June 2020

The coronavirus pandemic caused big Internet service providers to put data caps on hold for a few months, but one small ISP is going a big step further and canceling the arbitrary monthly limits permanently. Antietam Broadband, which serves Washington County in Maryland, announced that it "has permanently removed broadband data usage caps for all customers," retroactive to mid-March when the company first temporarily suspended data-cap overage fees.

As though Americans don’t have enough to worry about right now, some people have recently been stoking fears about the supposedly harmful health effects of 5G — the new generation of wireless broadband networks. For decades, the Federal Communications Commission has ensured that equipment that transmits information over radio waves — from station antennas to cell towers to mobile phones to laptops — is safe for consumer use. The FCC most recently reviewed and reaffirmed those standards, which are among the most stringent in the world, in an order issued late in 2019. 

House Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Republican Leader Bob Latta (R-OH) urged Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) to hold a hearing on bridging the digital divide: