Internet Service Providers Update for April 2020

Updated: 04/16/20 11:18 am

Spectrum Goes Down Again

In what is seemingly now a regular occurrence, Charter Spectrum internet service went down Friday evening affecting areas from Hatteras to Corolla on the Outer Banks.   When asked about the cause of the outage, Spectrum stated that they were still unaware of the cause or when service might be restored.  Given most Americans are now practicing social distancing which means more time at home and online, this could not have happened a a worse time.  Customers in the Outer Banks may be wondering, what other service options exist and shouting at their Alexa or Siri “internet providers near me”.  To find the answer to that question one need look no further than Konecteaze.com to find the answer and the best deals in your area on internet, tv, phone and home security services.  

FCC Ask Internet Service Providers To Help Consumers Amid Coronavirus disruption

In an unprecedented move, 69 internet service providers have pledged that for the next 60 days they will not disconnect any of their customers if they are not able to pay their bill.  This move is in response to the economic strain that the Covid-19 ( Coronavirus) pandemic may place on Americans.  Given the fact that social distancing is the new norm, we can only assume that social media nearing will take place which means internet activity will surge.   

FCC’s “Keep Americans Connected Pledge” has several major goals which include

·       Loosen data caps

·       Waive any overage fees or long distance fees for phone service

·       Prioritize bandwidth of health providers and hospitals

·       Expanding the reach of internet based physicians also known as telemedicine

·       Enhancing ‘Lifeline” which is the FCC’s programmed focused on making sure low-income Americans have access to fast, reliable internet service.

·       Not terminate residential or small business customers service due to non-payment for at least 60 days.  

·       Open up public Wifi service so that customers will not have to pay to use internet service in public 

Although this pledge seems promising and many ISP’s have chosen to participate, many have not yet made any moves which could prove to be a big mistake when customers nowadays have more internet options than ever before.  

Below you will find a full list of internet providers that have chosen to abide by the pledge that the FCC put forth: 

ACIRA – Powered by Farmers Mutual Telephone Company & Federated Telephone, Allstream Business US, Altice USA which is commonly known as Suddenlink, Antietam Broadband, Atlantic Broadband which services much of the southeast, AT&T, BBT, BOYCOM Vision, Burlington, Spectrum Telecom, Cable One, Central Arkansas Telephone Cooperative, CenturyLink, Charter, Cincinnati Bell, Citizens Connected, Comcast, Consolidated Communications, Cox Communications, Digital West, East Ascension Telephone Company, Education Networks of America, Emery Telecom, Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, FirstLight, Frontier, Google Fiber, Grande Communications, Granite Telecommunications, Great Plains Communications, GWI, Hiawatha Broadband, Hill Country, IdeaTek Telcom, Inteliquent, Lafourche Telephone Company, Lakeland Communications, Long Lines Broadband, Mammoth Networks/Visionary Broadband, Mediacom, MetTel, Nex-Tech, Ninestar Connect, Northwest Fiber, Orbitel Communications, Pioneer Communications, Premier Communications, Range Telephone Cooperative, RCN, Reserve Telephone Company, Sacred Wind Communications, Shawnee Communications, Socket Telecom, Sonic, Sprint, Starry, TDS Telecom, TelNet Worldwide, T-Mobile, TracFone Wireless, Uniti Fiber, US Cellular, Vast Broadband, Verizon, Vyve Broadband Investments, Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom, Wave Broadband, West Telecom Services, Windstream, and ZenFi Networks.

As the list grows, we will be sure to update it.

Comcast Hotspots Will be Free

Along with pausing all data caps on their services, Comcast Xfinity wifi will now be available across the country for free to anyone who wants to access it.  Here is a link to their map to find out if there is a hotspot near you Xfinity Wifi Map

The Average Cable Bill is Now Over $200

In a report put out by Decisiondata.org, the average cable bill is now a whopping $217 dollars.  This bill represents bundled services for both cable tv and internet.  What makes this stat most surprising is that the introductory offer most customers received when starting service with their cable provider was probably half of that or less.  This is a major reason why many consumers are cutting the cord.  Don’t just run and pick up a pair of scissors just yet, when you cut cable and add a bunch of streaming services your bill could potentially be equal or higher.  The best thing to do is figure out which programming options you can’t live without and subscribe to those services.  Most Americans are finding a mix of a light cable package along with one or two streaming services does the trick.  

Cable Companies Aren’t Alone in Providing Relief

In yet another move to help with customers impacted by the strain on our economy due to the coronavirus, it looks like Gas and Electricity companies are following suit and holding off on any disconnects of their service for non-payment.  For more information on rates and availability of service providers, head over to TexasElectricityRatingsto find the best deals and service in your area. 

Viasat, Hughesnet, Centurylink, AT&T, Spectrum and other ISP's Response to Coronavirus 

Updated 03/13/2020 3:37pm

Internet providers are doing some pretty cool things to help consumers during this time of uncertainty. With Americans looking to telecommuting and work from home options due to the coronavirus (covid-19) spread, we decided to keep you posted with live up to the minute updates about your internet service providers policy changes.    Here is an up to date breakdown of which ISP’s are doing what: 

Spectrum

Charter Communications a.k.a Spectrum, will be offering free highspeed internet access to households that have children in school or to college/university students who are not already customers of Spectrum internet.  To see if Charter’s Spectrum service is available in your area, check out Konecteaze zip code look up tool. 

