No one has worked harder to promote the government’s new inexpensive broadband program than CheapInternet.com. And now cable giant Comcast confirms that Internet Essentials, its version of the program, is growing rapidly and exceeding its rosiest projections.

The company’s latest progress report confirms that it is now bringing low-cost, high-speed internet access to far more needy Americans than ever before.

“In just 16 months, Internet Essentials has … connected more than 150,000 low-income families, or 600,000 Americans, to the power of the Internet, most for the first time in their lives,” Comcast Executive VP David L. Cohen announced with great pride.

Thanks to federal government urging and support, several companies and consortiums have recently introduced variations of the cheap internet program. Comcast says its Internet Essentials program “is the largest, most comprehensive broadband adoption initiative designed to help close the digital divide.”

Among the Internet Essentials milestones highlighted in the new progress report are:

• Collateral – Internet Essentials has printed and shipped more than 25 million free educational and promotional pieces
• Call Center – The organization has received and responded to overa million Internet Essentials phone calls
• Low-Cost Computers – Believe it or not, they’ve already distributed more than 15,000 desktop and laptop computers for $150 or less.
• Training – Digital literacy is on the rise! Internet Essentials has already taught more than 10,000 low income Americans to use the internet.
• Dual Language Websites – More than 800,000 people have already visited Comcast’s InternetEssentials.com (English) and InternetBasico.com (Spanish) websites.
• Partnerships – The word is spreading as Internet Essentials builds partnerships with more than 7,000 community-based organizations and government agencies.

According to Comcast’s best guess, as many as 2,600,000 eligible families may live in their service areas.

Want to sign up for Internet Essentials? You may qualify if you have a child that is eligible for the National School Lunch Program in a public, parochial, private or home school.

Internet Essentials is a great program. Find out more, sign up and help your family begin to bridge the digital divide.

Source: Global Nation

We’re written a lot about Connect2Compete, the national organization that’s come up with a way to bring high-speed internet access to America’s needy.

Approximately 100 million needy Americans don’t have broadband access at home and 62 million of them don’t have broadband access anywhere.

It’s a great program, and although there are a number of ways for low-income Americans to qualify for cheap internet access, remarkably low cost computers and free computer classes, the unfortunate fact is that many needy Americans do not qualify or live in areas outside Connect To Compete’s service area.

The good news is that they’ve worked out a deal with a company called Freedom Pop to offer a internet access to those people who can’t find affordable internet access anywhere else.

USA Today reports that, “Through partnerships with local Internet providers such as Freedom Pop, Comcast and Cox Communications, Connect2Compete will connect millions of low-income citizens to programs that offer free and low-cost Internet services. In areas where FreedomPop offers coverage, the company will extend an offer for a $49 “plug and play” router and free access to 1GB of wireless Internet service, with the option of an additional 12GB of service for $9.99/month, including free “auto-off” defaults to prevent overages.”

Needy Americans who fall through the cracks in the Connect To Compute program should also search CheapInternet.com for two other programs called “Internet Essentials” and “Internet Basics” that are offered by other corporations and organizations (such as Cox Communications and Comcast) that offer programs very similar to those offered by Connect To Compete.

Cheap internet is rapidly spreading across the country. Click around CheapInternet.com to find out if it’s available in your area.

Source: USA Today

The good news, we suppose, is that Connect2Compete (pronounced Connect To Compete) has introduced new rules that make more people eligible for cheap internet, cheap computers, and digital literacy training.

The bad news is that the 64 words that outline those new rules are almost incomprehensible.

Here’s how the Connect2Compete website explains it:

There are three ways to qualify. First – if your family is on the free or reduced school lunch program. Second – if you belong to a non-profit organization that has been approved as an ‘EveryoneOn’ partner. Third – If you live in one of 14,000 zip codes across the country as defined by having the median income of the county being under $35,000.

