Charter Communications has responded to the large wildfires in Los Angeles by unlocking more than 35,000 Spectrum WiFi access points in public spaces.
On Wednesday, a Charter spokesperson confirmed to The Desk that the company made all of its Spectrum WiFi access points in Southern California free to access, so individuals affected by the large wildfires can stay connected wherever they are.
The move allows anyone to use Spectrum WiFi access points throughout Southern California, even if they are not a Spectrum Internet subscriber. Spectrum operates more than 250,000 public WiFi access points throughout the country, which are available to its Internet subscribers for free and can typically be used by non-customers for a small free.
The offering is one part of Spectrum’s broader disaster response plan, which also involved notifying customers that they have certain consumer rights in California if they live within a declared disaster area. Those rights include a waiver of certain activation and installation fees if they are forced to relocate to a new home because of a declared disaster, or if they return to a property affected by a wildfire. The waiver period lasts for 12 months after a major disaster is declared; on Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom said President Biden issued a federal disaster declaration for areas affected by the Palisades Fire near Malibu and the Eaton Fire near the community of Altadena.
In addition to its disaster notifications. Charter has unlocked access to its regional news channel Spectrum News 1, which has offered rolling coverage of the wildfires in Los Angeles since Tuesday morning. Spectrum News 1 is available to stream through the Spectrum app for phones and tablets, and via the Spectrum News website. A simulcast of Spectrum News 1 is also available on YouTube.
