Summit County, Ohio, is planning to spend $75 million on a fiber internet project that will include building a 125-mile fiber optic ring to connect public safety entities in all 31 county communities and help expand internet access for residents and businesses. There are also plans in the works to work with private internet service providers, who could spend up to $300 million on the project, making the total figure for a potential public-private project nearly $400 million.

Two years into the pandemic, researchers are still trying to understand what makes some people more likely than others to die from Covid-19. Although we know some of the risk factors — like age and underlying disease — others are less obvious. One of the more surprising answers to this question is one that appears to have a relatively straightforward solution: internet access.

As we reach the first anniversary of President Biden signing the American Rescue Plan into law, the obvious questions include: How did it help?

When the pandemic hit, everything that could possibly be done online made the jump — work, job-hunting, school, doctor’s visits, and so on. The shift was hard for everyone, but many Americans didn’t even have the fundamental thing needed to make that change: a fast and reliable internet. People without internet access showed up at emergency rooms — during a pandemic — for non-emergencies, because they just weren’t able to do a video appointment. And when the time came, there was no refreshing a browser to find out where to get a vaccine.

On March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act into law, an unprecedented $1.9 trillion package of emergency assistance measures. 20 states have already invested Fiscal Recovery Funds to expand broadband access—in addition to $10 billion Capital Projects Fund which they can use to help ensure that all communities have access to the high-quality, modern infrastructure needed to access critical services, including broadband. Even with more on the way, states and territories have already announced about $9 billion in ARP investments to expand high speed intern

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Inspector General alerted Lifeline, Emergency Broadband Benefit, and Affordable Connectivity Program consumers and providers to improper and abusive enrollment practices that are part of some providers’ online enrollment processes. These providers impermissibly coerce and deceive applicants for Lifeline service into enrolling in unwanted EBB/ACP service or into transferring their EBB/ACP service away from their preferred provider, contrary to the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s earlier Enforcement Advisory and FCC rules.

The largest cable and wireline phone providers in the US–representing about 96% of the market–acquired about 2,950,000 net additional broadband Internet subscribers in 2021, compared to gains of about 4,860,000 subscribers in 2020, and about 2,550,000 in 2019. These top broadband providers now account for about 108.4 million subscribers, with top cable companies having about 75.7 million broadband subscribers, and top wireline phone companies having about 32.7 million subscribers. Additional findings:

After hitting historic peaks in 2020, traffic on the Comcast network grew again in 2021. Data show a gradual shift throughout the year toward pre-pandemic traffic patterns. This included peak downstream traffic once again increasing faster than upstream traffic, and peak usage times shifting from earlier in the day to later in the evening. Peak downstream (download) traffic increased 11 percent over 2020 levels, while peak upstream (upload) traffic increased 5 percent.

Internet providers across the state of Missouri to expand rural broadband access have been awarded $42.2 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Broadband Infrastructure Program for last-mile projects in 12 counties in Missouri including Marion, Shelby, and Monroe counties.

On February, 28, 2022, the Department of Treasury released the updated Compliance and Reporting Guidance for the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program.