ISPs and the End of ACP

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) that provides a discount for millions of homes will disappear unless Congress takes action to continue it. Most big internet service providers (ISPs) have announced how they will handle broadband for low-income homes after the end of ACP. 

• Altice Optimum provides the Optimum Advantage Internet plan that provides 50 Mbps download speed for $14.99 per month.
• AT&T will still offer its Access from AT&T plan for $30 per month that provides unlimited usage at 100 Mbps.
• Charter will continue to offer the Spectrum Internet Assist plan, which offers 50 Mbps download speeds for $24.99 per month.
• Comcast is going to keep its Internet Essentials plan that provides speeds up to 50 Mbps for $9.95 per month. Plan participants can also buy a low-cost basic computer. Comcast is going to let customers who were enrolled in ACP rollover to Internet Essentials without having to go through the qualification process again. But it looks like customers will have to choose the rollover option and it’s not automatic.
• Cox Communications will continue to offer two plans. First is its Connect2Compete plan that provides a $9.95 monthly broadband connection to families with a child in grades K-12 who qualifies for the national School Lunch Program or other federal programs. Cox also has a ConnectAssist plan for $30 per month for other families who qualify for a list of federal programs. Both plans deliver speeds up to 100 Mbps.
• Frontier will allow customer who were using ACP to instead get the $9.25 FCC Lifeline discount.
• Mediacom offers the Xtreme Connect plan for low-income households for $28.99 per month.
• T-Mobile has several plans for customers who are already using the ACP discount. Customers of Assure Wireless will continue to get the equivalent of the ACP discount through August 2024, at which point they will covert to get the FCC’s $9.25 Lifeline discount.
• Verizon will continue to offer its Verizon Forward plan that gives customers a 300/200 Mbps connection for $20 per month.
• Windstream gave ACP customers until April 30 to transfer their ACP benefit to its Kinetic Benefit program. Any customers who made the transition will be able to keep the identical discount received under ACP for as long as they keep the plan at the same address and don’t make any changes to the plan.