Following natural disasters and in times of national crisis,
America’s private sector steps up to aid the states. We are proud of the
herculean efforts of our private sector members, the CSG Leadership Circle and
Associates, as we work together to combat COVID-19.
As millions of Americans adjust to
a new normal of working at home as part of the social distancing measures
implemented in most states, telecommunications companies are working to keep
people connected to the internet and to each other.
Over 400 companies signed onto the
Federal Communications Commission’s Keep Americans Connected Pledge. CSG
Leadership Circle and Associates joined the effort including AT&T, Comcast,
Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. The Keep Americans Connected Pledge asks
companies to not terminate service to any residential or small business
customers because of their inability to pay their bills due to the disruptions
caused by the coronavirus pandemic; waive any late fees that any residential or
small business customers incur because of their economic circumstances related
to the coronavirus pandemic; and open its Wi-Fi hotspots to any American who
needs them.
Beyond these commitments, CSG
Associates are launching new features to help American workers and families
while at home and providing some existing services for free during this time. These
include:
AT&T has taken the following actions to assist with the COVID-19 crisis:
- Created new $10 million
Distance Learning & Family Connections Fund
- The new Distance Learning and Family Connections Fund gives parents,
students and teachers tools they need for at-home learning. The fund also will
provide resources to maintain meaningful connections and bonding opportunities
for those isolated from family and friends.
- Launched new Command Centers
to support AT&T business customers
- To keep customers connected and compliment its product offers, AT&T
launched six new Command Centers that are enabling the fast delivery of
increased bandwidth, new circuits and unified communication services.
- Unlimited AT&T home internet
- All AT&T consumer home internet wireline customers, as well as Fixed
Wireless Internet, can use unlimited internet data. Additionally, the compnay
will continue to offer internet access for qualifying limited income households
at $10 a month through its Access from AT&T program. AT&T expanded
eligibility to Access from AT&T to households participating in the National
School Lunch Program and Head Start. Additionally, the company will offer new
Access from AT&T customers two months of free service.
- Serving those who serve
- AT&T is redirecting more resources to provide communication services
and tools for first responders, health care professionals, educators and other
essential customers. This additional support will help ensure these customers
can continue providing critical support to the country and their communities,
particularly to first responders using the FirstNet network.
For
more information: https://www.att.com/
Comcast
is taking
steps to implement the following new policies for the next 60
days as well as other important initiatives:
- 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 “xfinityifi” network
name in the list of available hotspots, and then launch a browser.
- Pausing its data plans
- With so many
people working and educating from home, Comcast is pausing its data plans for
60 days giving all customers Unlimited data for no additional charge.
- Internet Essentials free to new customers
- 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, Comcast has 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,
Comcast also has created a collection of the most current news and information
on Coronavirus. Just say “Coronavirus” into your X1 or Flex voice remote.
- 24×7 network monitoring
- Underpinning all
of these efforts, Comcast’s technology and engineering teams will continue to
work tirelessly to support our network operations. It engineers its network
capacity to handle spikes and shifts in usage patterns and continuously test,
monitor and enhance its systems and network to ensure they are ready to support
customer usage. Comcast engineers and technicians staff its network operations
centers 24/7 to ensure network performance and reliability. They are monitoring
network usage and watching the load on the network both nationally and
locally, and to date it is performing well.
For
more information: https://corporate.comcast.com/
Sprint
is doubling the 1Million Project’s data allotment from 10 GB to 20 GB per month
through June 30, 2020. During the past three years, in partnership with 246
districts across 35 states, the 1Million Project Foundation has connected
350,000 high school students with 10 GB of free monthly high-speed wireless
data and services.
For
more information: http://www.1millionproject.org/
T-Mobile announced
plans to extend support to communities impacted by COVID-19:
- Partnering with Feeding America,
Shaw Education and YouTube through T-Mobile Tuesdays, a program that thanks
customers with exclusive offers every Tuesday. For more information, download
the T-Mobile Tuesdays app.
- The T-Mobile Foundation is contributing $100,000 to the COVID-19 Response Fund hosted by the Seattle Foundation, which will rapidly deploy
resources to community-based organizations at the frontlines of the coronavirus
outbreak in the greater Seattle and Puget Sound region.
- The T-Mobile Foundation is also offering a 2:1 match for employees who
want to give additional funds to Feeding America or the CDC Foundation that
supports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s critical health
protection work.
All current T-Mobile customers on plans that
currently have data are provided the unlimited connectivity. In addition,
T-Mobile is executing the following efforts:
- All current
T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile customers who have plans with data will have
unlimited smartphone data for the next 60 days
(excluding roaming).
- Providing T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile customers on smartphone plans with
hotspot data an additional 20GB of mobile hotspot / tethering service for the next 60 days.
- Working with its Lifeline partners to provide customers extra free data up to 5GB of data per month over the next two months.
- Increasing
the data allowance for free to schools and students using its EmpowerED digital
learning programs to ensure each participant has access to at least 20GB of
data per month for the next 60 days.
- Offering free international
calling for all current T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile customers to landline(and in many
cases mobile) numbers in many severely impacted countries.
- Supporting the FCC’s Keep Americans Connected
Pledge focused on ensuring residential and small business
customers with financial impacts do not lose service.
For more information:https://www.t-mobile.com/
Verizon is
serving Americans on the following fronts:
- Free international calling to countries identified by
the Centers for Disease Control as Level 3-impacted by the coronavirus
effective March 18 through the end of April 2020. This is available to wireless
postpaid consumer and small/medium business customers, and landline home phone
customers. Unlimited calling will be included for mobile and landline calls,
with the exception of Iran, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia provided 300 minutes
of free calls per month. Effective March 16, wireless prepaid customers will
also receive a total of 300 additional minutes to call Level 3 countries.
- Waiving activation fees on new lines of service and
upgrade fees starting March 18. This applies to all purchases and service-only
activations made through Verizon digital channels, such as verizonwireless.com
and the My Verizon app.
For more information: https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/covid-19-faqs/
Associates
in Action articles highlight CSG Associates’ philanthropic efforts and
public-private partnerships throughout the states.
