Affordability/Cost/Price

Federal Communications Commission Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program enrolled more than one million households in the program's first week. Households in all 50 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa are benefitting from the subsidy program initiated by Congress. Households can qualify several ways such as through their use of existing assistance programs like SNAP, Medicaid, Lifeline or if a child relies on reduced-price school meals programs.

Verizon strongly supports the Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Broadband Benefit program, and we believe in giving our customers a wide range of choices to best fit their needs. To get our program up and running quickly, Verizon made all current Fios Mix & Match plans eligible for participants in the EBB. We believe our current in market Fios Mix & Match plans, which over one million customers enjoy today, offer the most choice at the best value. These plans include no extra fees and the ability to pay only for what’s needed.

Governor Roy Cooper (D-NC) shared his recommendations for how North Carolina can most effectively invest in its recovery through the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The $5.7 billion in federal funds offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in North Carolina and ensure a shared recovery from the global pandemic. The Governor’s recommendations include assisting families most impacted by the pandemic, upgrading our infrastructure, helping more people get a degree or trade after high school, preparing the state’s workforce and promoting business development and innovation.

The Federal Trade Commission, along with law enforcement agencies from six states, sued Internet service provider Frontier Communications, alleging that the company did not provide many consumers with Internet service at the speeds it promised them, and charged many of them for more expensive and higher-speed service than Frontier actually provided. In a complaint, the FTC and its state partners allege that Frontier advertised and sold Internet service in several plans, or tiers, based on download speed.

The digital divide in education that was exposed by remote learning during the pandemic is likely to persist even when students return to classrooms, advocates warn. While efforts are underway to provide students with adequate internet access, advocates say the problem is unlikely to go away in the fall because remote learning will not completely go away when in-person classes resume. Advocates say that closing the digital divide requires building out infrastructure. Amina Fazlullah, director of equity policy at Common Sense Media, said infrastructure spending is needed to help bridge the d

The Washington Post recently reported that Verizon is telling low-income, Emergency Broadband Benefit Program participants that they can't stay on their “old” data plans, so they’ll have to switch. For home Internet, Verizon doesn't make the subsidy available at all on legacy DSL plans, which it offers in areas where it hasn't upgraded copper lines to fiber.

More than 825 broadband providers are taking part in the Federal Communications Commission’s new Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program. One of the participants is TruConnect, a mobile virtual network operator that uses T-Mobile’s network. “Lifeline has been a terrific solution,” for getting communications into the hands of those who need it but can’t afford it, said Matthew Johnson, co-CEO of TruConnect, who runs the company with his brother Nathan Johnson. But it was frustrating during Covid-19.

The government has a new program, the Emergency Broadband Benefit, to help Americans pay their Internet bills. Unfortunately, companies like Verizon are twisting it into an opportunity for an upsell. All Internet service provider participation in the program is voluntary, and each ISP gets to write some of its own rules for how to hand out the money.

President Joe Biden's promise to cut the price of Americans' internet bills has provoked a fierce lobbying campaign by cable and telecom companies to prove that the cost of broadband has already dropped. Internet providers are desperate to fend off any move to regulate the prices they charge, while the government is increasingly viewing connectivity as an essential service.

The US Department of Education launched a major outreach campaign to millions of students who are now eligible for a monthly discount on broadband internet service under a temporary program administered by the Federal Communications Commission. The campaign will inform millions of families with children participating in the free or reduced-price lunch or school breakfast program, and 6.5 million Pell Grant recipients that they are now eligible for the discount of up to $50 per month.