White House says internet providers to discount fee for poor

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By AAMER MADHANI

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — The Biden administration announced on Monday that 20 internet companies have agreed to provide discounted service to low-income Americans, a program that could effectively make tens of millions of households eligible for free service through an already existing federal subsidy.

The $1 trillion infrastructure package passed by Congress last year included $14.2 billion funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides $30 monthly subsidies ($75 in tribal areas) on internet service for millions of lower-income households.

With the new commitment from the internet providers, some 48 million households will be eligible for $30 monthly plans for 100 megabits per second, or higher speed, service — making internet service fully paid for with the government subsidy if they sign up with one of the providers participating in the program.

Biden, during his White House run and the push for the infrastructure bill, made expanding high-speed internet access in rural and low-income areas a priority. He has repeatedly spoken out about low-income families that struggled finding reliable wi-fi, so their children could take part in remote schooling and complete homework assignments early in the coronavirus pandemic.



President Joe Biden speaks at United Performance Metals in Hamilton, Ohio, Friday, May 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-132d8f9709979039c8ea310273b672af

[ck4829]

1. K&R

[iluvtennis]

2. Good stuff. n/t

[melm00se]

3. The providers in the program are

Allo Communications
AltaFiber (and Hawaiian Telecom)
Altice USA (Optimum and Suddenlink)
Astound
AT&T
Breezeline
Comcast
Comporium
Frontier
IdeaTek
Cox Communications
Jackson Energy Authority
MediaCom
MLGC
Spectrum (Charter Communications)
Starry
Verizon (Fios only)
Vermont Telephone Co.
Vexus Fiber
Wow! Internet, Cable, and TV.

[Trueblue1968]

18. I HOPE THIS IS HUBBY AND I !!!! we are on SS

[Ferrets are Cool]

4. But, but, but...

what about those poor oligarch's??????? Wont that cut into their ability to buy another yacht??????????

[SheltieLover]

7. Excellent! 👏👏👏👏

[Ferrets are Cool]

12. ...

Hey there!! Hope you are well...as well as you can be in these trying times.

[SheltieLover]

13. I am, thx & hope you & Mrs. Are well also.

[Ferrets are Cool]

14. We are well...

she is still struggling with fatigue, but that is part of the recovery.

[SheltieLover]

15. Glad to hear you are both well.

I hope she recovers quickly!

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Heard this (at least the last part of it)

on the radio early this morning. There is a website available for people to go to in order to check eligibility,

Site from FCC for more info - https://www.fcc.gov/acp
Affordable Connectivity Program - https://www.affordableconnectivity.gov/

Income eligibility criteria - https://www.affordableconnectivity.gov/do-i-qualify/

The pandemic, with schools going "virtual", very starkly brought the "digital divide" to very forefront of being an emergency situation, after several decades of fruitless warning against the existence of such.

[2naSalit]

6. K&R!!

That would cut my bill in half!

As long as it isn't dial-up speed slow.

[Deminpenn]

8. Comcast already offers wi-fi access for $10/mo

if you are low income.

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. It's good, but wrong. We need to regulate the Internet like a utility, and the lower the price

for everyone.

Our Internet service in this country, considering we're the ones who created it, is very high in comparison to everywhere else in the world. It's ridiculous the amount we pay.

The problem isn't that the Internet can't be made available to the poor except through government programs; the problem is that the Internet providers charge too goddamned much to everyone, and if it came at realistic and regulated prices, even the poor could afford it.

[Novara]

11. I totally agree and I'll bet...

...they jack up the rates for everyone else.

[modrepub]

10. Rural Poor (Repub) Subsidy (Socialism)

My brother works for the evil empire (a big telecommunication corp). They know how may eyeballs there are on every road their cable passes. I'll bet dollars to donuts it costs way more to connect rural populations than urban. On top of this, most rural areas have declining population so over time there will be far fewer rural folks over the same cable network.

Why do I bring this up? Because rural areas trend Republican. Second, the subsidy to maintain the rural network will go up over time. Fewer people on the network means there will be less people paying to maintain it and someone else (suburban and urban subscribers) will be footing more of the bill to maintain the network in rural areas where there are less subscribers.

Yea, this is mean. But if the Repubs are going to continue to call Dems socialists and communists then we'd better call them out whenever they've pried money from other folks to subsidize their constituents living choices.

[Cozmo]

16. Does anyone know when this goes into effect?

[catsudon]

17. some company already do this

i just haven't pull the trigger yet... i will put it under my parents name, since they have no income. free money is free.