The cable industry believes the majority of America not using the Internet remain offline by choice.

The National Cable Telecommunications Association (NCTA) says the digital divide is not their fault. Price have very little to do with it, according to an NCTA infographic showing just 6% cite “cost” as the main reason they are not signed up for Internet service.

“Cable has made extensive efforts to connect all Americans to the Internet. And while high-speed Internet adoption has rapidly increased in the United States, still too many low-income families remain unconnected and are at risk of falling behind in the global information economy,” writes NCTA blogger John Solit. “Connecting all Americans in order to bridge the digital divide and expand the availability of broadband service remains a national goal embraced by cable companies. In a recent blog post, David L. Cohen, Comcast Executive VP & Chief Diversity Officer said, “[I]n just over two years through our Internet Essentials program, Comcast has connected an estimated 1 million low-income Americans, or more than 250,000 families, to the Internet at home.”

The “digital divide” — broadband have’s and have-nots — has been a regular topic among regulators and legislators for more than a decade. A suspicion that cost is a major factor keeping people from signing up could result in legislation compelling providers to offer low-cost Lifeline broadband service to the income-disadvantaged. In the last three years, the cable industry has tried to fight off that type of approach with voluntary programs that selectively target non-customers.

Comcast’s Internet Essentials provides 5/1Mbps service for $9.95 a month, but signing up isn’t easy.

The discounted service is available only to families with school-age children that qualify for the school lunch aid program. Comcast often promotes its discount program to legislators and others in the industry as an example of the voluntary effort the cable industry is making to solve the digital divide. Target customers who most likely qualify for the service are not going to learn about it through television ads or cable company mailers targeting low-income zip codes. Most of Comcast’s marketing effort is in cooperation with area schools.

Ironically, Comcast’s Internet Essentials actually forces some people to temporarily give up Internet access if they want to participate.

Customers must be current on their Comcast bills and must not have a subscription to any Comcast Internet service for the last 90 days to receive consideration. If you already have Comcast broadband service, you must disconnect it for at least three months before you can apply for Internet Essentials.

This requirement is designed to protect Comcast’s bottom line. Why offer a discount to customers already willing to sacrifice for home Internet service at Comcast’s regular price?

“How is this helping me and my family out,” asks one Tennessee customer who tried to sign up for Internet Essentials but couldn’t because they were already paying for Comcast Internet service. “The Comcast representative said that if I wanted to be enrolled in the program I would have to discontinue my Internet service for 90 days and then reapply. We have the Economy Internet Promotion and pay $19.95 per month. After the promotion ends our fee will increase to $26.95 a month. In our current economy and financial situation saving $17 per month would greatly help our family to keep our service. I will not rest until I find a solution to this problem. My children at least deserve that.”

Comcast also makes it its business to check your household to make sure at least one child still qualifies for the National School Lunch Program. The company reserves the right to immediately cancel service if you miss a payment or move. Participants also must not upgrade, alter or change Comcast service for any reason or risk being removed from the program.

Comcast’s Wi-Fi Ban

Shapiro

One of the most annoying conditions of the Internet Essentials program is that it does not allow Wi-Fi access.

Phil Shapiro, who refurbishes donated computers and distributes them to needy families regularly runs into Comcast’s Wi-Fi ban — a significant issue for larger families that need to be online concurrently.

“I’ve taken three donated computers to [one] family and I was expecting to get them all online with this cable modem service,” Shapiro tells The Hechinger Report.  “But not so fast. Comcast’s telephone tech support tells me that Internet Essentials users cannot use Wi-Fi with their cable modems. Nowhere in Comcast’s printed literature or on the website is this limitation mentioned. Naturally, families who sign up for Internet Essentials get confused about this, but they are not well positioned to advocate for their needs.”

Charlie Douglas, a Comcast spokesperson, confirms that Internet Essentials does not offer Wi-Fi service, although he noted a customer could theoretically buy a wireless router themselves and use that to provide wireless connectivity. But that isn’t what Comcast’s technical support team recommends. Any deviation from the terms of the service offered to Internet Essentials customers could lead to an immediate disqualification. Comcast defines Internet Essentials as a wired service, including one outlet and a basic (not wireless) modem.

“The family that I was helping patiently waited for me while I talked on the phone,” said Shapiro. “They could see that I spoke very politely with the tech support person. They also saw that I had reached the end of my patience.”

