The Affordable Connectivity Program just ended. What’s next for the 763,000 Pennsylvanians who depended on it?

It became obvious when the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ended earlier this week, leaving thousands with higher Wi-Fi bills. Now, advocates for the program are looking for a way to fund it or find an alternative solution that would lower internet costs. But finding the money and momentum to make that happen prove difficult.

“The timing is pretty atrocious,” Kate Rivera, executive director of the Technology Learning Collaborative (TLC), told Technical.ly. “The issue is that once the fiber’s laid, the households still need to be able to afford the internet service.”

The Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority announced two weeks ago $204 million in Broadband Infrastructure Program grants to expand broadband infrastructure in Pennsylvania. These grants come from the Capital Projects Fund, as part of over a billion dollars the state is about to distribute to advance broadband infrastructure and provide internet access to unserved and underserved communities in Pennsylvania.

At the same time, the ACP, a $14.2 billion federal benefits program that makes internet service more affordable for households with lower-income, just expired. Digital equity advocates like Rivera flagged as early as last summer that the program’s funding would run out by April 2024. Despite a months-long wind down process, Congress didn’t act in time to allocate more funding to the program, leaving families with higher internet bills.

ACP winds down to a fraction of what it once was

The ACP provided a monthly $30 to $75 subsidy to eligible households to assist with the cost of home internet. Twenty-three million households in the United States, and 763,000 in Pennsylvania, are enrolled in the program.

The last fully funded month of benefits ended on April 30. It shifted to a partial subsidy, $14 per month for non-tribal households and $35 per month for households on tribal lands. This partial subsidy only applies to households that remain enrolled in the program and who use internet service providers (ISPs) that choose to continue to participate in the program, such as Comcast.

If the program is not funded by the end of May, the subsidy will end completely.

Federal and state bills try to extend the ACP

A bipartisan ACP Extension Act in both the House of Representatives and the Senate would allocate $7 billion to the program that was introduced in January. Congresswoman Yvette Clark from New York introduced a discharge petition a few weeks ago that would force the House to vote on the bill, but it requires most of the members of the House to sign on.

At the same time, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman introduced the Promoting Affordable Connectivity Act on Wednesday, which would incorporate ACP into the Universal Service Fund. The FCC manages the fund, and moving ACP under its discretion would provide more steady investments.

At the state level, representatives also look for ways to make internet access more affordable if the federal government can’t provide a subsidy. PA House Bill 2195 would introduce a benefit similar to ACP for eligible households in Pennsylvania called the Affordable Broadband Internet Access Service Program. But it’s expensive.

“The issue is that for either the state or the city to try to take this on themselves and provide a similar subsidy to households would be a huge bill, a huge amount of money for the state or the city to take on,” she said.

Philly has other internet programs for folks in need

The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT) plans to distribute 4,500 T-Mobile hotspots to families through the PHLConnectED, a program established during the pandemic to provide internet and devices to pre-K-12 families. PHLConnectEd only serves school age families, but all households will continue to have access to resources through the Digital Navigators, a program that connects Philadelphians with people who can help them access and navigate internet and digital literacy resources.

It is a failure of our federal government that this program was not renewed before its expirationRue Landau Philadelphia City Council member

OIT advised ACP families to contact their internet service providers for information about low-cost internet plans. For example,  Verizon’s program Verizon Forward offers up to a $20 discount for internet service and Comcast’s Internet Essentials program provides connectivity for $9.95 per month. The Compare and Connect tool allows users to compare internet plan costs without enrolling, OIT said.

Still, Philly leaders seek a more comprehensive overhaul to keep discounted internet accessible. City Councilmember Rue Landau, chair of the Committee on Technology and Information Services, introduced a resolution in March asking President Biden and Congress to come up with a permanent funding solution for ACP.

“It is a failure of our federal government that this program was not renewed before its expiration,” Landau told Technical.ly. “My request, and the requests of those like me who are working to close the digital divide and extend the ACP, fell short due to federal inaction, and many Philadelphians will bear that burden.”

Even though efforts to get the ACP funded continue, the gap in service is disruptive, TLC’s Rivera said. From an administrative perspective, it is difficult for government organizations and ISPs to wind down the program and then have to wind it back up. All of this back and forth will probably result in losing some eligible households, according to Rivera.

“Households may have difficulty trusting a large internet service provider or trusting that the government benefit that they’re offering is legit and that they should participate in it,” Rivera said. “To have it go away for some period of time and then come back, it’s hard for anyone to really trust and depend on that at that point.”