Mediacom

Mediacom announced that customers on all of their different internet tiers will receive 50GB of additional data.  This policy change will last through March 31.  Mediacom has stated that at that time they will assess the situation and decide if an extension or a change in the policy is needed.  Mediacom's has a wide range when it comes to its data caps.  On the low end you will find caps of 150GB but on the high end you can get a whopping 6TB of data before you see overage charges.  Overage charges are typically $10 for blocks of 50GB of data.

Cox Communications

Cox Cable hasn’t announced any changes in their policies just yet.  They did however issue a statement which in part read “Cox will use its communications network to support government officials with their public service announcements and other critical information to assist the public. Cox currently has a low-income broadband program and is exploring additional ways to expand the initiative if the virus forces school closings”.   We will keep you posted if COX announces any changes,

Suddenlink 

Suddenlink who is owned by Altice, was also non-committal about if it would loosen or suspend data caps, as some of the other major internet providers have done.  Suddenlink Altice issued a statement which was similar to COX which said, "We are closely monitoring network usage and are assessing all of our policies and procedures to best support our customers during this unprecedented time,".  It seems like outside of the top 3 cable and internet companies; the others are still holding off when it comes to loosening data restrictions.  We wonder how long that will last given that Spectrum and ATT have announced data and policy changes due to the coronavirus.

Viasat

Viasat, formerly named Exede satellite Internet service, offers unlimited plans with no hard caps so overages aren’t a huge concern.  That being said, once you do go over the allotted data you can expect your service to slow down which is not good if you are streaming. As with most fiber internet, cable internet and satellite internet providers Viasat allows you to buy more data so there is that option.   Viasat should expect more internet traffic and data usage as do most providers now that more social distancing is occurring, and people are staying home.  The fact is if you have satellite internet like Viasat or Hughesnet, you are probably ready and have been practicing social distancing since these providers are typically used in rural areas

Hughesnet

Hughesnet has not released a statement regarding their plans to alter or change any of their policies in light of the anticipated need in more internet bandwidth due to social distancing and working from home caused by the coronavirus scare.  

Comcast Xfinity

Comcast whose service goes by the name Xfinity, is the largest provider for residential internet service in the United States.  Comcast has not commented on whether it plans to suspend data caps in light of the anticipation of the increased need of bandwidth.  So, for now nothing has changed when it comes to Xfinity’s data caps.  Comcast did however announce today that they will be raising the speeds on their internet essentials package.  Currently that package allows for   15Mbps download/2Mbps upload.  The change in Xfinity’s internet Essentials plan bumps that up to a blazing 25Mbps/3Mbps.  This service is offered as an option for low income Americans.  On top of bumping up the speed for existing customer Comcast also announce they will be giving 60 days of free Internet service to new Xfinity customers who qualify under their low-income package.  Again, no other changes to any other internet packages have been announced.

AT&T

AT&T has really stepped it up during the Coronavirus Pandemic.  They have announced that they will be removing data caps.  Now although most of their customers are already on unlimited plans any overages which may have been incurred by those who are not will now be waived.  AT&T typically offers unlimited data when you bundle your internet service with either Uverse or DirecTV or when you sign up for a super high-speed gigabit package.  When you are not on one of these packages and still need unlimited data, you can always purchase that option for $30 more per month.   It is important to remember this only applies to AT&T’s residential internet service and not to its mobile service.  Don’t go burning up your hotspot data quite yet or you could be in for a big bill.  

Centurylink

Stay tuned as we will be updating this blog as we receive more information.  

Another glorious Thursday.  No better day to find out what is going on in the world of cable, highspeed broadband internet and tv.

February 12, 2020

02/12/2020

·      Spectrum to issue refunds:  

o   It looks customers who were affected by that nasty outage for spectrum TV, internet and phone services are in for some money back.  According to spectrum Customers can call the company’s customer service line at (855) 707-7328. Spectrum has not said how much the refund will be, but my guess is, it won’t be much.  Either way it’s worth giving them a call to see how much money you are entitled to.  

You can read more about what caused the outage here SPECTRUM OUTAGE

·      Optimum Cable to raise prices

o   Optimum cable customers are probably a little lighter in the wallet this month after the cable company announced it would raise their cable rates by $20 in July.  While companies like AT&T, Centurylink and Xfinity are trying to figure out how to navigate the cord cutting era, Optimum has decided to buck the trend and charge more for a service many say is outdated.  Cord cutters blog reported today that the rates have already gone into effect so for Optimum customers looking for other options, now may be a good time to hit up Konecteaze’s Zip Code Lookup Tool

·      Alaska to get better internet

o   If you were planning on moving to Alaska and were worried about internet connectivity, it looks like your fears have been addressed.  According to an article by Alaska Public Media new sattelites were lauched last week with the intent of providing high speed internet coverage for all of Alaska.  It looks like this was the first phase of the project who is a Astranis Space Technologies Corporation and Pacific Dataport Incorporated

·      Looks like the FCC Broadband maps are flawed

o   If you were curious and wanted to find out which parts of the country does AT&T offer high speed broadband internet, or if Centurylink is offered in Denver, the logical thing to do would be to head over to the FCC’s Broadband map and take a look at their data.  Well according to an article in Routefifty.com, the FCC map is pretty flawed and States are taking matters into their own hands . States are individually trying to accurately identify how many of its residents actually have access to high speed internet .  High speed internet is considered anything over 25mbps.  That might actually seem slow to some of us but believe it or not, millions of Americans still don’t have access to fast internet and often have to rely on mobile hot spots just to send an email.  

