

Well, yes PCs aren’t really out of the reach of lots of people.

I’ve seen homeless guys with them!

But if a household is this hard up, maybe using a library would be a better alternative?

It would be, sure, except that libraries are facing record budget cuts.

Here in Florida, the state legislature just barely managed to get a budget in place that would keep public library funding at the current-year level.

Plan B? $0.00. Statewide.

LEGISLATURE COULD END LIBRARY FUNDING - "Public library funding may get shelved under budget proposals being considered by the Legislature, potentially leading to reduced hours and the shuttering of some library branches across the state. Florida's libraries, which rely on a mix of state and local funds to keep their doors open, would get no state money under a budget approved by the Senate last week. The House approved $17.7 million, which is $3.5 million less than this year's budget. With the state facing a $3.8 billion shortfall, both chambers have approved deep spending cuts to education, health care and other programs to balance the budget. The library cut could mean anything from reduced library hours to facility closures, said Florida Library Association executive director Faye Roberts. 'We have had reports that reductions in state aid will translate into reduced hours and the possibilities of some branch closings,' she said. 'And the sad part of that is the loss of access for people who depend on libraries for Internet access to government services, or to apply for jobs, and all those services that people depend on now that the economy is down." South Florida Sun-Sentinel: http://bit.ly/hKrIpH

How do you figure that cost? You think that cable plant hanging on those poles got there on their own?

Twenty years ago it cost $80,000 a mile to put up cable. Much more in an urban setting. And that was for your run of the mill 56 channel cable.

It’s a tad bit more sophisticated than that.

And the cost to build and maintain a system redundant enough for telephony the cost must be three times that now.

And it was built entirely with private money.

If their business was that good, their stock would be so much higher.

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