Xfinity Is Keeping Families Connected & Entertained During This Crisis

You know My family and I love technology and new gadgets! Especially with the new internet packages (like viasat internet) which often include tv and broadband packages, life has become a whole lot easier. During this Stay At Home time, we actually find ourselves looking for activities to stay connected and keep us busy. We couldn’t do it without Comcast.

Xfinity is keeping families connected & entertained during this crisis

Here are just a few things I love about Xfinity:

Watchathon Week

Xfinity Watchathon Week makes many of the year’s hit shows and movies everyone has been talking about available to Xfinity video and Internet-only customers for free. This includes, for the first time this year, episodes of Hulu Originals Castle Rock, Dollface, The Handmaid’s Tale, High Fidelity, Little Fires Everywhere, Ramy and Shrill.

Outlander is an example of a show that has kept hubby and I on the TV every night, mesmerized by the beauty of its photography and history filled scenes!

Other popular titles that will be free during the week of May 11-17 include EPIX’s Godfather of Harlem andBelgravia; STARZ’s Outlander, Power, and new series Hightown, as well as SHOWTIME drama Billions. Free programming will be available across Xfinity platforms including X1, Flex and Xfinity Stream.

Also new this year, X1 customers can tune into an Xfinity Watchathon Week Channel featuring free programming across providers curated by Xfinity’s team of editors. The channel can be accessed within the guide on channel one.

You can read more HERE.

Covid Response

A true reality is that Comcast’s internet services have been needed more than ever!

As two parents who work from home with a teen who is working with online learning and staying connected with his friends, we truly value being connected, now, more than ever. It means we can get new equipment if we need it (be it from https://serp.co/best/light-up-keyboard/ lists or via any other recommendations), as well as keeping us connected to others out in the world.

No Disconnects and Waiving Late Fees

Comcast will not disconnect a customer’s Xfinity Internet, Xfinity Mobile, or Xfinity Voice service, and they will waive late fees if the customer contacts them and lets them know that they can’t pay their bills during this period. Their care teams are available to offer flexible payment options or help find other solutions.

Did you know about Xfinity WiFi Free For Everyone?

Xfinity WiFi hotspots in business and outdoor locations across the country will be available to anyone who needs them for free – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers – through June 30. For a map of Xfinity WiFi hotspots, visit www.xfinity.com/wifi.

Internet Essentials Free to New Customers Now Through June 30

Internet Essentials is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program. Comcast is extending their offer of 60 days of complimentary service for new customers through June 30. Internet Essentials is normally available to all qualified low-income households for $9.95/month. For more information, visit www.internetessentials.com.

Xfinity Education Destination

Comcast has made nearly 2,000 hours of programming and thousands of free titles available to Xfinity video customers to give children and parents quick and easy access to educational programming by grade level as part of the company’s comprehensive response to the COVID-19 crisis.

The collection is a joint effort with Common Sense Media, the leading source of entertainment and technology recommendations for families whose trusted age-based ratings and reviews are integrated into Xfinity on Demand.

A subset of the education collection is also available on Xfinity Flex and across devices via the Xfinity Stream app and website.

I love that a Spanish component was included in it:

Xfinity customers with X1 or Flex can say “Education” or, if their voice search language is set to Spanish, “Educación,” into the Xfinity Voice Remote to access content available to them by grades “K-2,” “3-5,” “6-8,” and “9-12” and also “for all ages” currently including:

• Free programs from subscription video on demand services (SVODS) Bluprint, CuriosityStream, The Great Courses Signature Collection, Grokker Yoga Fitness, HISTORY Vault, Kids Room and The Reading Corner.
• Additional free adult continuing education programming from these SVODS focused on the “Mind,” “Body,” and “Soul” spanning biographies; podcasts on a range of topics including technology and business; yoga; dance; food and cooking; fitness; wellness; ballets and operas; and gardening.
• Educational series from networks and streaming services including Animal Planet, HBO, HISTORY , Nick Jr., PBS KIDS, Prime Video, Smithsonian Channel and more.
• Spanish language programming available from networks including CBeebies, Discovery Familia and Kids Central.
• Firsthand interviews and historical narratives from Voices of the Civil Rights Movement, Comcast’s signature commemorative programming initiative honoring the impact and legacy of the movement.

