Affordability/Cost/Price

In comments submitted to the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee as they develop their party platforms for 2020, New America’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) made recommendations on the following:

Verizon remains committed to ensuring customers stay connected now and moving forward, and announced plans to continue to help low-income consumers do just that through Verizon’s low-income Fios Internet program. New Fios customers who qualify for the low-income Lifeline discount program will receive a $20 per month discount on their home Internet service for as long as they remain eligible for the program, bringing the cost to as low as $19.99 per month for 200/200 Mbps internet with no data caps. New registrations will be accepted for the remainder of 2020.

Rep Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ) introduced the Broadband Adoption and Opportunity Act: bipartisan legislation to leverage public-private partnerships to refurbish internet-capable devices for students and underserved families through donation, lending, or low-cost purchasing programs. The bill is cosponsored by Rep Bill Johnson (R-OH).

Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks spoke about internet inequality during a USTelecom webinar "The Role of Connectivity in Digital Equity and Inclusion." Commissioner Starks said he uses the term internet inequality rather than the digital divide because beyond the issue of access was the issue of affordability. He said there are millions of Americans who simply can't afford the internet. While the rural digital divide is very important, Commissioner Starks said the lack of connectivity in certain urban areas was a problem he was increasingly fixated on.  

Big Valley is a living postcard of Pennsylvania. But they had slow, unreliable, and expensive internet. The government couldn’t help. Private suppliers have long said improved speeds were too costly to provide for such a sparsely populated area. So a group of mostly retirees banded together and took a frontier approach to a modern problem. They built their own wireless network, using radio signals instead of expensive cable. “We just wanted better internet service up our valley.

The Lifeline program, administered by the Federal Communications Commission, provides a $9.25 monthly subsidy (more on tribal lands) to companies that provide phone or broadband service to low-income consumers, generally at no out-of-pocket cost to the customer. But, less than a fifth of the 38 million households that qualify for the program are actually enrolled. And despite a recent uptick, enrollment remains down sharply from the Obama era. "It's very clear that the program is needed now more than ever," said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

With the Keep Americans Connected pledge ending July 1 — and the pandemic continuing — the question remains: What comes next for those who can’t afford to get online? Benton senior fellow and public advocate Gigi Sohn said she felt the pledge was the “bare minimum” of what Internet service providers could have done during the pandemic, and it was time for Congress to act. A flurry of bills have been proposed that try to address the connectivity issues of the digital divide which have been highlighted by coronavirus.

Access to the internet is a basic human right, the United Nations declared in 2016. But, as the Covid-19 crisis has highlighted, it is a right that is still denied to billions of people at a time when connectivity has never been more important. For professional classes in rich countries with good internet access and the ability to work from home, the crisis has been made infinitely easier thanks to Zoom video calls and Amazon deliveries. It has been a far more precarious existence for those who have manual jobs and children at home with no internet access.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), co-chair of the Senate Broadband Caucus, introduced comprehensive broadband infrastructure legislation to expand access to affordable high-speed internet for all Americans. The Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act will invest $100 billion to build high-speed broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities to close the digital divide and connect Americans to ensure they have increased access to education, health care, and business opportunities.

Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) and 26 Senate Democrats introduced the Emergency Broadband Connections Act to ensure that millions of Americans can access essential broadband connections in the middle of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The legislation would provide a $50/month benefit to workers who have been laid off or furloughed during the pandemic, along with a range of other assistance to ensure families can access critical online services.