Let’s take this one at a time:

“First – if your family is on the free or reduced school lunch program.” Until the new rules were introduced yesterday, this was the only way to qualify for Connect2Compete. Many people complained that the requirement was too narrow and that other needy Americans – senior citizens, for example – were unfairly excluded from the program.

“Second – if you belong to a non-profit organization that has been approved as an ‘EveryoneOn’ partner.” We’re not sure what “belong to a non-profit organization” means. We’re not sure why a new, relatively unknown organization like Connect2Compete would introduce another confusing level of branding like EveryoneOn. Why not keep it simple to understand by calling them Connect2Compete partners?

“Third – If you live in one of 14,000 zip codes across the country as defined by having the median income of the county being under $35,000.” Does this mean that millionaires qualify for the program if they live in low-income areas? Does it mean that low-income Americans who don’t live in one of those 14,000 zip codes don’t qualify unless they qualify under #1 or #2?

C’mon, Connect2Compete. We’re your biggest supporters, and we think you’ve done the right thing by expanding the number of people who are eligible. But more people will apply if you make the rules simpler to understand.

We’ve eagerly awaited the day that Connect2Compete (pronounced Connect to Compete) and the AdCouncil break their long-promised campaign to promote nationwide cheap internet for America’s needy.

Our wait is over because today is the day the national roll-out begins.

C2C’s new 30 second public service announcement is a noble effort. The actors (if they are, indeed, actors) seem very realistic and very natural. Shooting the commercial with the computer’s built-in webcam gives it a cinéma vérité feel and adds to the authenticity of the commercial.

We do, however, have one problem with the public service commercial.

In the real world, Reginald, the main character in the commercial, would qualify for the program due to his precarious financial condition, the fact that his children qualify for the free school lunch program or that he lives in a low income zip code.

Yet instead of learning to use a computer to look for a job or to help his kids with their homework, Reginald hops online for the first time to make airline reservations to surprise his wife. (We suspect that her surprise may revolve around the fact that he’s wasting their limited income on airline tickets and vacations.)

But that minor flaw doesn’t dampen our enthusiasm for this initial AdCouncil effort in the least.

Bravo, AdCouncil. Bravo, Connect2Compete.

We can’t wait to see more. We can’t wait to see millions of needy Americans take advantage of your services.

NOTE: Connect2Compete has just introduced new regulations that allow more needy Americans to qualify for cheap internet. The new regulations say:

“There are three ways to qualify. First – if your family is on the free or reduced school lunch program. Second – if you belong to a non-profit organization that has been approved as an ‘EveryoneOn’ partner. Third – If you live in one of 14,000 zip codes across the country as defined by having the median income of the county being under $35,000.”

These new regulations seem a bit vague to us, so check back here at CheapInternet.com soon and we’ll update the information as soon as we get clarification.

If you haven’t yet heard of Connect2Compete, you’ll be hearing plenty about it in the coming months.

A quick summary: Connect2Compete is a joint effort by private companies, non-profits and government to decrease the digital divide between America’s rich and America’s poor. The program offers low income families low-cost high-speed internet access for just $9.95 per month, makes available refurbished desktop and laptop computers for as little as $150, and delivers free computer literacy training classes.
The program has been slowly rolling out across America for the last year or so. And now the pace of that roll-out is increasing.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, Connect2Compete and its Best Buy retail partner will launch a national digital literacy training program at Housing & Urban Development Neighborhood Networks Centers, United Way, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Opening date: late March and the program will be available in 12 major cities during summer 2013.

HUD will work with public housing authorities (PHAs) and multifamily owners in those cities to speed delivery of this training to HUD-assisted residents at Neighborhood Networks Centers and other facilities operated by Connect2Compete partners.

You may qualify if you meet these three simple standards: Eligible families must (1) have at least one student enrolled in the Free School Lunch Program; (2) not be a current subscriber to broadband (or have subscribed in the last 90 days); and (3) not have an overdue bill or unreturned equipment to the participating service provider.

