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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Education / City / Tech City Teams Up With Microsoft and Comcast to Provide High-Speed Internet for Low-Income Students

Posted by Riya Bhattacharjee on Wed, May 4, 2011 at 4:11 PM

The City of Seattle is partnering with Microsoft and Comcast to bring affordable high-speed Internet to low-income students and their families. Under the current plan, Comcast would charge $9.95 per month for the service, which it says is a 75 reduction from the average cost.

Council Member Bruce Harrell, who is spearheading the resolution, met with representatives from Microsoft and Comcast today during the Energy, Technology, and Civil Rights Committee meeting to discuss the plan that could be launched as early as the new school year.

Although Harrell stressed that it was imperative to get things in motion as soon as possible, Seattle School Board President Steve Sundquist cautioned that the proposed timeline could pose a problem for school district staff, some of whom will not be available to work during summer.

When we have private corporations willing to invest, "we work on weekends to get it done," was Harrell's advice to Sundquist.

Sundquist also said that since the service involved students who benefited from the free lunch program (roughly 35 percent of 47,000 Seattle Public Schools students), it would be important to respect their privacy when any data was handed over to the two corporations. Comcast said that nobody would know the names of the eligible students.

Under the plan, Comcast would also sell computers to eligible students for $150 with a little help from Microsoft.

According to a 2009 City of Seattle survey, 84 percent of Seattle households with incomes above $50,000 receive high-speed Internet, but only 46 percent of households with incomes under $30,000 receive high-speed Internet.

"We want to turn Seattle into a national model for digital initiatives," Harrell said. Dan MacFetridge from Microsoft said that although Microsoft had launched similar initiatives worldwide, they had yet to start one in any U.S. city. Comcast plans to launch their discounted service through the Comcast Broadband Opportunity Program, which is corporate speak for: if you receive free lunch and live in Comcast's service area you are eligible, unless you signed up for a Comcast service within the last 90 days or your account has gone to collections.

"It's because if you do have an account with us we don't want you to cancel," said Kathy Putt from Comcast. "This is for new Internet customers only." See, when you are dealing with corporations, no matter how much they want to be good citizens, there's always a catch.

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Comments (18) RSS

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Too bad lots of those low income families live in areas only served by Broadstripe (formerly known as Millenium) including parts of the Central District, Beacon Hill and Rainier Valley. Their shitty, overpriced service is nothing more than the digital native equivalent of red lining.

Posted by decidedlyodd on May 4, 2011 at 4:25 PM

@1 Too true.

Posted by Mugwumpt on May 4, 2011 at 4:29 PM

"See, when you are dealing with corporations, no matter how much they want to be good citizens, there's always a catch."

And the catch is in place to ensure that low income people get this at a cheap price. Its not even a big deal, because the alternative is to have no catch in place and let anyone get HSI for 10$ a month, to the point where it crashes the program and nobody gets discounted HSI.

Its like going to a HUMP screening "What? You mean I cant buy these movies on DVD? What a rip-off!!". or better still, "What!? You mean I cant jerk off in the theater!? This is so misleading"

Posted by Kinison

on May 4, 2011 at 4:31 PM

This is great to hear. I remember the Mayor promising in his campaign to bring high-speed internet to underprivileged households...well, it looks like while the Mayor talks, Bruce Harrell makes it happen.

Posted by michaelp on May 4, 2011 at 4:34 PM

I believe this is part of a program stipulated in the conditions imposed by the FCC for the Comcast/NBC merger. The fill list of conditions are here, but below is the paragraph that describes this offering by Comcast. They're not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, but as a condition of a giant merger. Glad some lower-income people benefit, but...

The Applicants have also made a number of additional voluntary commitments, many of which the Commission has adopted as conditions to the transaction’s approval. Most of these commitments are geared towards enhancing the public interest as a result of the joint venture.

These commitments include:
· Broadband Adoption and Deployment. Comcast will make available to
approximately 2.5 million low income households: (i) high-speed Internet access
service for less than $10 per month; (ii) personal computers, netbooks, or other
computer equipment at a purchase price below $150; and (iii) an array of digitalliteracy
education opportunities. Comcast will also expand its existing broadband
networks to reach approximately 400,000 additional homes, provide broadband
Internet access service in six additional rural communities, and provide free video
and high-speed Internet service to 600 new anchor institutions, such as schools and
libraries, in underserved, low-income areas.

Posted by Sterno on May 4, 2011 at 4:35 PM

I thought you said this was high-speed Internet.

In Japan or South Korea this is tier 3 - bottom grade.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on May 4, 2011 at 4:37 PM

This is fantastic and it show's Bruce's leadership at several levels; the initiative to get this in place and the little kick in the behind to get some work done on the weekends. Giving kids the chance to succeed in the classroom is the first and important step to giving them a chance to get decent jobs in the future.

Posted by cottage cheese on May 4, 2011 at 4:45 PM

This is a great thing that will help a lot of kids. True Broadstripe serves some of the poorest areas but there are poor people all over the city. I do not see how this can be seen as anything but positive. Anytime inequity is addressed it is s good thing. Nice work Bruce!

Posted by Right Cross on May 4, 2011 at 4:46 PM

How come every gang banger who gets whacked or whacks someone in Seattle has a myspace page with high res pictures of them waving da' money?

Posted by At least they're making them pay for it on May 4, 2011 at 4:48 PM

@9. What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Are you implying that only gang members are poor. What an assinine comment.

Posted by Right Cross on May 4, 2011 at 4:56 PM

Also it makes you the bigger man

Posted by Democrat1234 on May 4, 2011 at 5:50 PM

@5, that's a good catch. McGinn had originally mentioned wanting to find a way to negotiate an agreement with a provider (he mentioned Google for some reason) where the corporation would get some benefit in exchange for defraying public expense. Looks like when Harrell got the scoop on Comcast being forced to offer this nationally in exchange for FCC approval, he recognized an opportunity to take the theory the mayor spoke of and put it to work to make something happen.

Posted by gloomy gus on May 4, 2011 at 6:17 PM

EVERYONE should get high speed internet for $10/month. That's actually a fair price for what passes as "high speed" in this country.

Posted by SPG on May 4, 2011 at 6:42 PM

Forcing Microsoft shit on these unfortunates is like feeding them toxin-laden sawdust soup for school lunches. Open wide, take a big gulp of this nutritious broth!

Posted by Karlheinz Arschbomber

on May 5, 2011 at 12:13 AM

Again, WTF!!! Token minority on the City Council trying to help out ghetto kids during election year. Get real, these kids who can't even work yet, can't afford a computer, much less "low cost" internet service. They do just fine using the computer at school, library and community center. Free wi-fi at all these places.

Posted by coolmoedee on May 5, 2011 at 12:35 AM

@15. You must be an angry elitist who has it all. How can more accessibility be a bad thing?

Posted by Right Cross on May 5, 2011 at 8:58 AM

@5 for the Dressing Up A Pig In A Dress And Calling It A Princess win.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on May 5, 2011 at 11:26 AM

I don't think this goes far enough. Low income students (which my kids are) have access to high speed internet at school, thru their friends, etc.. If anything, I think this program should have been initiated for the many, many, low-income disabled and seniors. They are the ones that might be home bound, might be living on the $197 a month GAU that the state has alloted them as their monthly income, etc. I have an elder (87 year old) neighbor that I would love to see benefit from a program like this. I'd love to connect her to friends and family thru the internet. So...really think this is somewhat of a farce in who they've chosen to help.

Posted by justmythougts on May 8, 2011 at 9:28 AM