Comcast shelves internet fees plan
Comcast on Wednesday said it would suspend its new fees on heavy home internet users in more than a dozen northeastern states, reversing course on a policy that threatened higher bills for some families amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Philadelphia-based cable giant said it would postpone the new charges after Pennsylvania Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro raised concerns that Comcast’s policy threatened to disproportionately harm cash-strapped Americans who are learning, working and communicating primarily online.
Comcast initially announced in November that it would impose the new regional data restrictions in Pennsylvania and other service areas, including Washington, D.C., New York, Virginia and Maryland.
Similar rules and fees already cover Comcast customers in other parts of the country.
The extra fees would have applied only to the heaviest internet users — those who use more than a terabyte of data each month — and Comcast said at the time that most students and families probably would have steered clear of owing the company extra each month. Users would have to stream five hours of 4K-resolution video every day for a month or take part in 3,500 hours of videoconferencing to exceed the threshold, Comcast has said.
But critics in Congress and around the country still rebuked Comcast for seeking to change its rules and potentially boost its profits before the country had fully recovered from a public health crisis that has left many families dependent on the internet.
Under a deal brokered with Shapiro, Comcast on Wednesday pledged to be more transparent about its pricing and take additional steps that include waiving some fees for customers who cancel their cable and internet contracts early. Comcast suspended its new data charges until July, so consumers will not see any fees until their August bills, according to the attorney general’s office.
The changes do not effect Comcast customers in other regions. The company previously announced a suspension in Massachusetts after state lawmakers introduced legislation that sought to take aim at the new fees.
The heightened scrutiny facing Comcast reflects regulators’ recent efforts to combat the country’s long-standing digital divide between those who can access and afford reliable connectivity and those who cannot. These digital inequities predate the pandemic but have become more consequential at a time when Americans have little choice but to stay home.