Budgeting for Broadband: What Losing the ACP Means to Household Budgets and Behavior

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.

The costs of the ACP’s expiration were not just financial; the program’s end also created new burdens on the day-to-day management of the household. There was the expenditure of time to decide how to ration access, such as which child should do homework first in light of slow service. There were search costs involved in looking for the appropriate service plan, finding the right side “gig” to pay the bill, or deciding what to cut in the household budget to maintain service.

This adds up to being a tax on former ACP recipients’ time—and that is a particularly burdensome kind of tax for low-income people.

Former ACP beneficiaries hope policymakers will bring the ACP back or, at least, ensure that there are quality low-cost plans that can meet their needs. As this research shows, low-income households are willing to take on the task of looking for the right service plan for them if it is available to them. They are also willing to pay the out-of-pocket monthly costs for service. But they wish that policymakers would meet them part of the way there with affordable internet plans. Access to high-quality, affordable internet service would better allow them to fully participate in society—impacting how their children are educated, how they acquire skills for the workforce, and how they interact with health care providers.