President Joe Biden recently traveled to North Carolina to promote his goal of affordable internet access for all Americans, but the promise for 23 million families across the U.S. is on shaky ground.
That’s because a subsidy that helps people with limited resources afford internet access is set to expire this spring.
The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides $30 a month for qualifying families in most places and $75 on tribal lands, will run out of money by the end of April if Congress doesn’t extend it further.
“I think this should be high priority for Congress,” North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat who has worked with a bipartisan group of governors to promote the program, said in a phone interview. “To many families, $30 a month is a big deal.”
Even in high density cities. Google fiber failed to bring fast and cheap internet to most of the country because the ISP mafias made it impossible.
Ohh, you need access to this public pole? Well, by law (that we lobbied for), you have to have a representative from each ISP connected to that pole to be present. Looks like we’re booked for a year. Oh, sorry, something came up and we weren’t able to make the meeting you set up a year ago. Guess you’ll have to try again, but oh look, we’re booked for another years. Sowee