TDS announces free broadband access for new customers of low-income means, K-12 students, college-age households

Please note: this service ended June 30, 2020.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, TDS Telecommunications LLC (TDS^®) is offering new residential customers, who live in a TDS service area, broadband access to low-income individuals and/or families with children and college students for 60 days. Internet service will be provided to new customers in qualifying programs

PLEASE NOTE: The last day to take advantage of this offer will be April 16, 2020. We will honor this offer for any customer that requested service up through April 16, even if they have yet to be installed.

The intent of the offer was to help households impacted by COVID-19 be able to get internet to help with distance learning. After reviewing many of the distance learning decisions and school end dates for the schools in our serving area, we believe that the majority of customers who need the service for home schooling have already signed up. Seniors and supervisors can continue to honor this on a case by case basis through the end of the month.

Customers that received this 60 day free offer are promo eligible, and they can call in and will remain eligible for 60 days following the end of their 60 day free offer. We are looking at possibly automatically extending discounts to these customers and additional communication will be sent if needed.

“As a company, our first priority is the health and well-being of our employees, customers and the communities we serve,” says Drew Petersen, senior vice president of Corporate Affairs at TDS. “During this difficult time, we want to ensure those who cannot afford broadband services have the essential access they need.”

To verify eligibility for this offer, residents will be asked to provide documentation from qualifying programs. For more information, please call 1-888-287-8156.

In addition, TDS signed the “Keep America Connected” pledge initiated by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai and recently extended its commitment to the pledge until June 30. TDS is adopting the tenets of the policy related to broadband customers to a) forego charging late payment penalties for customers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, to b) suspend disconnects for customers due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic who fail to pay their bills.

SECOND CUSTOMER UPDATE:

We are committed to keeping you connected.

TDS is committed to offering reliable, resilient communications service to our customers, in good times and in times of crisis. We anticipate the COVID-19 viral outbreak will increase Internet usage demands as more customers find themselves working, learning and otherwise staying at home. We’d like to share our operations support and business continuity strategy with you, so you can rest assured your service is supported.

Our Pandemic Tactical Team is actively monitoring the situation in a coordinated manner with federal, state, and local health and safety officials. We are implementing the following strategies and protocols to protect our customers and employees, while also keeping our network performing for you.

Specifically:

1. Our network infrastructure is built and maintained to anticipate future demand, not simply to keep up with what today might bring.
2. Our Business Continuity Plan further addresses crisis events. The cornerstone is a robust, redundant network with backup systems strategically placed to safeguard against unexpected disruptions in the network. We are taking steps to monitor available bandwidth and will increase staffing to address isolated incidents, if they arise.
3. Our Operations team leverages real-time technology with human expertise to match customer bandwidth demand with system performance.
4. Our geographically diverse workforce is able to transfer traffic, inquiries and workload to alternate locations if needed. Our workforce is also equipped to work from home as much as necessary to adapt to evolving CDC recommendations.
5. All non-essential travel and in-person meetings are being suspended in lieu of virtual meetings.
6. Any staff that interacts directly with customers has received additional hygiene training and sanitation toolkits, to ensure both the employee and the customer is fully protected.
7. Before scheduling business or in-home visits, customers will be asked if anyone in the home or business is exhibiting symptoms. To maximize everyone’s safety and to prevent further spread of illness, our staff may ask for your cooperation in rescheduling service appointments if the status has changed by the time of the appointment.
8. We would like to proactively ask for your patience when it comes to scheduling on-premise technician visits. We may experience some unavoidable periods of peak demand if we have staff following CDC recommendations for self-isolation.
9. Finally, we are committed to supporting customers who are the hardest hit by the economic challenges attributed to the outbreak. Customers directly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic will remain connected and late fees will be suspended for at least the next 60 days.
10. New customers with students or financial need will be eligible for 60 days of free internet access, to help assist with work- or school-at-home scenarios.

PLEASE NOTE: The last day to take advantage of this offer will be April 16, 2020. We will honor this offer for any customer that requested service up through April 16, even if they have yet to be installed.

The intent of the offer was to help households impacted by COVID-19 be able to get internet to help with distance learning. After reviewing many of the distance learning decisions and school end dates for the schools in our serving area, we believe that the majority of customers who need the service for home schooling have already signed up. Seniors and supervisors can continue to honor this on a case by case basis through the end of the month.

Customers that received this 60 day free offer are promo eligible, and they can call in and will remain eligible for 60 days following the end of their 60 day free offer. We are looking at possibly automatically extending discounts to these customers and additional communication will be sent if needed.

If you have any service-related questions or concerns, please reach out to us at 1-844-239-9621.

We sincerely wish the best for you and yours through this challenging time.