Affordability/Cost/Price

Thousands of people in communities across the country are about to grapple with losing broadband service. Free services started to help low-income families during the pandemic and a pledge not to cut off service or charge late fees to customers struggling financially are ending June 30. If left unaddressed, this end threatens to unravel a precarious thread of the social safety net at a particularly difficult time for many American families.

We urge Congress to establish a broadband credit — call it America’s Broadband Credit — to ensure many more people can afford high-speed Internet access. Congress could set a household subsidy of $50 per month, which is roughly the cost of medium-tier broadband plans in urban settings (and it could provide a higher subsidy for tribal lands). That subsidy would allow anyone and any device in the household to be connected to the Internet, simultaneously, which is how so many families today are operating.

Just over 100 days ago, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that a number of broadband and telephone service providers had volunteered to take what he calls the Keep Americans Connected Pledge. Over 780 companies took the pledge "in order to ensure that Americans do not lose their broadband or telephone connectivity as a result of these exceptional circumstances." When first announced, the pledge was to last until May 12, 2020.

Starry, a wideband hybrid fiber wireless internet service provider, is partnering with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) to expand affordable broadband access to more than 600 households in Los Angeles’ Del Rey neighborhood. The expansion, part of the Starry Connect initiative, is a specialized low-cost broadband access program that partners with owners of public and affordable housing to make high-quality, uncapped, true broadband access available to residents for only $15 per month.

On June 24, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-SC) and other House Reps introduced the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR 7302) which invests $100 billion to build high-speed broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities and ensure that the resulting internet service is affordable.

House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-SC), members of the House Rural Broadband Task Force, and House Democrats introduced the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR 7302). The bill would invest $100 billion to build high-speed broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities and ensure that the resulting internet service is affordable. The Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act would do the following:

New guidance from the federal government can help skills advocates to improve digital access and equity for adult learners and workers. In particular, several federal agencies have clarified how existing policies can be used to remedy technology gaps faced by many US jobseekers and workers. What federal policies can support greater digital inclusion?

A new weekly Household Pulse Survey from the US Census Bureau offers a rich opportunity to quantify the impact of COVID-19 on children’s education during this time. It includes questions about the availability of digital devices and the internet in homes across the US, which allow us to explore the concern that access to distance learning is out of the reach of many of the most vulnerable students. Based on four weeks of data, our findings are bleak:

Internet service providers' pledges to waive fees and forgive missed payments end on June 30, likely cutting off service for some families who can't pay their bills due to the economic impact of the pandemic. Congress hasn't included funding to pay for broadband bills in its previous COVID-19 packages.