The digital divide in Illinois remains wide and deep. At least 2.9 million individuals in 1.3 million households (roughly 28 percent) do not have a subscription to high-speed internet. This gap is driven by gaps in infrastructure availability, affordability of subscriptions or devices, and/or limited digital skills. The state of Illinois is committed to changing this picture. 

Digital equity requires affordable broadband. Today, most affordable subscription costs in Illinois range from $25 to $50, depending on the plan. In the statewide resident phone survey, 17 percent of respondents said they found it difficult to afford their internet bill, and 14 percent experienced disrupted service because they had difficulty paying. About 29 percent were categorized as “subscription-vulnerable” meaning—they have lost service because of difficulty paying broadband bills, find it very difficult to afford service, or live at or near the poverty line.

Individuals in Illinois with an annual household income under $30,000 have a much harder time paying for internet services—67 percent of surveyed individuals in this group find it difficult to pay for service, versus 17 percent of the general population. They are 15 percent more likely to experience service interruption due to difficulty in paying, and 40 percent more likely to be subscription vulnerable.

The state's strategy for expanding access to affordable plans relied heavily on the Federal Communications Commission's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which ran out of money earlier this year. Illinois had hoped to address affordability and improve broadband adoption by increasing enrollment in ACP.

By one estimate, 1.9 million households in Illinois (49% of all households in the state) were eligible to enroll in ACP. Counties with the largest ACP-eligible population were concentrated in the Northeast region of the state; the top five included Cook County (863,000 eligible), DuPage County (77,000 eligible), Lake County (72,000 eligible), Will County (58,000 eligible), and Winnebago County (57,000 eligible). Southern regions of the state had a higher share of population that is eligible for ACP. The top five counties in the state with the highest share of ACP-eligible population—Alexander County (69% eligible), Jackson County (63% eligible), Pulaski County (58% eligible), White County (58% eligible), and Saline County (57% eligible)—are all located in Illinois’s Southern region.  

Illinois' plan for just over $1 billion in Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding sets a vision for an Illinois with state-driven broadband ubiquity—and lasting broadband equity. Illinois seeks to ensure universal access to high-speed broadband that is affordable, reliable, and fully scalable for residences, businesses, and community anchor institutions across Illinois.

The BEAD Low-Cost Broadband Service Option in Illinois

The proposed low-cost broadband service option for BEAD-supported networks in Illinois:

• Costs $30 per month or less, inclusive of all taxes, fees, and charges if the subscriber does not reside on Tribal Lands, or $75 per month or less, inclusive of all taxes, fees, and charges if the subscriber resides on Tribal Lands, with no additional non-recurring costs or fees to the consumer;
• Allows the end user to apply the Affordable Connectivity Program subsidy to the service price;  
• Provides typical download speeds of at least 100 Mbps, upload speeds of at least 20 Mbps, and latency measurements of no more than 100 milliseconds; and  
• Is not subject to data caps, surcharges, or usage-based throttling, and is subject only to the same acceptable use policies to which subscribers to all other broadband internet access service plans offered to home subscribers by the participating subgrantee must adhere. 

In the event the provider later offers a low-cost plan with higher speeds downstream and/or upstream, permits eligible subscribers who are subscribed to a low-cost broadband service option to upgrade to the new low-cost offering at no cost.

Middle-Class Affordability in Illinois

Offering middle-class households affordable, high-quality broadband service is a priority for the Illinois Office of Broadband.  

In Illinois, middle-class annual income ranges from $48,136 to $144,410 per household, based on Pew Research Center’s definition of "middle-class” as households with annual incomes that are two-thirds to twice the median household income, which, according to the 2021 American Community Survey, is $72,205 per year.

According to the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development (BCSD), a threshold of two percent of monthly income is considered affordable for a broadband plan. This translates to a monthly broadband cost of $100-$290 per household. As such, the reference price of $100 for symmetrical 1 Gbps service and $30 for 100/20Mbps have been designated as within the price range considered to be affordable for middle-class households in Illinois. 