February 10, 2020

02/10/2020

Hey there Internet Explorers!  Here are some quick hits about what is going on in the world of broadband internet, satellite internet and internet service providers.

·      The Broadband Space Race is on:  

o   Last Thursday, February 6, 2020, a rocket was sent into space with the intent of changing up the landscape of what internet providers can offer from a speed and availability standpoint.  No its not AT&T, Comcast (Xfinity), Spectrum or some other big cable company trying to dominate the airwaves.  Instead, the rocket was equipped with several of hundreds of satellites to be deployed by OneWeb Satellite and SpaceX.  The goal of this and future launches is to cast a web of hundreds of satellites circling the globe aimed at giving high speed 5G internet access to each and every person on the planet.  Believe it or not, there are still rural parts of the United States that have very little access to high speed internet.  These folks have had to resort to satellite internet providers like HughesNet and Viasat to be able to provide them internet access.  Not to be outdone, HughesNet and Viasat are planning to harness the power of their existing network as well as new innovations to ensure they stay on top of the satellite internet game.  More on that to come in the near future…

·      Not as many people have Access to High Speed Internet as previously thought:

o   According to a PC Magazine article It looks like the FCC may have botched how it reported the number of Americans who have access to broadband high speed internet.  Believe it or not the article states over 42 million people don’t have internet fast enough to stream their favorite shows on Netflix. 

·      Rural Digital Opportunity Fund: 

o   Yaaay! Faster internet for all.  In January 2020, the FCC decided to allocate over 10 Billion in funding to help provide fast internet to the rest of the United States.   The Rural Digital Opportunity fund will create jobs, opportunity and most important of all the ability of all Americans to be able to binge watch their shows on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.  

·      Down goes Spectrum:

o   Spectrum High Speed Internet television and phone service came to an abrupt halt over the weekend leaving many of their customers upset, frustrated and disconnected from the online world.  This affected areas of New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and various other cities and states on the North East Coast.  It seems as though bad weather was to blame.  I just hope those customers had their DVR’s filled or old DVD’s to help pass the time trapped in their homes.  

WOW! is considered to be a leading broadband provider in the United States. Apart from high-speed Internet services, the company offers many other services, including cable TV, business data services, phone connections, and cloud services to millions of residential and business consumers at highly competitive prices.

Last year, they launched WOW! Whole-Business Wi-Fi Mesh Network, which has become a huge hit due to its many benefits. Let’s learn more about it!

What is WOW’s Whole-Business Wi-Fi Mesh Network?

Based on mesh technology from eero, WOW’s Whole-Business WiFi comes with a router and Wi-Fi extenders that provide high coverage throughout the area they’re installed in.

Unlike conventional internet networks that use a single router, this solution comes with multiple eero access points that are highly customizable.

Using AI, these access points learn the surrounding space, devices, and network usage to deliver remarkable internet speed.

Benefits

Some of the key benefits of WOW’s Whole-Business Wi-Fi Mesh Network are:

· It eliminates dead zones and slow zones, which means less time needed for troubleshooting.

· Fast internet speeds due to better network optimization through multiple access points.

· Mesh networks offer a much higher level of security compared to conventional routers.

What’s more?

WOW’s Whole-Business Wi-Fi Mesh Network can easily be controlled via a mobile application. It allows businesses to offer reliable internet services to their guests while ensuring the safety of their sensitive data.

The connection process is fairly simple as well, and doesn’t require customers and guests to enter a username or password. They can simply scan a unique QR code to join the guest network hosted by the business.

The best part: the guest network is isolated from the main business network, thanks to the mesh network technology. As a result, confidential business documents and sensitive information remain safe and secure.

Installation process and packages

The installation of the Whole-Business Wi-Fi solution is undertaken by WOW! technicians. Businesses can customize the network according to their specific needs. Moreover, they can also take advantage of other services like phone packages, TV, and the internet by using the bundle packages offered by WOW!

From 60 Mbps to 1 Gig, Wow! offers a variety of plans for businesses. Their basic plan starts from $49 and goes up to $208 per month (at the time of writing).

Final Words

This blog contains all you need to know about Wow! Whole-Business Wi-Fi Mesh Network.

Planning to discover other internet service provider available in your region? Visit KonectEaze. We’ve designed a platform to help you to learn about the best internet deals available near your area. Simply write your zip code in the search box and find multiple internet service providers in your neighborhood. Want to learn more, call us at 888-376-0753 or visit our website.