Three children sit on a stoop as they use a laptop.

Internet Essentials

Connecting 8 Million Low-Income Americans

The Internet is arguably the most important technological innovation in history. Since 2011, Internet Essentials from Comcast has connected more than eight million low-income people to low-cost, high-speed Internet at home so that students, parents, veterans, and now all qualified low-income households can be ready for anything.

The ability to access and navigate the Internet is the most fundamental skill for all people to compete in the 21st century economy.

David L. Cohen

Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Diversity Officer

View Letter from David L. Cohen

our continued commitment

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view our progress

Our Progress

Internet Essentials is about far more than bringing high-speed internet into a home; It is about designing and delivering a program that addresses the three main barriers to a high-speed internet service at home in a way that meets people where they are, in their own language, on their own time.

View the Full Progress Report

Our Impact

with school-age children use their Internet Essentials service to complete schoolwork, 93% have seen a positive impact on their child’s grades.

feel their service has helped them or someone in the household locate or obtain employment.

A mother and daughter use a laptop on their kitchen counter.

say Internet Essentials helps them or their family compete in the current technology environment.

Broadband adoption across america

Households living in cities like Trenton, NJ and Flint, MI with the highest poverty rates, are up to 10 times more likely than those in higher earning cities like Palo Alto, CA and Bethesda, MD not to have fixed broadband Internet service at home.* This is the stark reality of the digital divide.

*According to Comcast’s analysis of U.S. Census 2017 American Community Survey data.