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Communications United States

FCC Approves $50 Monthly Internet Subsidies for Low-Income Households During Pandemic (cnn.com) 78

Posted by msmash from the moving-forward dept.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved final rules for a new broadband subsidy program that could help struggling families pay for internet service during the pandemic. From a report: The agency's $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit Program provides eligible low-income households with up to a $50 per month credit on their internet bills through their provider until the end of the pandemic. In tribal areas, eligible households may receive up to $75 per month. The program also provides eligible households up to $100 off of one computer or tablet The congressionally created program is aimed at closing the digital divide, which has become painfully apparent over the past year as millions of Americans have been forced to work and learn remotely. Some have also raised concerns that the digital divide could affect access to the vaccine as signups typically happen online.
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FCC Approves $50 Monthly Internet Subsidies for Low-Income Households During Pandemic More

FCC Approves $50 Monthly Internet Subsidies for Low-Income Households During Pandemic

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  • Missing from the summary: (Score:5, Interesting)

    by imidan ( 559239 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @06:05PM (#61104014)

    Households eligible for the program include those who use food stamps, are on Medicaid, or who have received a Pell grant. Also eligible are those who've lost their jobs during the pandemic.

    I wonder if there will be any move to make a more permanent Internet connection subsidy for low-income households after the pandemic passes, or if this is just a one-time deal.

    • FCC should mandate that local governments foot the bill.

      • Re:Missing from the summary: (Score:5, Insightful)

        by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @06:36PM (#61104122)

        FCC should mandate that local governments foot the bill.

        Government and FCC should mandate those they've paid millions to, who promised to build out internet infrastructure years ago, pay the bill.

        Just how many times do you want to pay for this, taxpayer?

        • Subsidizing someone's internet bill isn't a government payment to expand network/infrastructure. It's customer retention, not network expansion.

          • Subsidizing someone's internet bill isn't a government payment to expand network/infrastructure. It's customer retention, not network expansion.

            Retention? Wonder how long that'll go on. Sadly, the US is probably going to be a lot worse off in 3-6 months once all these subsidies, subside.

            $50 a month, won't bring small business back to life again.

      • Well since certain powers that be are blocking municipal broadband the FCC which is part of the mess shouldn't be mandating anything. Never mind they already opted out of doing their job which is why the California net neutrality bill went through.

    • The drawback to a permanent subsidy is that it lessens political pressure to fix monopoly pricing.

      Most of the low-income households receiving these subsidies live in neighborhoods that already have connectivity. So the cost of running a wire from the street to the house is a small incremental expense for the ISP. Often that isn't even needed since many of these houses already have cable TV.

      Most of the subsidy goes to the ISP as profit.

      A better deal for the taxpayer to require the ISPs to pick up part of t

      • Many ISPs already have programs for low income families. In places covered by spectrum, you can get a very basic package for like $15 a month if you live in specific zip codes or have children on free/reduced lunch programs in school

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by imidan ( 559239 )
        I think you're right. I also favor the idea of municipal broadband to address monopoly power and pricing. But you may have a point, that perhaps it's just built in to the contract when an ISP gets to use the public infrastructure, that they have to provide access to some people who can't pay.
      • Worse. When its free there amounts to a lot of creative billing. 1 connection yet each person over 18 gets their own -account- to invoice said government even though they share the same shitty NAT router. These programs lead to a LOT of customer shopping. Programs similar to this already existed with the subsidized telephone service.

    • Households eligible for the program include those who use food stamps, are on Medicaid, or who have received a Pell grant. Also eligible are those who've lost their jobs during the pandemic.

      I wonder if there will be any move to make a more permanent Internet connection subsidy for low-income households after the pandemic passes, or if this is just a one-time deal.

      Yes, there likely will. Because there will still be a shitload of people who use food stamps, are on Medicaid, or who have received a Pell grant. And are still unemployed because of a pandemic.

      Regardless of what the little pricks say, a vaccine doesn't bring back small business.

      • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

        by tomhath ( 637240 )
        Of course, burning down small businesses all Spring, Summer and Fall didn't help matters either.

      • Regardless of what the little pricks say, a vaccine doesn't bring back small business.

        It removes a barrier, one among many, and removes an existentialist threat to everyone.

        • Regardless of what the little pricks say, a vaccine doesn't bring back small business.

          It removes a barrier, one among many, and removes an existentialist threat to everyone.

          Yes, you're right. It removes every barrier that has forcibly kept Greed in check by not taking people's homes and destroying lives.

          Wait until that, is lifted. We'll start seeing the real pain.

      • Im not blaming anyone, hindsight is always 20/20. If it turns out that closing down businesses had no beneficial impact when they run the numbers a few years from now, and we have a much better understanding, we very well might be looking at some serious rioting from some people that felt their life was thrown away on a guess based on an epidemic 100yrs earlier for a virus that behaves vastly differently, and has a much shorter incubation period.

    • Re:Missing from the summary: (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Applehu Akbar ( 2968043 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @06:40PM (#61104126)

      I wonder if there will be any move to make a more permanent Internet connection subsidy for low-income households after the pandemic passes, or if this is just a one-time deal.

      The starving cable companies are pulling for it to be permanent, because this would give them room for a new round of massive rate increases. This will do for cable what student loan guarantees did for college tuition.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by imidan ( 559239 )
        I think you have a good point. We still need to come up with a way to provide Internet access. Some of the other posters in the thread have some interesting ideas.
        • The municipality idea was the best and cheapest solution that actually treated everyone the same. Here is your municipal internet, feel free to buy private if you prefer. It doesnt have to be a welfare thing. It could be like trash service.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by imidan ( 559239 )
            I tend to think you're right, that municipal Internet is one of the best approaches. I live in a town where we rely on competition between the phone company and the cable company to provide better Internet, and the phone company still hasn't gone beyond slow DSL, so the cable company is the only real choice. I would gladly pay a fee on my water bill, for example, if it gave me access to reasonable Internet up/down access. And I would also gladly subsidize people who can't afford fast Internet, provided we c
      • Customer shopping. Before the Obamaphone, landline carriers would pop up targeting these government subsidies. Flyers all over poor neighborhoods advertising free phone service. Companies billing the government for 100 subscribers by pulling in a few pots lines to a facility and invoicing the government for each resident. Not apartments, think nursing homes. A service that can accommodate 8 people max should never be oversubscribed to 100 individuals. Husbands and wives invoiced separately for the same phon

    • No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

      Ronald Reagan

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  • Kidding, I'm neither fro'Murica, nor did I accidentially the entire FCC.

  • FCC is part of the executive branch, is not it? On what authority is it "approving" dispensing money, which role — "the power of the purse" — is firmly with the Congress?

  • Comcast tribal areas $75/mo for it

    We change more there as the GOV pays more and rural areas need more hardware on the cable line.

  • Years ago at one in an area with poor cell internet.
    I got like 50/50 on there free wifi in an speed test.

  • This just in (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tokolosh ( 1256448 ) on Friday February 26, 2021 @11:14PM (#61104758)

    Charter, Cox Comcast and AT&T have raised the price of their internet service by $50.

    It worked for colleges and the healthcare system!

    • Charter, Cox Comcast and AT&T have raised the price of their internet service by $50.

      It worked for colleges and the healthcare system!

      My thoughts exactly. While it’s a nice gesture, we already know how this plays out.

    • This just in: Charter, Cox Comcast and AT&T have raised the price of their internet service by $50.

      "But it costs so much MORE to support our network during COVID. That's our story and we're sticking to it."

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