“I now pay about $35 a month, and that’s with a $30 discount on my bill,” Perez says. “So at some point I’ll be paying more than $60 a month.” Last weekend, he used the data plan he uses for internet on his phone to help a former roommate who lives on a fixed income and whose own internet access is so was limited that he found it difficult to complete the paperwork. “He sends me his apartment documents and I upload them for him,” says Perez.
“If we want to close our nation’s digital divide, the Affordable Connectivity Program is not a nice-to-have, but a must-have,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement in late February, as the end of the program became imminent. “We have come too far to turn back now.” This appeal did not work.
According to an FCC survey of ACP recipients released in December 2023, 77 percent of respondents said the loss of their ACP benefits would impact their internet service by forcing them to change their plan or cancel their service entirely. Approximately half of respondents reported that they either did not have internet service or relied solely on mobile internet prior to receiving ACP services. Just over half of rural residents said the same.
An overwhelming number of young respondents ages 18 to 24 said they used ACP services to complete online school work. Seventy-two percent of all respondents said they use the AKP-subsidized internet service to make or attend health appointments, while nearly half said they use it for work.
Business plans
Alex S., a freelance digital media marketer in Burbank, California, uses his ACP benefit to boost his internet speeds for remote work. (He requested anonymity because he is looking for more work and fears potential employers might view him as unreliable without solid internet access.)
“I’ve had a very bandwidth-intensive, very millennial internet job for the last 15 years,” says Alex, describing how he works with content creators across time zones and monitors their various social media accounts and live streams for them. “I lost two of my biggest customers at the start of the pandemic. I was able to maintain my agency, but I ended up qualifying because my income fell below the threshold.”
Alex also describes himself as a “serial ISP promo negotiator” and has managed to get his $130 per month internet plan down to almost $50 per month, with various promotional discounts on top of the ACP benefit. Now its costs will rise again. “I need to get new customers soon,” says Alex. “Otherwise I’ll have to resort to short-term gig work.”
A group of bipartisan U.S. senators and representatives this month called for an additional $7 billion to extend the AKP through the end of the year. The White House has expressed support, but the proposal has not yet reached Congress.
Meanwhile, some telecommunications companies and ISPs are offering short-term subsidies and new discount plans to support low-income households that previously relied on ACP. As WIRED’s Boone Ashworth reported today, there may still be some government-funded options.)
AT&T has announced that it will continue to offer its Access Plan for $30 per month for home internet, “providing data speeds of up to 100 Mbps to eligible customers.” Verizon offers a plan that starts at $0 per month for new home internet customers and goes up to $20 per month for some new and existing customers. Speeds start at 300 Mbps.
Those who receive the ACP benefit through T-Mobile’s Assurance wireless plan will see no changes to their wireless bills throughout August, meaning calls, texts and data will come over a “strong and reliable 4G LTE signal.” “Cost $0.
And Perez says Metro, which is also owned by T-Mobile, has said it will continue to offer a $15 discount on its wireless bill throughout the summer. “I feel like I don’t have it as bad as a lot of other people,” he says.
Additional reporting by Makena Kelly