Grande Communications Offers Free Connectivity, Deferred Payments, Internet First Program and More to Help Customers Amid COVID-19

SAN MARCOS, TX – April 6, 2020 — Grande Communications, an award-winning and leading provider of fiber and broadband services, today announced a series of steps to help residential and business customers who’ve been affected directly and indirectly by COVID-19 address expanded internet connectivity needs, as well as mitigate financial hardships.

Grande’s Internet, TV and phone services support and enable residential customers and their families, as well as business customers, to work-from-home and school-from-home, while continuing to perform important day-to-day activities such as calling a loved one, video conferencing, checking emails, sharing files, watching a movie, social media, online shopping, and more.

• Grande Communications will offer free internet and WiFi for 60 days to all qualifying low-income households, especially students in low income households who do not already subscribe to their internet service and who enroll in the Internet First program.
• The Internet First program is affordable internet designed to help families and students in low-income households to have reliable access to the internet. It will enable them to home school, do homework, and access educational resources and more. Grande Communications will partner with school districts to ensure local communities are aware of these tools to help students learn remotely.
• The Internet First program includes 25Mbps high-speed internet service at $9.95 per month and is available to all eligible new residential customers who do not currently have Grande service. Installation fees will be waived for eligible students and new customers.
• Grande Communications will not terminate service to any residential or business customer because of their inability to pay their bills due to disruptions caused by COVID-19. Customers can reach out to make special arrangements to keep services active.
• The company will waive any late fees that any residential or small business customer might normally incur because of their economic circumstance related to COVID-19.

Grande’s network is engineered and built for capacity, speed, reliability, and expansion. With more people than ever working from home in response to the COVID-19 situation, Grande continues to see optimal performance of its network, with significant excess capacity should usage increase. Grande continuously tests, monitors and enhances its systems to ensure optimal performance and a reliable connection.

“Our customers, the communities we serve, and government agencies are all counting on us to have services up and running as reliable communication is a critical tool during this time,” said Chris Fenger, Chief Operating Officer of Grande Communications. “Service and business continuity are critical priorities as we execute plans and processes that protect the health and welfare of our residential and business customers, employees and communities. We are committed and ready to do our part in taking care of each other during this time.”

More About Internet First

This program is an affordable and easy internet option for low-income families who are new customers that live in a Grande service area:

• First 60 days of complimentary Internet First service, followed by $9.95/month for 10 months.
• Service includes 25 Mbps speed, modem and standard WiFi.
• Eligible for individuals who qualify for public assistance programs like the National School Lunch Program, housing assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, and others.

More information on Internet First is available at www.mygrande.com/internet-first.

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About Grande Communications:

Grande Communications is an award-winning locally based broadband communications company that offers a full suite of internet, TV, and phone services for residential and business customers through its state-of-the-art, high-capacity, hybrid fiber-optic network. Since its launch 18 years ago, Grande has offered Texans a real choice in entertainment and communications services. Grande delivers fast Gig internet up to 940Mbps, and is backed by outstanding local customer and technical support. In fact, Grande has been named PCMag 2019 Readers’ Choice Award winner for best internet service provider (ISP) in the United States. Grande serves the following communities: Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, San Marcos, Corpus Christi (including Calallen and Anaville), Midland, Odessa, Greater Temple and Waco. For more information, visit mygrande.com, like Grande Communications on Facebook, or follow @grandecom on Twitter.

About RCN, Grande Communications and Wave Broadband

RCN Telecom Services, LLC (www.rcn.com) Grande Communications (www.mygrande.com) and Wave Broadband (www.wavebroadband.com) form the sixth largest US cable operator and provide industry-leading high-speed internet, broadband products, digital TV, phone services and fiber optic solutions for residential and business customers across the United States. Together, RCN, Grande and Wave serve areas of Massachusetts, Chicago, Pennsylvania, New York City, and Washington, DC. (RCN); Texas (Grande Communications) and Washington, Oregon and California (Wave Broadband).

Media Contact

Elsa Morales
Giant Noise
grande@giantnoise.com
830.734.0620