Posted on 05/09/2022 12:17:33 PM PDT by Red Badger
Twenty broadband providers have agreed to partner with the Biden administration to offer lower-cost high-speed internet service for low-income Americans to help address the digital divide, the White House announced Monday.
The Affordable Connectivity Program will offer plans for $30 a month that provide download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second download speeds. Roughly 48 million Americans are expected to qualify for the program, or nearly 40% of households in the country, according to the White House.
President Joe Biden talked a lot during his presidential campaign about the necessity of broadband service, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced millions of Americans to access work and school remotely. He often talked about parents with school age children, who during the shutdowns, would park their cars in fast-food restaurant parking lots to access Wi-Fi in order for their children to go to school online.
"High-speed internet service is no longer a luxury — it's a necessity," the White House said in its fact sheet introducing the agreement with the broadband carriers. "But too many families go without high-speed internet because of the cost or have to cut back on other essentials to make their monthly internet service payments."
Infrastructure bill
The Affordable Connectivity Program is part of the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which carved out $65 billion to connect Americans to broadband. While the majority of the funds will be given to states and territories to build broadband infrastructure where it doesn't yet exist, the law also allocates $14.2 billion to create a subsidy program to lower the cost of service to ensure greater access to broadband.
The Federal Communications Commission administers the program, which provides qualifying households a $30 per month discount on their monthly broadband bill. Households on tribal lands can get a $75 per month subsidy. Enrollees can also access a one-time $100 stipend to purchase a computer or tablet to access the internet.
The FCC says that roughly 11.5 million households have signed up for the monthly subsidy. The program is available to households whose income is 200% or less than federal poverty guidelines or for those that qualify for a government assistance program such as Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or federal Pell Grants.
Now as part of that program, the participating internet providers, which includes national carriers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, as well as regional companies, such as Hawaiian Telecom and Jackson Energy Authority in Tennessee, will offer a $30 plan that will provide at least 100 Mbps downloads. This is significant because it means that low-income families, that qualify for the subsidy will be able to sign up for a service that will fully meet their broadband needs and will be fully covered by the federal subsidy, according to the Biden administration.
With 100 Mbps downloads, a typical family of four could work from home, do schoolwork, browse the web and stream high-definition shows and movies, the White House said. The $30 price tag will also include all fees and there will be no data caps on the service, according to the fact sheet from the White House.
As an example, Verizon previously offered its 200 Mbps Fios service for $40. Now it will offer that service for $30 a month for households qualifying for the ACP, which means the subsidy will cover a recipient's entire broadband bill. Spectrum has doubled the speed for its $30 a month plan, so that ACP participants can get a 100 Mbps service for the $30 price tag.
The administration will soon launch the GetInternet.gov website to allow people to sign up and find participating providers. People who already receive federal benefits, such as the Pell Grant, Medicaid or SNAP, qualify for the subsidy.
The FCC and other federal agencies along with states and cities and local community partners will work to promote the program.
Closing the digital divide
The Biden administration's push to provide a subsidy to low-income Americans is part of a solution to a larger problem referred to as the digital divide. It's an issue that's dogged policy makers for decades. In spite of billions of dollars spent by the federal government each year to get more Americans connected, millions of Americans still don't have access to broadband, according to the FCC.
The issue took on new urgency during the COVID-19 pandemic, when millions of Americans were forced into lockdown. School children needed the internet to attend school. Adults whose jobs allowed for it were forced to work from home. And millions of Americans accessed health care remotely via the internet.
During the pandemic, the FCC launched the Emergency Broadband Benefit program to help cover the cost of broadband for low-income households and households that experienced a loss of income due to the pandemic. Through that program, the FCC allocated a $50 per a month subsidy to low-income households and anyone who had been affected by the pandemic. That program then morphed into the Affordable Connectivity Program as part of the infrastructure legislation passed in 2021. The subsidy was lowered to $30 a month, which in many parts of the country did not cover the cost of the entire broadband bill.
But for many Americans, a lack of infrastructure and the high cost of the service meant they couldn't access this essential service. Many experts point out that closing the digital divide isn't just about getting broadband access to rural communities that lack it but about ensuring digital equity.
This is especially true for communities that have historically been redlined and left out of high-speed access. Digital redlining is a term used to describe when broadband providers purposefully leave low-income customers on slower, legacy broadband infrastructure while upgrading infrastructure in wealthier communities.
