Sens Wyden, Harris, Booker Push Comcast to Open Public Wi-Fi to Students Lacking Access at Home During COVID-19

Sens Ron Wyden (D-OR), Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) urged Comcast to open all of its public Wi-Fi networks to the approximately 12 million American students who lack internet access at home, as schools rely on online education as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. In a letter to Comcast, the lawmakers wrote, “Comcast has taken important steps to help Americans get connected during this global public health emergency. But it can—and should—do more to help children and teachers in Oregon and across the country. We urge you to start by dropping the paywall and providing free access to Comcast residential public Wi-Fi networks. While Comcast started providing free access to its business customers' Wi-Fi access points on March 13, 2020, the paywall remains on the millions of Comcast-operated public Wi-Fi networks located in homes and apartment buildings across America."

The letter asks Comcast to answer a list of questions by May 22. For example, the senators asked Comcast how many subscribers rent an Xfinity gateway and how many customers "have opted to disable the public Wi-Fi network in their Comcast-supplied cable modem/Wi-Fi router, which Comcast enables by default."