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Interconnection: cheap internet for Washington low-income residents

A great new way for low-income Washington residents to get cheap internet.

We’ve written many articles about the big, national cheap internet programs like Comcast’s Internet Essentials and CenturyLink’s Internet Basics, but now there’s a new, independent program that looks very interesting in the state of Washington. Well, to be absolutely accurate, it’s not new. We’ve actually mentioned it briefly in other articles, but now Interconnection deserves an article of its own.

Interconnection now offers needy Washingtonians a variety of low-priced services: High speed mobile internet for just $8 per month or internet service only for $10 per month, plus a laptop computer for just $149.

Who’s eligible? Low income residents of Evergreen State plus those who receive benefits from government aid programs. To be more specific, you must be able to present proof that your income falls below the federal poverty guidelines. In Washington state that means you can show you make less than $1,916 per month. Alternately, you can show proof that you receive government benefits (food stamps, SSI, Medicaid, TANF, State Family Assistance, free or discounted school lunches, or a number of other programs).

The biggest differences between this plan and bigger programs such as Internet Basics and Internet Essentials program, is that Interconnection Internet is totally mobile. (1) The other plans require a permanent home address with phone or cable lines, but Interconnection Internet doesn’t. (2) You can participate in Interconnection Internet even if you don’t receive benefits from any state or federal government aid programs. (3) Since the program is wifi-based, you don’t need a permanent home address to participate. That means that the homeless are eligible, too. (4) Instead of filling out paper applications, you apply in person.

Now let’s get to the biggest difference between the programs: Interconnection does not offer the $9.95 monthly payment plans offered by the other organizations. So instead of paying $9.95 per month for internet service, Interconnection Internet requires you to pay for one year of service in advance. You’ll be required to pay $99 if you also buy that $149 laptop computer we referred to earlier, or $120 total if you don’t purchase the computer.

There are other up-front charges, too, because the Interconnection Internet plan also requires you to purchase a modem up-front. The hub modem, which plugs into any electrical outlet and can connect to multiple devices at the same time, will set you back $36. The mobile USB laptop modem, which plug into any computer’s USB port, goes for $43. The wireless mobile hotspot, which is small enough to fit in your pocket and can connect multiple devices simultaneously, is priced at $76.

In other words, in the most expensive scenario, you could purchase one year of service ($99), a laptop ($149) and the wireless mobile hotspot ($76), you would be required to pre-pay $324.

Contact Information

Interconnection:
Website: interconnection.org
Phone: 206-633-1517
Address: 415 Stone Way N, Seattle, WA

Admittedly, that’s costly for anyone who qualifies because they fall below the federal poverty guidelines, but you get a lot for your money. And there’s no contract and no credit check.

As we said earlier, you must apply for the program in person. Where? At Interconnection’s retail store at 3415 Stone Way N in Seattle.

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Comments

  1. I would like to get your modum…I qualify on less then 1,916 per month…what papers do I bring to you for proff?…do I need to make an appointment to some in on a Saturday?…Thank you Elvira Purvis

    Reply

    • We are not Interconnection, Elvira. This is an independent informational website. Check out the article above to find contact info for the company. Give its customer service team a call and you can get your questions answered. Good luck.

      Reply

    • You can visit EveryoneOn.org and plus in your zip code. It will tell you all the plans available in your area.

      Reply

  4. For anyone considering this service, keep in mind that your mileage will vary. InterConnection goes through MobileCitizen, which goes through Sprint. It very much depends on your location and which tower you’re connected to, signal strength, etc.

    With that said (and I don’t know how the administrators feel about links in comments), this is my speed test: **************

    For those that aren’t very technical and don’t quite understand what this means, 23mbit down is enough for 4k on youtube (barely), or multiple 1080p streams. 12mbit up is how fast you can send data from your device to the internet, so for uploading youtube videos, posting on facebook, etc.. 12mbit is quite good.

    My “latency” (how long it takes to get from point A to point B and back) is usually around 50ms. This is slightly slower than most wired connections, but absolutely acceptable for most uses. I even play games on it, and it’s never given me problems.

