Disconnected: 23 Million Americans Affected by the Shutdown of the Affordable Connectivity Program; CNet, July 28, 2024

Joe Supan, CNet ; Disconnected: 23 Million Americans Affected by the Shutdown of the Affordable Connectivity Program

"Jackson got her first home internet connection through the Affordable Connectivity Program, a pandemic-era fund that provided $30 to $75 a month to help low-income households pay for internet. In May, the $14.2 billion program officially ran out of money, leaving Jackson and 23 million households like hers with internet bills that were $30 to $75 higher than the month before. 

That's if they decided to hang on to their internet service at all: 13% of ACP subscribers, or roughly 3 million households, said that after the program ended they planned to cancel service, according to a Benton Institute survey conducted as the ACP expired. 

For as long as the internet has existed, there's been a gap between those who have access to it -- and the means to afford it -- and those who don't. The vast majority of federal broadband spending over the past two decades has gone toward expanding internet access to rural areas. Case in point: In 2021, Congress dedicated $90 billion to closing the digital divide, but only $14.2 billion went to making the internet more affordable through the ACP; the rest went to broadband infrastructure...

"The biggest barrier to home broadband is cost. There are more people who don't have access to home internet because of cost than there are people who don't have access because the infrastructure doesn't exist."

Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance"