5 steps to get the internet to all Americans

We have incorporated the internet as a critical part of our personal and professional lives. This is not going to change. The COVID-19 crisis has sped us forward to a paradigm shift in which we rely on the internet to bring economic and social activity to us—rather than us going to them. Yet, tens of millions of Americans do not have access to or cannot afford quality internet service. The United States has an internet access problem, especially in rural areas. The existing program to extend broadband has become a corporate entitlement for incumbent telephone companies. At the same time, the United States has an internet affordability problem. Too many low-income Americans cannot afford broadband internet access. Here are five lessons we learned that should apply to any program to provide universal broadband for all Americans.

1. Regardless of technology, a condition of federal money should be delivery of at least 100 mbps in the new construction of internet infrastructure.
2. If we are to have universal access to high-speed broadband, we need to stop trying to reform a telephone-era program and focus directly on the goal of fiber everywhere.
3. Pay any qualified constructor: The goal should be fiber as far and wide as possible, regardless of who strings the cable.
4. Support state and local governments that want to step up
5.  Not only does the US need a program that brings broadband past every door, it also needs a plan to bring it behind those doors and into homes.