Please say if you need a minute to look it up, press the star key. Otherwise, just tell me the ten digit phone number for the account you're calling about."
For more information about our privacy practices, visit us at xfinity dot com slash privacy. I'll need a phone number or account number to look you up."
I just moved to the Boston area and need to sign up for internet service, but I am also low-income so I want to find the most affordable way to get online. I won't be able to apply for jobs or follow up with things if I don't have home access due to the modern nature of today's society. While I was using the internet at the public library, I saw a flyer about free Internet for those who qualify for Medicaid, so I thought I would call Comcast to see what this program is and what I can do to qualify.
I'm not sure if other Internet providers offer this service, but I would guess that Comcast gets a lot of phone calls about it. Internet is a commodity that is more of a necessity these days. Plus, I'm sure there are a lot of phone calls about cable service and all the other things that Comcast provides so I wasn't surprised that I did have to wait a bit. Surprisingly though the wait wasn't too long. It took me just under three minutes to talk to someone, so that wasn't bad at all.
When I first called, an automated voice assistant stated, "Hi, thank you for calling Xfinity. This call may be monitored or recorded. Enter or say the zip code where you have or want service." This step seemed silly because I entered my zip code and then it told me that it couldn't find me, which isn't a surprise since I'm not a customer. It did ask if I had an account number or wanted to sign up for a new service, so I said, "new service."
Then it asked, "Are you calling to activate equipment you recently received?" After I said no, it said, "If you qualify for food stamps or Medicaid, you can get Internet essentials, our low-cost Internet service for free. Would you like to learn more?" This is what I wanted to know about, so I said yes.
It then said, "If you are calling because you have seen an increase in your bills have been disenrolled in the affordability program, please press one." This didn't apply to me so I went ahead and stayed on the line which took me to a menu with the options, "Apply, application status, buy computer or more options." I chose to apply and it then asked if I had an Essentials promo code. I don't know what that is, so I said no and was transferred directly to a customer service agent who helped me start the process.