A Program for Cheaper Internet for Low-Income Americans Launches Today

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The story was 157031075.

On Friday December 31, 2021, at 05:00PM, msmash posted from the moving-forward dept.

Eligible US residents can apply for help with their internet bills under the new program. The bipartisan infrastructure law passed in November gave $14.2 billion to the program. Households can take up to $30 a month off their internet service bill. The discount is up to $75 per month for households on Tribal lands. The program could help connect millions of people to the internet who have not had access to it at home, especially in communities that have faced more barriers to getting online. According to a report by the FCC, almost a third of people living on Tribal lands lack high-speed internet at home. Only 1.5 percent of city dwellers have high-speed internet access. Cost is often another barrier on top of limited infrastructure. The United States has the second-highest broadband costs out of 35 countries studied by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The US Census Bureau says that American Indian and Alaska Native people have the highest poverty rate in the US.