On April 26, 2020, the Boston Globe editorial board published A New Chance to Close the Digital Divide. The article stresses the need for policy solutions that focus on the digital divide in urban areas, advocating for solutions that focus on cost. The editorial board suggests expanding the Lifeline program, which provides subsidies of $9.25 per month for either fixed-line broadband at home or a wireless phone plan. They wrote:
To be eligible for Lifeline, a household must earn no more than 135 percent of the federal poverty level, or $29,000 for a family of three. But Jon Sallet, a senior fellow at the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society, says that 135 percent cutoff should be higher — as it is for other federal anti-poverty programs — given the increasing importance of broadband for economic development and public health.