Affordability/Cost/Price

830 utility-justice, environmental, faith, digital-rights and civil-rights groups sent a letter to Congress calling for the next congressional COVID-19 relief package to include a moratorium on broadband, electricity and water shutoff. The letter also calls for stimulus funds to address the systemic issues that lead to shutoffs. These issues include racial and economic inequities that can be addressed with improved affordable broadband programs including Lifeline; distributed solar energy; and percentage-of-income water-affordability initiatives.

Speedier 5G wireless technology is rekindling a long-running debate over the best way to reach America’s internet dead zones: by wire or by wave. Cellphone carriers including Verizon and T-Mobile  say new wireless technologies will let them serve more home-broadband subscribers without sending a technician to wire up a customer’s house. The companies have promised to build profitable services where other wireless broadband companies, like Clearwire, have failed to build a viable business, but they have yet to detail how many wireless homes they serve.

The internet is still functioning in Europe, aside from some of the same kinds of slowdowns, interruptions

"For social distancing to work, home-isolation has to be bearable for everyone." The Washington Post came to that conclusion on March 29, 16 days after President Trump declared the spread of COVID-19 a national emergency.

When I moved to Drain (OR) population 1,169, I did so because it was my dream to buy a small farm and land is cheaper here than in larger towns. What I didn’t realize was that in rural America, internet options are often limited. Now that the libraries and businesses I used to rely on for internet have closed, the threads of connection I clung to before have been taken away. I cannot rent DVDs. I cannot go to the library to work. Even cruising grocery store aisles is a bad idea.

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who has previously waded into debates on net neutrality, slammed the Federal Communications Commission and broadband companies for not doing enough to address the digital divide. In a video with Rep.

What are steps local leaders can take right now to help low-income and vulnerable families access broadband connections and devices to get online during the crisis? 

• Help Your Residents Access Free and Low-Cost Broadband Plans
• Help Residents Access Free Devices
• Leverage Public Wi-Fi Options
• Partner with the Private Sector
• Connect with Your State Leadership

[Angelina Panettieri is the Legislative Manager for Information Technology and Communications at the National League of Cities]

New America’s Open Technology Institute called on the Federal Communications Commission to use its existing authority and universal service budget to extend connectivity to students without broadband access to help facilitate remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the emergency request filing, OTI urges the FCC to act to empower schools and libraries to close the homework gap using the Universal Service Fund (USF) and E-Rate and Lifeline programs. 

At a time when all Ohioans are being asked to stay at home to help flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases, phones, cellphones and internet connections are often a lifeline, connecting people to doctors, social services, unemployment, news, religious services, loved ones, and school lessons.

Consumers are adopting stand-alone broadband services at a much higher rate than just two years ago, and analysts predict that the economic downturn prompted by the COVID-19 outbreak will accelerate the trend. With a recession looming, consumers may look to cut pay TV service in favor of more robust standalone internet packages once they're free to leave their homes. The broadband boom driven by the pandemic is likely to continue even after the virus dies down.