Creating digital equity also means ensuring that broadband service is affordable for all Americans, regardless of whether they live in rural parts of the country or urban or suburban areas.
"Lowering prices — including the cost of high-speed internet service — is President Biden's top priority," the White House said. "The Biden-Harris Administration is grateful for the efforts of these companies, and encourages additional internet service providers to join this effort to close the digital divide by offering high-speed, low-cost plans."
Libraries have turned onto leftist cesspool. Even sweet small town Libraries
Deal was done and in action back in February ... its a joke because the cable companies just collect the federal money and raise their fees to compensate.
You might get one or 2 months with lower bills, but then they jack it right back or above what you were paying before the supplement.
What happened to using your local library?
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Local Library purged by local libs of all things not according to party line ... can get an inter-library loan, but books usually arrive one or two days before return date ... if not on the same date.
"They" aren't affording anything. All the other subscribers are paying for it through fees. Taxpayers, including those who don't use internet service, are paying for it as well.
This will likely include some non taxable money, like a Roth extraction.
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Nope. Just fill out application and see what happens.
That’s barely enough bandwidth to stream tiktok and video games.
There will be nothing left to stream “atlanta” “dear white people” or “empire”.
This isn’t enough. They must be given faster internet.
Your tax dollars are picking up everything above that $30. Another government handout at the expense of the working man.
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Sorry it does not work that way. They take the $30 off you regular bill (which you pay) for one or two months, then the cable company jacks the rate back to were it was and still takes the $30.
“They” aren’t affording anything. All the other subscribers are paying for it through fees. Taxpayers, including those who don’t use internet service, are paying for it as well.
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No we subscribers are not paying for it. - stop spreading falsehoods.
It really makes one question how much money a person should make. For instance does a person making 60,000 a year who pays for internet, phone, Healthcare, food and rent or mortgage come out any better of than someone making less who gets food stamps, free phone, free healthcare,section 8 housing etc.
What is the magic number where one is financially better off working hard and paying for their own stuff?
I pay Verizon wireless $110 a month for high speed wireless which gets throttled at 22G and have for a decade or I have to use dial up modem. My wife works from home a lot so it’s something that I have to have. We are at the proverbial end of the line in the mountains with 7-8 families on our mountain road. Our state has had multiple state rural high speed internet projects since 2005. We should be the example for these boondoggle programs.
AT&T and Spectrum both have high speed internet that runs to the end of our little five miles of road but none will run lines to connect anyone on that road. Even with the numerous state programs.
Apparently I am on a list and I had the latest program director for this area contact me. We are suddenly supposed to get Starlink. I said okay how much? $100 a month for 100mps and they put in the equipment so I said sure put it in. That was two months ago and the last I heard all the Starlink equipment was sitting at the county road department headquarters for some reason. Still no Starlink, not holding my breath. So I’ll just continue to pay Verizon as I always have, I’m used to it. Maybe 5G will eventually come to the area.
America gets sodomized by the internet providers. Worst service on earth in the developed world, most expensive.
Now they will start having people vote from home.
This explains why my rates have skyrocketed over the past year.Exactly. And I was just thinking how nice it was to have paid off several device installments and my ATT bill dropped $120. So much for that.
And let’s not forget the Obama phones which have been used in plenty of illegal activity . . .even in small town USA.
No,No,No, they don’t want it at a discount, they want it to be FREE, anything else disproportionately effects women, minorities and undeserved communities.
Yep. 600 here and no pesky buffering. They will be in the middle of their thug movie and the wheel of hell will show up and many times after. I wouldn’t want 100 if they paid me. Lol. This is a hoot.
You have to give your entire life and income history since you started grade school.
Falsehoods?
Federal Universal Service Charge (or Universal Connectivity Charge)
This charge is in response to the FCC’s Universal Service Fund that extends telephone (and internet) service into more rural or low income areas. The main purpose behind the fund is to offer affordable Internet service to areas that are underdeveloped in terms of location and infrastructure. [3]
Telecom companies are all required to contribute to the fund based on a percentage of their quarterly revenues. However, most companies simply recoup this charge by passing it on to their customers in their phone (or internet) bills.
https://broadbandnow.com/report/broadband-bill-autopsy-origin-purpose-every-single-fee/#federal-universal-service-charge
No. I wouldn’t want any of it. The housing is awful and this internet speed is crap. Do not be jealous. They are not going to have an enjoyable situation.
$30 ain’t free. They want free internet.
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