Low-income

Prior to the pandemic and resulting shift to distance learning, the St. Paul Public Schools district had already deployed a one-to-one iPad program, districtwide. District staff still had to troubleshoot internet access issues with families — and efforts have been made to help deliver hotspots and devices to students who may be doubled up with other families in neighboring communities.

As students across the country start school, education experts reckon with the long-term implications of remote learning, vanishing resources, and heightened inequality.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) led a group of 25 senators in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to boost its Lifeline program to keep students connected as millions return to school both virtually and in person. Since 1985, the FCC’s Lifeline program has made basic internet and telephone service more affordable for low-income Americans and has had bipartisan support.

The Benton perspective is this: Everyone in America should be able to use High-Performance Broadband, by which I mean broadband connections to the home that are robust and future-proof. Broadband competition is more important than ever because—in our current crises and beyond—America has fast-forwarded into its broadband future. Yet, New York, like the nation, has too little competition in fixed broadband to ensure that all people have the advantage of competitive pricing, quality, customer service, and innovation.

Much of the focus in policy circles has been on how to expand broadband access to those Americans without it. This is a worthy goal, but we should not lose sight of the magnitude of the other part of the digital divide: the adoption gap. FCC data shows about 35% or approximately 114 million Americans do not subscribe to broadband service at their homes. Cost is often cited as the leading factor for why Americans do not subscribe to broadband even when it is offered. Clearly, we need a strategy to address this gap, too.

Money spent getting high-speed internet into more people’s hands is money well spent. Every dollar invested in broadband returns nearly four dollars to the economy. In addition to expanding the reach of networks, we must focus on the cost issue. Broadband is surely an essential need for all Americans in the 21st century.

Associate Professor Colin Rhinesmith’s research on broadband access, wireless hotspot lending, and digital equity has new relevance and importance in light of the pandemic. “The most relevant work I’ve done is around the cost of broadband internet access,” says Rhinesmith.

Our nation’s health depends on immediate action to ensure that Americans urged to stay home can do so. Households that otherwise cannot afford it must receive access to broadband internet and unlimited telephone use. The Senate will very soon consider a coronavirus stimulus package: it must include an emergency communications benefit. The Senate should act to offer low-income households a $50 monthly benefit to obtain faster speed broadband and unlimited talk and text for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.

Distance learning in the pandemic highlights a problem that experts have warned about for years - some students have good access to the Internet, and others do not. It's called the digital divide. Many districts are about to start the school year with more distance learning, so how can they narrow that divide? Nicol Turner Lee thinks it's important for schools to put together what she calls the 21st-century remote access blueprint.

Prior to COVID-19, I interviewed individuals experiencing the digital divide phenomenon and were also avid public library users. I learned that their public library supported their needs on a daily basis.