In 2011 Comcast agreed to offer a $9.95 broadband service to low-income families as one of the government conditions for being allowed to buy out NBC Universal. It’s now said it will extend that program, due to expire this fall, indefinitely.
Under the program, qualifying families can get a 5 megabits per second connection for the monthly $9.95 fee (plus tax), with no price rises or modem rental costs. The main terms for qualifying are that the family must have at least one child eligible for the National School Lunch Program, not have subscribed to a Comcast Internet service in the past 90 days, and not have an overdue Comcast bill.
The chances are that the extension of the program is an attempt to win brownie points as regulators mull over the proposed Comcast-Time Warner merger, but a good deal is a good deal nonetheless.