Consumer Protections in the Affordable Connectivity Program

As of June 2022, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) has been live for six months, providing monthly discounts on the internet bills and device costs of over 12.4 million households in the United States. But the ACP does more than improve the affordability of broadband access for low-income consumers across the country—it provides recipients with increased consumer protections that are more robust than those enjoyed by non-ACP consumers. The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) prepared an Issue Brief summarizing the most important provisions of the ACP from a consumer protection perspective. The protections include rules that empower ACP households to choose the internet service that best meets their household needs as well as: prohibitions on credit checks and waiting periods; a framework for portability of the ACP benefit; rules that allow ACP participants to switch services or providers; integration between the Lifeline benefit and the ACP benefit; disconnection protections; and the creation of a designated ACP complaint process.