The affordable program kept the internet online
The Wright Experience with a Broadband Affordable Connectivity Program and a $37-per-Month Microphone Subsidy
A 50-year-old IT manager from Oklahoma City named Wright lives more than 1,300 miles away from his elderly mother in Philadelphia and still keeps in touch through regular phone calls, rudimentary texting, and a security camera system. He says she’s generally hesitant to welcome new technology into her life, but after she qualified for the federal Affordable Connectivity Program and a $30-per-month broadband stipend in 2021, she agreed to get internet access in her home and connect an Android phone to Wi-Fi.
Funding is the problem. The program can last only as long as Congress will allow it to. A $6 billion Investment was requested by the Biden administration to continue the program, among other domestic spending. The program has officially expired despite the pleas of groups like the Federal Communications Commission.
More than twenty five million households have taken advantage of the program, according to the White House. It is estimated that one in six households need to find another way to make ends meet.
The ACP was considered the largest and most successful broadband affordability program in US history by the FCC and initially was set to last five years. But demand for the program was higher than expected, and the FCC said earlier this year it would have to wind down the program two years earlier than planned because funds had run out.
I don’t tell her that the subsidy is ending because I’ll start paying an extra fee for her internet service, she would insist that I don’t do that She wants to feel like she is her own person. But I need to be able to support her remotely.”
Preparing an Online Census for the New York City Shelter Crisis: A Conversation with David E. Perez at the State of the Union Address
Millions of people rely on the ACP but are waiting to find out how long they can stay online. After spending more than five years unhoused in New York City, Perez eventually landed in an apartment in Brooklyn in 2021. He subsists on housing vouchers, public assistance, and the advocacy work he does for the homeless community in New York. Perez was at the State of the Union Address in March of this year.
