The White House announced Monday that the Biden administration has secured commitments from 20 leading private internet service providers to increase speeds or cut prices that will benefit millions of American families.<\/p>\n
They include large providers like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon serving dozens of states, and smaller providers serving rural areas like Jackson Energy Authority in Tennessee and Comporium in North Carolina.<\/p>\n
These companies have agreed to offer households that are eligible under the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) high-speed, high-quality internet plans for no more than $30 per month.<\/p>\n
Potential beneficiaries can sign up for ACP and find participating internet providers in their area by logging in to GetInternet.gov.<\/p>\n
Households qualify for ACP based on their income or through their participation in one of several other federal programs, like Pell Grants, Medicaid, or Supplemental Security Income. <\/p>\n
1.6 million Supplemental Security Income recipients in the U.S. who have a “My Social Security” account are eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program.<\/p>\n
Experts estimate that 48 million households \u2014 or nearly 40 percent of households in the country \u2014 qualify for the ACP either because their income is at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, or because a member of the household participates in one of the listed federal welfare programs.<\/p>\n
Under the terms of the ACP, an eligible household that signs up for the program will receive a discount of up to $30 per month on any internet service plan a participating provider offers. Households on Tribal Lands are eligible for a discount of up to $75 per month. As of now, more than 1,300 internet service providers participate in the program, and more than 11.5 million households have signed up to receive the ACP benefit.<\/p>\n
As part of this initiative, Verizon lowered the price for its Fios service from $39.99 per month to $30 per month for a plan that delivers download and upload speeds of at least 200 Megabits per second, and Spectrum doubled the speed of the $30\/month plan it makes available to ACP participants from 50 to 100 Megabits per second <\/p>\n
The following companies have committed to offer ACP-eligible families at least one high-speed plan for $30\/month or less, with no additional fees and no data caps: Allo Communications, AltaFiber (and Hawaiian Telecom), Altice USA (Optimum and Suddenlink), Astound, AT&T, Breezeline, Comcast, Comporium, Frontier, IdeaTek, Cox Communications, Jackson Energy Authority, MediaCom, MLGC, Spectrum (Charter Communications), Starry, Verizon (Fios only), Vermont Telephone Company, Vexus Fiber and Wow! <\/p>\n