Access from AT&T is an affordable internet access plan for low-income households offered in certain areas with AT&T service. The cost is either $5 a month at 3 Mbps or $10 a month for 5-10 Mbps, depending on your area. According to their FAQ and press release, other features include:
- No deposit required
- No activation or installation fee
- No contract
- Free modem + WiFi router rental
- Free access to the entire national AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spot network.
However, note that AT&T will run a credit check. I don’t quite understand the reasoning though, as they state it won’t affect your eligibility. From their website:
As part of standard AT&T policy, all orders for new service are subject to a credit check. Results of the credit check will not impact your ability to obtain Internet service under the Access program from AT&T.
Qualifying households must have:
- At least one resident who participates in the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and
- An address in AT&T’s 21-state service area, at which we offer wireline home Internet service, and
- No outstanding debt for AT&T fixed Internet service within the last six months or outstanding debt incurred under this program.
California residents also are eligible if:
- At least one member of your household receives SSI benefits; and
- At least one of the Access from AT&T Internet speed tiers is available at the address where you live.
You can apply for the Access by AT&T program here. You can also learn more by calling AT&T at 1-855-220-5211 for assistance in English or 1-855-220-5225 for assistance in Spanish.
I am not applauding AT&T for this effort, just promoting its availability. AT&T agreed to offer this service as a condition of their merger with DirecTV. I think people should take advantage of it if it works economically for them. However, I see no evidence that AT&T did this for charitable reasons. They are only doing the bare minimum required by law. I think they are rightly being criticized for not offering this affordable plan in areas where they have speeds lower than 3 Mbps.
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Yeah they get you hooked in and it works great for awhile and then they slow it down so slow that you upgrade. I’ve tried to keep it 3 different times and they eventually slow it down to unfunctional levels. Ugh!
I have this service and I hate it,they refuse to change my billing date and as I am on a fixed income it always gets paid a few days late.When that happens they charge a nine Dollar late fee and a 49dollar”reconnect “fee even though it hasn’t been disconnected,it is ending up costing me the same as cable….Not cool!
I took the 2 yr bundle with DTV but there not honoring there price in June it will be 55.00 + 51.99 On 718 a mth there is no way I can continue with these services.So I Qualify for this program it will kill me to lose TV but it also kills me to have over 41.00 in interest +an unsafe car to get groceries.
I had the service disconnected. The speed was less then 1 …what was i suppose to do with it? The 2 months it was on cost me 40 bucks . Thats right…. they had these extra fees and blah blah blah.
Worst part…..it took 3 days in a row if the tech returning and drilling holes in the walls and having total disreguard for the property. The entire Access program is BS.
I filled out an application several times and still haven’t gotten the service connected. It’s been over a month. My personal information has been lost with no account as to its whereabouts. I got my application expedited and was told to refill out an application AGAIN. The customer service reps are nice but clueless and unable to do anything further in my situation. Even the supervisors are nice but pointless in speaking to. I do not recommended at all. I dodged a bullet.
After reading this I’ll stay with Comcast and pay the high price for wifi at100 mbps and tv over 200 channels at discounted price of $114. a month.
i am not sure what the issues is with every one this is for att access my sister has then its been 5 months and she gets the speed they said 10 megs, If you are having speed issues it’s your line when i was with att i was getting speeds less then 4 after the tech came and fixed the wires it was 24 megs
I haven’t even had my Service activated yet and it’s already terrible. The representatives aren’t on the same page, they all tell me something different, they’ve been out here several times and always find an issue getting us set up, and they guaranteed we would have our service set up and running by Saturday so I’m sitting here waiting on a tech and no one scheduled a tech for today. “Oh ma’am we can’t get you an appointment until Monday.” Save yourself the headache and go through Xfinity!