    However, I’m in the boonies, and I’m almost certain there is nobody else using the tower for heavy data use other than myself. Those numbers you see? That’s about the max of what LTE can offer on the band my modem connects to, and that’s shared amongst everyone (so the fact that I’m getting max speeds makes me almost certain nobody else is using data on our tower).

    Other variables include your band. Sprint offers 3 bands: band 25, 26 and 41. 25 is what I’m on, 26 is the same size and bandwidth, but with a larger footprint (more potential people sharing your connection, potentially impacting your speed), and band 41 is a much much much much larger bandwidth pipe, but doesn’t go out nearly as far. If you’re in an area where you can get band 41, you’re likely to get “wired” speeds upwards 100mbit, which is enough for multiple 4k streams and all sorts of stuff. Don’t count on it. Even if your tower has been upgraded, you may be too far out to get it (it has a hard time penetrating buildings too, so consider putting your modem on a window sill)

    If you use a lot of data, your connection isn’t “throttled”, but you’re “deprioritized”, which means that anyone else requesting data will get priority over you. This is logical and fair, in my opinion, and ultimately it’s up to you as to how you’ll use your data.

    I hope this has been helpful for anyone looking into this provider.

    Reply

    • That’s all very helpful info, Soulnull, but you were correct when you stated that we might not like reader-added links in the comments. You link may well have been legit, but we don’t have the time nor resources to check out all the links our readers leave and we won’t take the risk of running into links that may cause problems for our readers.

      Reply

  5. I go through InterConnection here in Ohio via the ConnectAll program. Available at ConnectAll.org – It’s not just WA anymore. I get billed from InterConnection, and it costs the same, but it’s nationwide. Is $12 a month, with a little over $100 to start. Has been rock solid for me since getting it.

    Reply

  6. Don’t forget to add another 100.00 to drive to Seattle from Spokane, for a total of 446.00. Ya, I can really come up with that out of the 800.00 I get.
    This offer is a joke. I will also say these company’s going by SSI & not Social Security are flat stupid.
    Poverty level in Wash. is 1,900.00 89% of the people on Social Security get below 1600.00, That means there are 89% seniors that get below poverty level income. SSI does not stand fro SOCIAL SECURITY INSURANCE. It stands for SOCIAL SECURITY IMPLEMENT !
    You get that from the state, which the federal government gives to the state when Social Security turns you down because you are not disabled enough ( meaning they think you can work). When SSI recipients turn 65 they automatically go on to SOCIAL SECURITY!
    SSDI, mean Social Security Disability Insurance. means.. Social Security found you permanently disabled & cannot return to work. Now tell me why someone on SSDI is not eligible for these programs but SSI people are.?

    Reply

    • I applied for service via ConnectAll (which is an InterConnection affiliate of some sort) with only SSDI and they approved me (and the starting cost is only a little over $100 as well). If you were unsuccessful, all I can recommend is to try again. I submitted my SSDI approval letter along with my “history of payments” or whatever it is and within a few hours I received an email saying I was approved for their service. Sometimes you gotta be persistent with these types of services. I got lucky the first time, but obviously plenty of people don’t. Good luck!

      Reply

  7. Interconnection.org, today, doesn’t mention anything about providing low-cost internet service to low-income folks.

    Reply

    • The service is available to everyone, Chuck, but the prices are equivalent to the lowest of the low-income service providers.

      Reply

    • Karen,

      I have a plan via their service, and I use about 500gb a month. We stream netflix, youtube, hulu, directv on demand and have 3 security cameras installed. Never had an issue with them so far.

      Reply

  9. Please update this: Interconnection’s “Connect All” program now says you need $239 to get started. This covers the $99 ZTE Warp Connect hotspot + $140 for one year of service (via Sprint). It’s actually a Mobile Citizen program offered through Interconnection.

    You can check your coverage (for phone & data service separately) with the link they provide.

    And, yes, it is a little ridiculous to expect low income people to have that kind of money to shell out all at once. (But some of us keep an “emergency fund” and can do it.)

    Reply

    • I AGREE with what savvy shopper has to say about how RIDICULOUS they expected us to shell out all money at once if we are on fixed income. We can’t afford everything, Jeez.

      David

      Reply