This is absolutely wonderful news for America’s neediest families, but what about low income residents beyond those 12 cities? Let’s get this program rolling on a truly national basis, C2C.

Needy American families have been waiting for this news for a long time. Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen says the Internet Essentials program is expanding rapidly. And, we might add, expanding in a lot of ways that will help a lot of people.

Cohen offered details in his second annual progress report on the company’s Internet Essentials program.

The biggest news is that Internet Essentials is being expanded to include families of parochial, private and homeschool students. (We thought that the National Free School Lunch program was only available to students in public schools, but United States Department of Agriculture says it’s available in all public and private non-profit schools. That’s good news!)

Comcast offers high speed internet access for just $9.95 a month. It also offers refurbished computers for less than $150. In fact, Comcast says it has already given out more than 15,000 of those inexpensive computers.

To be eligible for these tremendous benefits, families must have at least one child eligible to participate in the National School Lunch Program. Comcast estimates that 2.6 million families are eligible in the areas it serves.

The program has had huge success in its first 16 months. “We’ve connected more than 150,000 low-income families, or 600,000 Americans, to the power of the Internet at home,” Cohen said, “most for the very first time.”

But even better news lies ahead, because this is just the first step in Internet Essential’s expansion.

Rest assured, we’ll let you know more about every step of the expansion as it happens.

Source: Bizjournals

Here comes the cheap internet program for which America’s needy have been waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

We’ve been eagerly awaiting Connect2Compete’s national roll-out since the organization first announced in mid-2012 that the roll-out would happen in “early 2013”. Apparently we were a bit too aggressive because we assumed that meant January 1. But truth be told, we can’t complain that the national roll-out will begin in the first quarter of 2013.

After successfully completing a series of test programs around the country, Connect2Compete will launch nationally on March 21 in order to bring inexpensive digital opportunities to all low-income Americans.

The program offers low-income families high-speed internet access for just $9.95 per month plus other benefits such as refurbished laptops and desktop computers for just $150, and free internet training.

It’s easy to qualify for all these benefits, too. You qualify if you meet these three simple standards: Your family must have at least one student enrolled in the Free School Lunch Program, not be a current subscriber to broadband (or not have subscribed in the last 90 days, and not have had an overdue bill or unreturned equipment to one of the participating internet providers.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Zach Leverenz, Connect2Compete’s chief executive officer, said Tuesday that he hoped to have one million families enrolled in the discounted Internet service in its first year.”

Connect2Compete’s mission statement says it “will help Americans access technology through three exciting offers: free digital literacy training, discounted high-speed Internet, and low-cost computers. To promote the work, Connect2Compete will create a national outreach campaign focused on the importance of technology to develop digital skills and find new opportunities.”

Connect2Compete counts some heavy hitters among its supporters. It’s a consortium of public, private and non-profit groups including Comcast, Cox Cable, Time Warner Cable, MicroSoft, Best Buy, Intel, CitiBank the Urban League, United Way, and many others.

Visit: Connect2Compete

Great news from Washington, DC. Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski and Housing & Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan have announced that HUD is adding its support to Connect2Compete.

Connect2Compete is, of course, the coalition of libraries, non-profits, and for-profits that are working together to improve digital access and literacy among our nation’s neediest citizens.

It’s not just tepid support that HUD is providing, either. HUD and C2C have already begun a digital literacy training pilot program at HUD sites in Macon, Georgia, Cook County, Illinois, and San Diego, California.

HUD seems like a perfect partner for the Connect2Compete program. The federal department already works with 4.5 million needy families from coast to coast.

HUD people will work to raise awareness of the C2C program and encourage low-income families to register for inexpensive high-speed internet and refurbished laptop computers.

This isn’t the first time C2C has teamed up with the federal government. The FCC unveiled a very similar partnership with the Department of Labor in mid 2012.

This is a critical moment for the Connect2Compete program and its new partners. One-third of American homes still have no access to the internet. And high-speed digital access is becoming more important to success in school and employment.