A representative told Stop the Cap! Internet Essentials accounts have insufficient bandwidth and speed for Wi-Fi service, so it is not offered.

Shapiro dismisses Comcast’s explanation. Many public Wi-Fi networks offer even slower service than Comcast.

Douglas defended Comcast’s policy noting families served by the program don’t miss Wi-Fi and don’t need it.

But those using tablets might disagree, and with an increasing number of students using them as school textbooks are gradually phased out, Wi-Fi will only grow in importance.

Many large school districts, including Los Angeles, are introducing Wi-Fi only tablets for student use because they are cheaper and easier to support. When Internet Essentials participants ask about Wi-Fi access with the discounted broadband service, Comcast representatives are trained to up sell customers out of the program and sign them to a more costly plan than includes built-in Wi-Fi support.

Customers can successfully, if covertly, connect a router with Wi-Fi capability to the basic cable modem supplied by Comcast and configure wireless Internet Essentials service. But there are no guarantees Comcast will not give customers grief about it, if they wish.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Comcast Internet Essentials Key Milestones 11-13.mp4[/flv]

Comcast produced this video marking the start of the second year of its Internet Essentials program. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel gushed Internet Essentials was “top of the line” Internet access. He was joined by other recognizable political leaders and the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Julius Genachowski. (2:47)

Time Warner Cable customers in Los Angeles, New York, and Hawaii subscribed to the company’s top 50/5Mbps Ultimate speed tier will get a free upgrade to 100/5Mbps between now and the end of this year.

“Residential customers in Los Angeles who subscribe to our Ultimate 50 tier are being automatically upgraded to Ultimate 100 at no extra cost,” said Time Warner’s Andrew Russell. “Ultimate 50 residential customers in New York City and Hawaii will be upgraded by year’s end. By early 2014, all customers in these markets will have access to Ultimate 100, with more TWC markets to follow next year.”

“Consumers are adding more and more connected devices into their digital lifestyle,” said Steve Cook, general manager of Time Warner Cable residential Internet. “These new ultra-fast Internet speeds are designed to satisfy their growing demand to stream, download and connect simultaneously across multiple devices.”

Time Warner Cable announced several speed upgrades over the last year, but it still remains the least aggressive major cable operator in the speed category. Among the largest five cable operators, Time Warner Cable’s premium speed tiers are the slowest, with top upstream speeds of just 5Mbps and a maximum downstream speed of 50Mbps for most. But Time Warner Cable has no compulsory usage caps or consumption billing.

Over the last year, Time Warner Cable increased speeds for all but their Extreme customers (30/5Mbps), the only plan to have not seen any major speed boost in most markets since being standardized as an entry level DOCSIS 3 tier.

Time Warner also announced a speed improvement for their budget-conscious Lite tier, now 1/1Mbps in most markets.

Priced at $14.99 per month, the new offering will deliver 2/1Mbps — adequate for basic web browsing, e-mail and limited multimedia use — and becomes available nationwide beginning Nov. 4.

“We’re making our entry-level product even better and more affordable for the casual Internet user and cost-conscious consumer,” said Cook. “At both ends of our speed options and everything in between, we’re focused on giving our customers the best experience at the best value.”

Time Warner Cable will now offer most customers seven different speed tiers, all unlimited use (except when opting in to usage limited plans in return for a discount):

• Lite: 2/1Mbps
• Basic: 3/1Mbps
• Standard: 15/1Mbps
• Turbo: 20/2Mbps
• Extreme: 30/5Mbps
• Ultimate: 100/5Mbps

Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second largest cable operator, has agreed to carry Al Jazeera America on its cable lineup nationwide, giving the network 10 million more potential viewers.

The contract, to be announced later today, will bring the English language U.S.-focused news channel to major cities, including Los Angeles and New York within weeks. Time Warner Cable customers in other cities will see the channel added by next March.

Al Jazeera America launched two months ago and has not been an initial ratings success. Despite being available in 44 million homes, fewer than 25,000 people watch the news channel at any given time. The ratings are comparable to Fox Business Channel after it launched.

“We said in January that we would consider Al Jazeera America,” Melinda Witmer, the chief video and content officer for Time Warner Cable. “Now that the channel is live, we think that it would be of value to our customers and are pleased to make it available.”