The middle-class affordability plan on BEAD networks in Illinois will include the following: assigning especially high weights to selection criteria relating to affordability and evaluating providers based on the price they offer for a variety of speed tiers.

Affordability will comprise 15 percent of the scoring criteria in Illinois. Providers will be scored based on the price they offer for either 1G/1G or 100/20Mbps: 1G/1G with a reference price at $100/month for end-to-end fiber infrastructure (called Priority Broadband Projects), and 100/20Mbps with a reference price at $30 for infrastructure using other technologies (called Other Last-Mile Broadband Deployment Projects).

The Illinois Office of Broadband is establishing a regime of continued monitoring and public reporting to ensure that BEAD-funded internet connections are affordable for middle-class households in Illinois. The Illinois Office of Broadband plans to require BEAD subgrantees to report prices for various speed levels. The office has identified some best practices for monitoring and reporting: 

1. Project reporting requirement. As part of the grant process, the state will include a clause that requires internet service providers (ISPs) to report their full prices (without discounts and including fees and other charges) and speed levels for all offered speeds to the Illinois Broadband Office on a semi-annual basis.
2. Data collection. The Illinois Broadband Office will establish a platform where ISPs can submit the data.
3. Public reporting. A user-friendly website will allow ISPs to publicly report the verified data and to publish and present the data clearly to consumers.
4. Data validation. A mechanism will enable consumers to directly challenge published prices and speeds on the website.
5. Data update. A system will be put in place to ensure that the data is collected on time and regularly updated, such as automated email reminders.
6. Transparency and accessibility. The Illinois Broadband Office will publicize the website through social media, press releases, and community outreach programs. 

Community Engagement and Broadband Planning in Illinois

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society manages community engagement and broadband planning programs in Illinois with a variety of Illinois stakeholders including the Illinois Broadband Lab (IBL)—a collaboration between the University of Illinois System and the Illinois Office of Broadband (IOB). Past programs include Illinois Connected Communities, supported by local philanthropies, and Accelerate Illinois (see Accelerate: A Community Broadband Planning Program), funded by Heartland Forward's Connecting the Heartland Initiative. Broadband Breakthrough (see Broadband Breakthrough: Infrastructure Planning Tools for Rural Farming Communities) aimed at rural farming communities, and funded initially by the United Soybean Board and then the Illinois Soybean Association, just graduated its third cohort of rural counties. The Benton Institute, IBL, and IOB publish a newsletter, Illinois Broadband Connections, every two weeks which is delivered via email to subscribers and highlights the state's broadband efforts and federal and state programs and policies that might impact advances in broadband access, adoption, and application in Illinois. 

Additional Coverage on Illinois Broadband Priorities

• The Plan for a Connected Illinois
• American Rescue Plan Act Will Help Connect Illinois
• Connect Illinois Five-Year Action Plan

See the latest Illinois broadband news

More in this Series

• Louisiana's Plan for Affordable Broadband
• Pennsylvania's Plan for Affordable Broadband
• Washington State's Plan for Affordable Broadband
• The Kansas Affordability Plan
• Affordable Broadband for Nevada
• Will BEAD Networks Deliver Affordable Broadband for All in West Virginia?
• Delaware Wants to be the First State to Achieve Universal Broadband—Affordability is a Key Component
• Eliminating the Digital Divide in the District of Columbia Requires a Focus on Affordability
• A Plan to Bridge the Digital Divide in Colorado
• Ensuring All Hoosiers Have Reliable and Affordable Broadband
• Increasing Broadband Availability, Accessibility, and Affordability for the Benefit of All Utahns
• The Connection Between Affordability and Internet Adoption in Oregon
• How Maryland is Working to Make Broadband More Affordable
• Arizona Aims to Make the "6th C" More Affordable
• Illinois Committed to Changing the Broadband Affordability Picture

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

© Benton Institute for Broadband & Society 2024. Redistribution of this email publication - both internally and externally - is encouraged if it includes this copyright statement.

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Kevin Taglang
Executive Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Institute
for Broadband & Society
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Wilmette, IL 60091
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