While President Donald Trump’s administration has added an element of uncertainty to infrastructure projects like the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, federal and state funding has already made a major difference to high-speed internet access. People at 99.9% of US locations can get service with 100 Mbps download speeds and 20 Mbps uploads. Technological capacity isn’t the same as accessibility, though – and as with so many other parts of life, money makes a big difference.
The biggest reason for respondents in the National Telecommunications and Infrastructure Association not using the internet at home was lack of interest, which is hard to address and makes me think the survey-takers just contacted my mother a whole lot, but the second-biggest was affordability. Cost kept the internet out of reach for 15.4% of people who said they didn’t have it. When kids have to get online to do their homework and job seekers need to apply on company websites, that’s a major problem.
“Affordable broadband” generally means a service that costs no more than 2% of a household’s income. Many, especially veterans, older people and Black and Hispanic people, counted on the Affordable Connectivity Program to maintain that proportion. When the ACP ran out of funding in June, internet builds for at least 23 million homes went up between $23 and $75. Although Congress has proposed several extensions, none of them has passed.
What now?
Federal help
While the ACP is gone for the foreseeable future, several other federal agencies and programs aim to make broadband more affordable. Students can borrow Wi-Fi hotspots from libraries or schools, although those can only work with one device per household and involve restrictions on content. Households with incomes at or below 135% of the federal guidelines for poverty can get $9.25 Lifeline subsidies, as can people getting SNAP, Medicaid, public housing assistance and veterans and survivors’ benefits. Residents in Tribal communities might be able to get as much as $34.25.
Lifeline comes from the Universal Service Fund, though, and that has its own issues. USF funding comes from phone companies, which are much less numerous than they used to be. While a bipartisan Congressional Working Group proposed making big technology companies chip in, that idea seems to have stalled. Former FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth said that the USF is currently “broken” and described it as “a problem that Congress is ultimately going to have to solve.” Since the fund also pays for internet at rural medical facilities, schools and libraries, inaction could have severe consequences.
The National Telecommunications and Infrastructure Administration’s Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program also provides some resources. In addition to training digital skills and developing workforces, communities can also use the grants to build public computing facilities and offer discounted or free equipment. This doesn’t directly make household broadband less expensive, but it does provide alternative internet facilities and other ways to save.
State, nonprofit and private support
States like Colorado and Oregon have instituted their own programs to make broadband more affordable, either adding to Lifeline or establishing separate subsidies with state funds. Some states are trying a regulatory route as well. The Supreme Court refused to take up a challenge to New York’s law requiring providers to offer $15 service at 20 Mbps for low-income households, and similar bills are before the California and Massachusetts legislatures. Since 22 states supported New York in the court case, it’s likely the trend will spread.
Where lobbyist-driven laws don’t intervene, some communities have started their own networks to compete with big providers. Others have pursued public-private partnerships, often with smaller ISPs. Free public wi-fi, such as Wichita’s connected solar benches, is often available at libraries and sometimes even across neighborhoods or cities. Most public Wi-Fi won’t work inside people’s homes, but it can be a useful stopgap – and I have fond memories of a sunny day working from a park in San Francisco.
Providers themselves sometimes step in to fill the gap with low-income plans. The National Digital Inclusion Alliance runs the Grading Internet for Good site, which evaluates various services for both quality and affordability. Comcast’s XFinity Internet Essentials Plus, Digital C’s Canopy and Gigabit Now’s Low Cost Plan Option all made the “Best” category on the NDIA’s Honor Roll.
Finally, non-government organizations can help users find and qualify for aid, provide it themselves and save them money by offering free or discounted secondhand devices.
Less expensive technology
Another way consumers can save money on broadband is by opting for less expensive types of connectivity. While fiber broadband generally offers higher potential speeds than fixed wireless access, analyst Jeff Kagan told me that “many customers prefer wireless broadband” because it costs less, and the peak speeds of fiber may be more than households without video conferencing needs require.
Location limits the choice of technology, however. While FWA is available in more rural regions than fiber, environmental barriers, crowded networks and even simple distance can keep it unavailable or unreliable in some places. Satellite broadband is the most expensive kind, but in many rural areas, it’s the only service available.
Conclusion
Many variables, from federal regulation to technological development, affect the future of affordable broadband in the US. It’s a future that every organization needs to work on: as Kagan says, broadband “has become a needed service. It is no longer just a luxury. Today, it is a necessity.” Since affordability is every state’s main obstacle to digital equity, we have to help each household fit that necessity into its budget.
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