Wisconsin struggles to get people to sign up for free internet

About half of the Milwaukee (WI) households eligible for low-cost internet service are now enrolled in a federal program that offers it, but statewide enrollment is only around 25% and the program’s barely been used in many communities, according to new figures. Even in Milwaukee, where the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) has been heavily promoted, thousands of eligible households haven’t signed up for the benefit that provides $30 a month toward the cost of internet service, also known as broadband. Moreover, when combined with a discount ACP price from Charter Spectrum, AT&T, and other service providers, the service would be free. The signup rate of eligible households in Wisconsin has ranged from under 1%, sometimes in rural communities that lack internet access, to more than 70% in Brown Deer in Milwaukee County. Statewide, the rate was 25% of 894,005 eligible households, according to the national nonprofit group EducationSuperHighway. That’s just above the national average of 24%, less than Michigan at 26%, but better than Minnesota at 16%, Iowa’s 13%, and Illinois, 20%.