Roughly 30 minutes after Donald Trump was shot, Elon Musk backed his bid for the White House. Musk entered uncharted territory. He broke with tradition set by the leaders of other major social media firms, none of whom have endorsed a presidential candidate. By using X as a megaphone for his politics—posting to his nearly 190 million followers—Musk also erased any air of neutrality for the platform. Musk’s full-throated support for the Republican candidates raises questions about how their opponents can expect to be treated on this site. “He can fashion the platform in his image,” said Gita Johar, a professor at Columbia Business School who studies consumer behavior. “He’s got a huge following and makes no bones on where he stands on issues and politics.” He has also turned the notion that the tech industry supports Democratic candidates on its head. For all the complaints that social media platforms have censored Trump and other Republicans in recent years, no senior executive at one of the companies has openly expressed a preference for a Democratic candidate.

Residential fixed broadband internet access in the United States (US) has long been distributed inequitably. These inequities remain the subject of significant focus for both researchers and policymakers alike, as taxpayers have invested hundreds of billions of dollars over the past several decades to address these broadband-related challenges. This paper evaluates the efficacy of the Connect America Fund (CAF), a key policy intervention aimed at addressing disparities in US internet access. CAF subsidizes the creation of new regulated broadband monopolies in underserved areas, aiming to provide comparable internet access, in terms of price and speed, to that available in urban regions. Oversight of CAF depends largely on data self-reported by internet service providers (ISPs). Unfortunately, the reliability of this self-reported data has always been open to question. We find that the serviceability rate—defined as the fraction of addresses ISPs actively serve out of the total queried, weighted by the number of CAF addresses in a census block group—is only 55.45%, dropping to as low as 18% in some states. Furthermore, the compliance rate—defined as the weighted fraction of addresses where ISPs actively serve and advertise download speeds above the FCC’s 10 Mbps threshold—is only 33.03%. We also observe that for a subset of census blocks, the CAF-funded addresses receive higher broadband speeds than their monopoly-served neighbors. These results indicate that while a few users have benefited from this multi-billion dollar program, it has largely failed to achieve its intended goal, leaving many targeted rural communities with inadequate or no broadband connectivity.

To help millions of households navigate and evaluate low-cost internet plans, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) created a new rating system to evaluate a plan’s affordability and quality. NDIA GIG (Grading Internet for Good) reflects lessons from the Affordable Connectivity Program that contributed to the program’s success and evaluates plans on cost, transparency, speed, performance, and eligibility criteria. We’ve also updated our Honor Roll of Low-Cost Internet Plans page to reflect the current offerings from 10 internet service providers (ISPs). 

• NDIA GIG assigns plans a “Good,” “Better,” or “Best” score, which incorporates considerations of cost, eligibility criteria, speed, data caps, latency, throttling, pricing transparency, and technology type, with a focus on eliminating barriers for those who qualify.
• The rating system sets a standard for ISPs and encourages them to improve affordable internet plans. It also serves as a resource for digital inclusion organizations and practitioners, digital navigators, and public interest organizations.

A partnership between Osage Broadband in Oklahoma and Tarana, a fixed wireless technology provider, will bring broadband to 2,300 square miles of underserved and indigenous communities in Osage County. This broadband/fixed wireless partnership will combine technologies to deliver high-speed broadband connections to the residents and businesses of Osage County. Osage Broadband and their partner AtLink Services will provide connectivity—via fiber, in most cases—to Tarana’s towers. From there, Tarana’s end-to-end next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) system will deliver a connection to homes and businesses wirelessly. Most people in the area are currently served by no better than 25/3 Mbps connections. After the broadband/fixed wireless network upgrade, connections will feature speeds of more than 400 Mbps. 

The State of Colorado has entered the fray by providing better access to broadband for those living in multi-dwelling units (MDUs). Colorado enacted HB 24-1334 which takes an aggressive position on granting internet service providers (ISPs) access to MDUs. The law says that an MDU building owner can’t deny access to an ISP that wants to install broadband infrastructure. I call this an aggressive law because it gives a building owner 60 days to respond to a request by an ISP to build broadband infrastructure. If the landlord doesn’t respond in that time frame, the failure to respond is deemed to be authorization for the ISP to proceed. One of the most interesting aspects of the law is that a property owner cannot discriminate in rental charges or other fees for a tenant subscribing to an ISP. The Federal Communications Commission is considering a nationwide rule that would allow tenants to opt out of a broadband or cable TV fee that is included in the rent—the Colorado legislation goes a lot further.

Two of the nation’s major telecommunications companies are feuding over a plan to boost service for police, firefighters and other state and local agencies—a move Verizon Communications says would amount to a $14 billion gift to rival AT&T. AT&T and its allies are asking regulators to provide more wireless frequencies to FirstNet, a cellular network launched in 2017 to connect emergency responders and other public-sector groups. AT&T holds an exclusive 25-year contract to run the network for the federal FirstNet Authority, which oversees the project. Rival telecom companies say the proposal would let AT&T’s commercial business piggyback on those airwaves free. Verizon, which vies with FirstNet for public-safety contracts, called the proposal a giveaway of spectrum valued at around $14 billion that would give its competitor a “substantial windfall.” T-Mobile US likewise urged regulators to avoid a “FirstNet takeover” of the spectrum. The carrier hasn’t made its case as forcefully as Verizon, whose chief executive traveled to Washington twice in recent weeks to lobby regulators. The next decision will fall to the Federal Communications Commission. The regulator has fielded comments about how to encourage more public-safety agencies to tap the airwaves, which are mostly used today by big-city systems such as Bay Area Rapid Transit and the New York Police Department.

SpaceX’s Starlink Mini satellite is now available for everyone in the United States. Starlink Mini is a compact, portable kit designed to be able to fit in a backpack, enabling the user to have high-speed, low-latency internet on the go. The service promises speeds of 5-50 Mbps, with setup possible in as little as two minutes. The standard Starlink service plan offers 150-250 Mbps. The base hardware for the Starlink Mini is available for $499. Service is available starting at $50 per month, which provides the user with 50 G of data. Starlink touts this plan as best suited to weekend travelers, backup internet, and in-motion use.