Comcast boosts internet speed for low-income Fresno homes. But will it help students?

This story is part of Fresno’s Digital Divide, a series of stories written by The Fresno Bee’s Education Lab that explore how internet access is affecting education equity. Support this important journalism: Donate to the community-funded Education Lab.

Fresno families that rely on a special Comcast program for low-cost internet received some good news this week when the company said it would double broadband speeds.

The move should help Fresno families with children stuck learning from home during the coronavirus pandemic. Many families have reported connectivity and other web issues that make distance learning in Fresno even more challenging.

Educators have said that the nearly year-long pandemic exacerbated the so-called “homework gap” between students who have the internet connectivity needed to complete schoolwork and those who don’t. Researchers have said the problem is more pronounced in Latinx, Black, and lower-income homes.

In a statement released late Tuesday, Comcast said speeds for the company’s low-income Internet Essentials program would double beginning March 1. The cost of the program will remain $9.95 per month.

Faster internet speeds will also support the WiFi lift zones Comcast announced in December to help low-income communities receive more reliable access.

That’s good news for Fresno parents like Ashanti Jackson, whose children have been struggling to keep up with schoolwork due in large part to connectivity issues.

“I have broadband failure. I have so many kids logging in at the same time, and if the internet fails and they don’t get on for school, they get marked tardy or absent,” Jackson told The Bee’s Education Lab in a recent interview.

But boosting speeds only solves half the problem for lower-income families, especially in areas of Fresno County that have struggled with reliable internet access for many years. As recently as 2019, about 25% of Fresno County homes didn’t have internet service, The Bee has reported.

Eduardo Gonzalez is Fresno State’s interim director at the Office of Community and Economic Development. He said faster broadband speeds would also cause families to reach their monthly data limit more often, leading to pricey overage fees.

Distance learning forces some Fresno families to pay costly fees

Nicole Grijalva has participated in Comcast’s Internet Essentials program for two years. The mother of seven, including six children in schools, says she never had issues until distance learning began.

“When COVID happened, I was like, I wonder how this is going to work,” Grijalva said.

Once her children started distance learning, internet connectivity went at a “snail’s pace.”

Because her children attend Fresno Unified, she also qualified to receive three WiFi hotspots. But even with the hotspots, her kids continue to experience connectivity issues that make schoolwork more difficult.

She said taking online tests has been particularly frustrating at times.

“If we have all kids at one time on this WiFi and their computers stop, they have to re-take the test,” Grijalva said.

But bandwidth is only part of the problem for families like the Grijalvas.

Gonzalez, from Fresno State, said data limits frequently hit lower-income families with extra fees that drive up their monthly bills. He said internet companies should also double the data households can use without penalty.

“That’s one of the big issues all families are facing,” Gonzalez said.

Grijalva’s family saw their internet bill spike from $9.95 to $89 after the pandemic forced schools online last year.

Grijalva showed The Bee’s Education Lab her internet bills. Over the past three months, her family went over the allotted 1.2 terabytes of data each month, which drove up their bills.

Grijalva’s bills show she was charged a $30 overage fee and then about $10 for every 50 gigabytes used after that.

And her struggles with extra fees are not unique.

Four different families told The Bee they signed up for $10 internet and consistently were hit with costly overage fees.

Jackson said her $10 monthly internet bill went up to $79.95.

A Comcast spokesperson defended the data available through the low-income program, calling it “an enormous amount of data.”

“It is a massive amount of data, and 95% of our households find it’s more than enough,” Comcast Director of Communications Joan Hammel said.

Hammel said families that need more data could upgrade to an unlimited plan. A less expensive unlimited plan is offered at $19.95.

Grijalva said Comcast offered to upgrade to an unlimited plan but with a caveat. She would receive unlimited internet for $25 and continue paying the $10 Internet Essentials program raising her monthly bill to $35.

Gonzalez said families he has worked with were often “upsold” to a more expensive unlimited plan.

However, Gonzalez said, researchers have found at least some cases in California where households have upgraded their internet service packages, but their speeds remained the same.

Pandemic shines light on Fresno County’s longstanding internet issues

Internet inequity in the Valley is not new. The Bee previously reported how nearly one-quarter of all households in Fresno County have no internet access. Other homes do have internet access, but the access is unreliable.

Gonzalez is part of a research partnership between Fresno State, Chico State, Fresno County Office of Education and The San Joaquin Valley Regional Broadband Consortia working on a project to map internet availability across California. Gonzalez said at least some of the service maps internet companies share with California might be inaccurate, making services appear to be stronger than they really are, particularly in some rural communities.

“In doing so, if we are able to show that the speeds are not what they are supposed to be by the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) rural commission, we can ask the public utilities commission to allow us to challenge those maps,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzales said their mapping project would take close to a year.

The project has tested internet connectivity in rural parts of Fresno County. They are currently seeking volunteers in Mendota, Firebaugh, Coalinga/Huron, Golden Plains, Tranquility, and San Joaquin.

According to Gonzalez, mapping is key to ensuring communities receive the funding they need to provide better internet service.

“As long as the maps don’t get corrected, you can’t have access to funding, and you have to show there is a lack of internet service and a lack of speed,” Gonzalez said.

Better internet essential for Fresno-area families during COVID-19

For most families who spoke to The Bee, the most significant connectivity issues are in homes that rely solely on WiFi.

Parents who only have access to satellite internet like Jesus Sierra Lopez continually navigate internet shortages, making it harder for children to learn online.

His daughter and son, both students at Fresno Unified, also received a WiFi hotspot. Still, the internet connection is so bad that the family often has to move to different parts of the house to find a decent connection. Sometimes, he said, his children have to go to a relative’s home across town to use the internet so they can finish their schoolwork.

“Fresno is a big city, and we are paying for internet. I don’t know what the situation is why the internet does not work in our area,” Sierra Lopez said.

Sierra Lopez said he would like to see a solution to his internet issues since he doesn’t want his children to experience learning loss, and he does not want schools to reopen because of COVID-19.

California’s digital divide is one reason Gov. Newsom and some school districts want to bring children back to school campuses. However, parents like Sierra Lopez are concerned and would rather continue distance learning.

“There is a lot of risk with COVID-19, and a lot of people are experiencing that sickness,” Sierra Lopez said. “That is the fear we parents have with sending our children to school. My wife and I had COVID-19, and it’s something terrible.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Read more from The Bee’s Education Lab here.

This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 8:58 AM.