Additionally, Comcast has enlisted the guidance of Natascha Crandall, Ph.D., a psychologist and educator to program the content across English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies based on grade appropriate guidelines aligned with the current U.S. school curriculum.

“When schools close and other community places people congregate are off limits, it can feel overwhelming for families with kids, so we’ve partnered with Xfinity to curate a list of educational recommendations to help kids learn and keep them engaged during their time indoors,” said Ellen Pack, President of Common Sense.

Parental Controls

Keep the kids on a schedule

If you have a teen like me, you know how hard it is to get the kids out of the screen, especially when “homework” is to blame, right?

But with kids out of school, it’s important to keep them on a schedule and routine.

Love the parental control tools into xFi, a digital dashboard for managing your home WiFi network free for all xFi customers, so parents can monitor when and how long their kids are online.

Parents can use the xFi screen time scheduling tool to allot specific online and offline hours while kids stay home.

Parents can easily adjust their screen time rules to allow for schoolwork time, a movie break, and more.

They can also utilize the xFi timed alerts feature to monitor how long kids are on their devices during the day, extending where needed to ensure kids have the online hours they need to connect with teachers and classmates and complete homework.

Lengthening online hours

Parents are increasing the amount of time their kids are online via the xFi active time alerts feature by 1 additional hour per day.

The median active time alert set on weekdays has gone up from 3 hours to 4 hours a day during the COVID pandemic.

That additional hour allots for more time to do schoolwork, connect with classmates, and entertainment, as parents are also working from home.

Pausing for family time

Pausing WiFi is the most popular feature on xFi. It is a great way to get family members to put down their devices and focus on each other. There has been a 75 percent increase in the number of times parents are hitting pause on their WiFi network using xFi since the COVID pandemic. With everyone at home at all hours, the pause button has been a great feature to help parents enforce screen time rules throughout the day.

I love how Xfinity gives us the option to control, push pause and determine how much online time our children have.

I believe it’s important to create a healthy balance between gaming, internet, and tv time. Kids nowadays love playing games online, that is why things such as eSports, online streaming, etc. are so popular, especially as it has built up this community for gamers to share in, however, it is important to have balance with any and all electronics within the home.

With all the amazing programs on TV, opening to the possibility of enjoying that as a family, they might not even want to be on the internet anyway, right?

Working From Home

If you’re like me, you’re also managing your work flow, client calls, zoom meetings, while your child is doing school work, playing their favorite games and streaming shows on tv. If you are working from multiple devices you have got a lot to keep track of to make sure you are doing everything you need to. It is important to make sure that you are being secure and safe online as you are working, so you can mitigate any potential threats, that is why Mobile Threat Defense software as well as other cybersecurity steps, need to be brought in for people who are using their mobile to communicate with their business. This can stop any sensitive information from leaking out and more issues cropping up during this already rocky time.

It has been a learning curve for us, but we have successfully navigated through it and wanted to share some tips for maximizing your WiFi network so you can stay productive at home and keep your family members safe and happy.

Make sure your workspace has the coverage and speed you need

If you’re working from home, you want to make sure your office or workspace has plenty of WiFi coverage. To do this, put your gateway in a central location in the home – and tighten those cables – to ensure it blankets the vast majority of your home with strong WiFi coverage. The lights should be flashing on the gateway – this is a sign the signal is working. If you’re finding your home workspace is in a corner of the home that does not have good signal, set up xFi pods to extend solid WiFi coverage to this hard to reach area of the house.

You can also run an xFi speed test that monitors and reports the speeds you’re experiencing on that specific device to ensure its operating at the level you need it to. xFi will then provide tips and tricks on how to better optimize speeds for your devices in your home.

Video conference like a pro

It is especially important to have a solid connection if you’re video conferencing.

To have the best internet connection during a video conference, have your laptop in the same room as your gateway.

Having a clear, unobstructed connection to the gateway will optimize the WiFi signal.

You can even turn off high-bandwidth devices like security cameras, if you aren’t using them, to reduce the WiFi load on your home.

Can’t wait to hear what you think!

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