Time Warner Cable threw Al Jazeera’s predecessor, Current TV, off lineups the instant the network was sold to the Qatar-based news channel. AT&T U-verse also dropped Al Jazeera English just as it premiered, sparking a lawsuit.

The news network is touting the carriage agreement with Time Warner Cable as evidence the network is being taken seriously by cable industry executives. An Al Jazeera spokesman told the New York Times the company was in active negotiations with other cable and satellite providers to pick up the channel.

To win the agreement, Al Jazeera may have temporarily agreed to pay Time Warner Cable a launch fee described as compensation for marketing and ad support. Typically, cable networks receive payment for carriage, not the other way around.

Unlike Al Jazeera English, a global English language news channel intended for an international audience, Al Jazeera America is an American cable news channel, featuring recognizable news personalities including Soledad O’Brien and Ali Velshi, both formerly with CNN.

Oceanic Time Warner Cable is now providing free Wi-Fi access for Standard Internet (or above) broadband customers on the island of Oahu.

“Increasingly, our Hawaii customers want to take their high-speed Internet with them out of the home and on-the-go,” said Oceanic president Bob Barlow. “The TWC Wi-Fi network we’re building for Hawaii will allow our customers to greatly maximize their TWC Internet subscription – at no additional charge.”

The company has launched the service on the island with more than 400 Ruckus Wireless-branded hotspots in areas like Sunset Beach, Stan Sheriff, and the Kailua District Park. The hotspots can be identified by their network name: TWCWiFi. Customers can get access by logging in with their Oceanic/Time Warner Cable MyServices account name and password. Guest users can buy a “pay as you go” TWC Access Pass starting at $2.95 an hour.

TWC’s Wi-Fi network is now focused on Honolulu, but customers in most major communities on the island will also find limited service.

Time Warner is gradually expanding its Wi-Fi services in high traffic areas and where it faces competition from Google Fiber. TWC Wi-Fi is available from 1,000 access points in Manhattan and more than 12,000 hotspots in Los Angeles. Wi-Fi service was also introduced in downtown Charlotte, N.C., Kansas City and Austin.

MYOB

Asking about the cost of DirecTV could turn out more expensive than you think.

The Los Angeles Times found DirecTV a little more nosy than it should be, opening the door to identity theft and some minor credit damage from unwanted credit inquiries from the satellite provider.

As customers in southern California grow weary over Time Warner Cable’s dispute with CBS, some are shopping around for a better deal with another provider.

57-year old Los Angeles resident Michael Bell got more than he bargained for when he called DirecTV looking for some price quotes. Before the representative would answer, Bell found himself grilled for a lot of personal details that seemed irrelevant in response to a question about the price of HBO.

In addition to name, address, and type of residence, DirecTV wanted to know if Bell owned or rented his home.

“That stopped me,” Bell told the LA Times. “Why should he care? I told him I just wanted a price quote. He said we’d get to that. And then he asked for my Social Security number.”

That was T.M.I. for Bell’s tastes and he quickly hung up.

Requesting a Social Security number these days is a red flag, often giving warning the person asking is about to run a credit check on you.

Sure enough, Robert Mercer, a DirecTV spokesman, explained the satellite provider pulls a credit report on every potential customer to determine their financial viability. DirecTV doesn’t want deadbeat customers, not after spending close to $900 to install satellite television in the average home.

If you don’t like it, you can pay DirecTV a $300 deposit and keep the number to yourself. The money is gradually refunded in the form of $5 monthly service credits each month you maintain service.

Cable companies are also notorious for running credit checks on customers, which can appear to other creditors as a request to extend credit. Too many credit inquiries can temporarily cut your credit score or worse, deny you credit.

AT&T and Verizon are also sticklers for good credit so expect them to run credit checks as well.

Time Warner Cable stands out among others for at least taking an interest in protecting customer privacy and preventing possible identity theft.

Dennis Johnson, a company spokesman, told the newspaper it can run a preliminary credit check with only the last four digits of a Social Security number and your date of birth.

Consumer privacy advocates argue that in the age of identity theft, nobody should be providing a Social Security number to anyone without a clear understanding it is being used to establish credit, open an account, or get earned retirement benefits. Consumers asked for a Social Security number for any other purpose should ask if they can avoid providing it or at least carefully scrutinize the request. If uncomfortable, simply end the conversation.