With severe weather heading toward the area, Comcast is making extensive preparations to ensure it is best equipped to respond to Hurricane Elsa’s potential impact.
Preparations include staging emergency generators and fuel trucks as well as bringing in additional technical and network restoration teams that are ready to be deployed as the storm’s path becomes clearer.
Comcast’s goal is to work to restore any services impacted for customers as quickly as possible and as soon as it is safe for employees to do so. Customers should remember that emergency management procedures in Florida dictate that power must be restored first and Comcast must receive clearance that it is safe for its crews to begin any restoration work.
If Comcast services are down in an area because of a power outage, local power must be restored before video, phone and internet services can begin working again. In some cases, customers may have power back but not their Xfinity services because commercial power has not been restored to the Comcast network in their area.
Xfinity Free WiFi Hotspot Network Open
To help residents and emergency personally stay connected ahead of the storm, Comcast’s network of more than 200,000 public Xfinity WiFi hotspots throughout Florida is available for anyone to use, including non-Xfinity customers, for free.
Comcast opened up its Xfinity WiFi hotspots network across the country at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 and has already committed to keeping it open through the end of 2021.
For a map of public Xfinity WiFi hotspots, which are located both indoors and outdoors in places such as shopping districts, parks and businesses, visit Xfinity.com/wifi. Once in range of a hotspot, select the “xfinitywifi” network name in the list of available hotspots and then launch a browser.
Xfinity internet customers can sign in with their usernames and passwords and they will be automatically connected to Xfinity WiFi hotspots in the future.
Non-Xfinity internet subscribers should visit the “Not an Xfinity Internet Customer” section on the sign-in page to get started. Non-customers will be able to renew their complimentary sessions every 2 hours.
Customer Tips
- Customers should plug TV’s, modems and cable boxes into a surge protector to protect them from damage in case of lightning or a sudden power outage.
- If customers have electricity but Xfinity services have not yet come back on, Comcast recommends that customers restart or reset devices, including wireless gateways, modems, routers and cable boxes.
- Customers should always stay clear of downed power and cable lines in the interest of safety.
- The most effective way to get outage updates and information about Comcast services is to visit com/MyAccount or to access the Xfinity My Account app from any secure, internet-enabled mobile device.
- For more information, customers can chat online with an agent, visit xfinity.com or connect with Comcast on Twitter at @XfinitySupport