John Horrigan
What Does It Cost a Family to Lose Home Internet Access?
The end of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) created costs and tensions for beneficiaries that went beyond their losing the $30-per-month service subsidy. In a series of in-depth interviews from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and conducted by SSRS, Inc., participants lamented the program’s end while also expressing frustration with increased monthly internet costs and a dearth of low-cost options in the market. Participants in the interviews were members of low-income households that had used the ACP benefit to help defray monthly service costs.
When the Affordable Connectivity Program ended, the question for most people was not whether to keep service but how to keep it while juggling other household needs.
Lessons From Broadband Adoption Trends
Many more Americans are online today than in 2017. But growth in adoption of digital subscription plans has slowed.
Many more Americans are online today than in 2017.
The ACP Boosted Rural Adoption and Helped Keep the Subscription Vulnerable Online
“One more thing” is the line that Detective Columbo typically uttered in the eponymous 1970s detective series; it signaled that Columbo was on the brink of solving the episode’s puzzle. If Columbo were around today, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) may have vexed him had he pondered its impact. Did it move the broadband adoption dial? If so, by how much?
A look at the impact of the ACP on broadband adoption
Measuring Internet Access and Use Among Older Adults
Today, we published Older Adults Online: Measuring Internet Access and Use, guidance to help states develop the indicators and methodologies that will help them measure progress and identify ongoing connectivity gaps and hurdles. Our guide provides an overview of statutory requirements about indicators and measurable objectives from the Digital equity Act (DEA).
The Digital Equity Act (DEA) of 2021, a part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), establishes programs that aim to ensure that all people “have the skills, technology, and capacity needed to reap the full benefits of our digital economy.” Identifying older adults (those 60 years
A Better Way to Fund USF
There is a political consensus that the United States should continue its nearly century long commitment to assuring that the tools of modern communications are universally accessible and affordable. There is also a consensus that the primary program through which we keep that commitment—the Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund (USF)—is breaking down.
Moving Toward a Continuum Model for Broadband Affordability
The availability of reliable, high-speed internet throughout the United States has been a focus of policymakers for decades, with the need for an expansive broadband infrastructure listed as “the great infrastructure challenge” of the 21st century by the Federal Communication Commission. However, federal guidelines have never set a benchmark for what “reasonable prices” might mean for residents in each state, and there are no established benchmarks for determining what an affordable level of broadband service would look like throughout the country.