23 Million Americans Navigate Hiked Internet Costs Since the ACP Ended

In May, the $14.2 billion Affordable Connectivity Program officially ran out of money, leaving 23 million households 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. Spectrum said it lost 154K customers in the second quarter, noting that it was "largely driven" by the end of the ACP. 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. Most people who use the ACP won't cut their internet subscriptions; they'll just feel their already-strained budgets stretched a little thinner.