More: Coronavirus News and Resources for Military Families
From Militarybridge.com
In a time of extreme uncertainly, many companies are stepping up and offering free services or waived fees for those around the country.
This comes at a time of need in our country when people may be laid off from jobs, kids facing their new reality of virtual schooling, and life as we know it is changing on a daily basis.
We are grateful for businesses to find ways in which they can help support our country. Below is a list of companies either offering free services or waived fees. If you have any companies to add to the list, please share in the comments below.
EXERCISE
We have learned about a couple companies offering free streaming exercise classes during this time. Exercise is extremely important and with gyms being closed many are trying to figure out how they will continue their exercise plan.
PLANET FITNESS
Planet Fitness is offering free online classes due to the coronavirus pandemic. The at-home workouts began streaming on the company’s Facebook page March 16. These classes are open to anyone, including non-members. GET STARTED
HEADSPACE
Always free for military due to their partnership with Blue Star Families. Headspace is a popular meditation app. SIGN UP HERE
PELOTON
Have a spin bike? Stream the popular spin classes with an increased 90-day free trial from Peloton due to the pandemic. SIGN UP HERE
LOCAL
We have even seen some local companies offering free streaming services to include parks and rec locals. Check with your local businesses and parks and rec to see if any are being offered.
EDUCATION
With the closures of the majority of schools nationwide, some learning companies are stepping up to assist kids with their learning over the coming weeks.
SCHOLASTIC–Offering free online courses for kids. The educational company has launched a “Learn at Home” website that has daily courses for students from Pre-kindergarten to grades 6 and higher. Details here.
ABC MOUSE—ABCmouse.com is offering free access with code “AOFLUNICEF” during the school closure.
Here is a list of more free app resources for school-aged children. Also, check to see if your school is providing resources for free educational support.
ENTERTAINMENT
VIRTUAL MUSEUMS
This article shares 12 famous museums that offer virtual tours from the comfort of your own couch. This sounds super cool!
Check with your local museums or other museums around the country to see if they are offering any virtual tours.
STREAMING MOVIES
With the announcement of many tourist sites, museums, movie theaters, restaurants, bars closed, time to get creative at home. Consider free trials from popular streaming services such as Netflix or Disney Plus. This article lists out all the major streaming sites with free trial offers.
WAIVED FEES & FREE SERVICES
Many companies are waiving fees or offering free services during this crisis to help those that can’t make payments. Those companies include:
Comcast
- Xfinity WiFi Free For Everyone: Xfinity WiFi hotspots across the country will be available to anyone who needs them for free – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers. For a map of Xfinity WiFi hotspots, visit www.xfinity.com/wifi. Once at a hotspot, consumers should select the “xfinitywifi” network name in the list of available hotspots and then launch a browser.
- Pausing Our Data Plan: With so many people working and educating from home, we want our customers to access the internet without thinking about data plans. While the vast majority of our customers do not come close to using 1TB of data in a month, we are pausing our data plans for 60 days giving all customers Unlimited data for no additional charge.
- No Disconnects or Late Fees: We will not disconnect a customer’s internet service or assess late fees if they contact us and let us know that they can’t pay their bills during this period. Our care teams will be available to offer flexible payment options and can help find other solutions.
- Internet Essentials Free to New Customers: As announced yesterday, it’s even easier for low-income families who live in a Comcast service area to sign-up for Internet Essentials, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program. New customers will receive 60 days of complimentary Internet Essentials service, which is normally available to all qualified low-income households for $9.95/month. Additionally, for all new and existing Internet Essentials customers, the speed of the program’s Internet service was increased to 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream. That increase will go into effect for no additional fee and it will become the new base speed for the program going forward.
- News, Information and Educational Content on X1: For those with school-age students at home, we’ve created new educational collections for all grade levels in partnership with Common Sense Media. Just say “education” into your X1 or Flex voice remote. To help keep customers informed, we also have created a collection of the most current news and information on Coronavirus. Just say “Coronavirus” into your X1 or Flex voice remote.
- 24×7 Network Monitoring: Underpinning all of these efforts, Comcast’s technology and engineering teams will continue to work tirelessly to support our network operations. We engineer our network capacity to handle spikes and shifts in usage patterns, and continuously test, monitor and enhance our systems and network to ensure they are ready to support customer usage. Our engineers and technicians staff our network operations centers 24/7 to ensure network performance and reliability. We are monitoring network usage and watching the load on the network both nationally and locally, and to date it is performing well.
Xfinity WiFi hotspots across the country will be available to anyone who needs them for free – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers. For a map of Xfinity WiFi hotspots, visit online here.
AT&T
AT&T is waiving data overage fees to all customers so that families and students can stay connected. The company stated they will not terminate the service of any customer over the next 60 days.
All AT&T consumer home internet wireline customers, as well as Fixed Wireless Internet, can use unlimited internet data. Additionally, AT&T will continue to offer internet access for qualifying limited income households at $10 a month through the Access from AT&T program.
Verizon
Verizon announced that it is increasing its capital guidance range from $17 – $18 billion to $17.5 – $18.5 billion in 2020. This effort will accelerate Verizon’s transition to 5G and help support the economy during this period of disruption. Verizon said it will waive any late fees and not terminate any service for the next 60 days.
T-Mobile & Sprint
Both companies are lifting their unlimited data caps for cell phone subscribers for at least 60 days.
NEWS PUBLICATIONS
Major publishers take down paywalls so coverage is available to all. Also, check with your local news outlets to see if they have followed suit.
- The New York Times
- The Wall Street Journal
- The Washington Post
- The Los Angeles Times
- The Guardian
- AP News
- The Athletic
MISCELLANEOUS
U-HAUL
If you have to move off campus during heightened coronavirus concerns, U-Haul is offering a place to put your stuff. The offer is being extended to new customers with a college student ID only. Availability is likely limited. Visit U-Haul Storage by clicking HERE.
TRAVEL
If you had a spring break trip, cruise planned or upcoming travel of any sort. The majority if not all, airlines and cruise companies are offering cancellations with no penalty or rescheduling with no penalty. Just check with your particular company….as you may imagine, the wait times are very long.
Hotels and resorts have also jumped on board either allowing cancellations or rescheduling with no penalty.
PHARMACY CHAINS
Walgreens & CVS are waiving home delivery fees for subscriptions during this time.
**This list will be updated as new information comes in**
