Signal boost:

[conuly]

Internet broadband subsidies in US begin May 12, 2021

A household is eligible if a member of the household meets one or more of the criteria below:

*Has an income that is at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or participates in certain assistance programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, or Lifeline;

*Approved to receive benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision in the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 school year;

*Received a Federal Pell Grant during the current award year;

*Experienced a substantial loss of income due to job loss or furlough since February 29, 2020 and the household had a total income in 2020 at or below $99,000 for single filers and $198,000 for joint filers; or

*Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider's existing low-income or COVID-19 program.

You can sign up here: https://getemergencybroadband.org/

Scrolling down, I see that there may be a different or additional program for people living on Tribal lands: https://getemergencybroadband.org/do-i-qualify/tribal-benefit/

Comments

[hudebnik]

Kewl! That probably applies to large swathes of both rural America and inner cities.

[8hyenas]

Less great than it appears. Only certain ISP are participating and zero satellite ISPs. So if you live in a rural area or reservation that doesn't offer the major ISPs or any wired connections you're out of luck. It's me. I'm out of luck.

One day, one day something better will come along...

Hope it works out for others though!

[mtbc]

Yay for the PSA! Though, I really hope (but don't expect) some regulatory change to finally bring real competition into the market. Like healthcare, the prices are too high in the first place for what we get.

[nocowardsoul]

Very nice, but we ought to have done this fifteen (or more) years ago.

[adafrog]

Thanks.

[duskpeterson]

Thanks for this!

[silveradept]

Certainly better than nothing. I would like to see something resembling real competition between the companies, or the companies having to compete with each other and with a municipal network that's either free or extremely low-cost.

[marahmarie]

I'm so signing up for this. Emailed myself the first article that came out on it days ago, can't wait. Glad you're signal-boosting.