According to the FCC, “Within the next decade, it’s estimated that nearly 80 percent of jobs will require digital skills. Already, more than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies, from Walmart and Target to Best Buy, require online job applications.”

CheapInternet.com predicts that HUD won’t be the last government agency to support Connect2Compete. A program this important deserves the full attention of every government agency. It’s vital to the future of our people and our nation.

When the Federal Communications Commission last year issued the Lifeline Reform Order and created the Broadband Pilot Program, we suggested that it would eventually lead to a free government internet program similar to the existing free government cell phone program. Others scoffed at the time, but it now appears that we were 100% correct.

The Wireline Competition Bureau (we could solve a lot of our problems if the government were as good at effective programs as it is at creating bureaus and commissions and panels) has chosen 14 pilot projects and authorized a $13.8 million budget to support those projects in 21 states and Puerto Rico. The selected projects will study a variety of ways to implement broadband services for low-income families.
But this is the program that interests us most:

TracFone Smartphone Project (FL, MD, TX, WA, WI, MA): The project will study the effects of subsidy amounts and discounted hardware. TracFone, in partnership with Technology Goes Home, will test the effect of both discounted price and hardware cost on mobile broadband adoption and retention using four variations in its broadband service plans and one control group randomly assigned over a large, geographically diverse sample. By offering varying combinations of free or discounted hardware and $10 or $20 per month service, low-income customers’ sensitivity to upfront and ongoing prices can be measured. By comparing the two variations in offers with the control group, which is priced at market rate, TracFone will be able to estimate the take-rate for each price point with two GB on data limits.

Translation: This is a pilot program that will for the first time provide low income Americans with smart phones with which they can access the internet.

In other words, this program brings together the best of the free government cell phone and cheap government internet programs. If it is successful, customers will be able to access the internet with smart phones. And it’s likely that a successful program will be rolled out nationally and be made available to many more needy Americans.

That, of course, will allow low-income students to leap across the digital divide that separates them from higher income students. It will allow the unemployed and underemployed the search for and apply for better jobs offered online. It will allow low income Americans with medical conditions to research their own conditions and to access better health care. And it will improve public safety by allowing low-income parents stay in closer contact with their children and vice versa.

We wish TracFone the best of luck in this important pilot program. It’s exactly what low-income Americans want and need.

Sources: UASC.org and FoxNews.com

We could understand if critics of Comcast’s Internet Essentials program were upset because the program doesn’t offer low income Americans free internet service similar to the free government cell phone program.

But that’s not the reason some shortsighted do-gooders have their activist panties in a wad.

According to Comcast Vice President David L. Cohen, there’s a school district in the suburbs outside Philadelphia in which the district’s superintendent has banned Internet Essentials promotional materials.

Why, you might ask, would he want to leave his students on the wrong side of the digital divide? Why would he deny them the opportunity to sign up for a service they would have otherwise been unable to afford?

According to the anonymous superintendent, he would be “playing favorites” if he allowed the company to promote a service that is sorely needed by his students.

That might be true, and we could understand the criticism, if Internet Essentials actually had competitors in that Philadelphia suburb, but it doesn’t. A limited number of companies have signed up to offer the cheap internet service through a consortium of private companies and public agencies known as Connect2Compete.

In other words, the superintendent is guilty of what’s known as solving a problem that doesn’t exist.

Here’s our suggestion for the superintendent: How about if you get around the issue of playing favorites by inviting every company that offers high speed internet to low income residents of your community for $9.95 per month to distribute promotional materials to the students in your district.

What’s that? Comcast Internet Essentials is the only company that’s offering it? Well, you did your duty, Mr. Superintendent, and never played favorites.

If another company eventually decides to make your students the same generous offer that Comcast has already made, invite them to distribute their materials, too.

Until then, get out of Comcast’s way and allow them to bring high speed internet to your students and their families.

Source: Philly.com