For years, Leon Hudson struggled to get high quality home internet in the countryside of Selma, Alabama. 

If he wanted the service, he would “have to get a petition, go to the neighborhood, and get people to sign it for them to put their stuff there,” the 50-year-old recalled last fall about what internet service providers told him.

Hudson lives in a remote area with few neighbors. It wouldn’t be enough to satisfy a petition, let alone persuade internet providers to build infrastructure that’s costly and not economically feasible. Communities in rural areas shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get a service that’s readily available in non-rural areas, residents have told Capital B.

The only two providers available to him were HughesNet and Viasat, and they only provide satellite dish service. He signed up for HughesNet, which cost $200. The service was slow, unreliable, and expensive, he said, so he cut it off. But, he needed the internet to get his business off the ground. 

Last fall, he applied for the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program through Xfinity, his mobile phone provider. The program, administered by the Federal Communications Commission, provides a discount of up to $30 per month ($75 for tribal households) toward internet service and mobile services, and a one-time discount up to $100 toward a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet for eligible low-income households. 

Read More: Disconnected: Rural Black America and the Digital Divide 

He now pays only $30 per month for mobile hotspot and cellular service, but he received a notice in March that his benefit will soon be suspended. Without the discount, he can’t afford to pay the monthly expense. When asked last week how he will pay for the additional costs, Hudson told Capital B: “I have no choice but to figure it out.” 

Hudson is one of the 23 million Americans who are at risk of losing internet access or forced to pay higher prices to keep subscriptions. The funds for the ACP program are drying up. With the program ending in May, it’s unclear whether Congress will reauthorize funding for the program.

Several organizations, including the NAACP, Color of Change, and African American Mayors Association, have urged Congress to pass the bipartisan Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act of 2024, which would provide $7 billion for the ACP program. The bill has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. If it passes, it will move to the U.S. Senate for discussion.  

Brandon Forester, national organizer for internet rights at MediaJustice, fears the temporary lapse of the ACP could create additional hardships for individuals beyond being disconnected. In addition to the $7 billion, there needs to be more discussion about sustainability and addressing the root causes of the digital divide. Partly, how federal funds go directly to the internet providers who refused to make infrastructure investments in the first place.   

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t have the ACP, but it’s a Band-Aid — not a structural fix — that doesn’t go towards addressing the core issue,” Forester said. “In some ways, it inflames the core issue and inflates the issue of affordability.” 

“It’s so much more than the internet”

The program has been particularly helpful for low-income households in the rural South, where about 38% of Black households don’t have home internet — a higher percentage than white people in the same region and the national average. 

Almost half of the households that enrolled in the program are military families, and nearly half were over the age of 50, according to a White House fact sheet. At least one in four households were African Americans.

Although 5.4 million rural households were eligible for the program, only 37% had enrolled, the lowest percentage of all geographies, an analysis by the Daily Yonder shows. Despite this, the rural South, where folks are least connected, had the best participation rates. About 41% of eligible rural households in the South enrolled, whereas about half of eligible urban households signed up. 

Through The Black Churches 4 Digital Equity initiative, Pamela Price, deputy director of The Balm in Gilead in Virginia, made it a priority to enroll residents into the ACP program. She recalled their eagerness and genuine desire to learn and engage digitally. It wasn’t just about having the internet, but using it as a “launching pad” to connect with the larger world and improve their lives, she said. 

“They were extremely excited to see all that could be done with a fully functioning laptop and quality broadband. They then could be able to improve their well-being and economic statuses for their family,” she added. “We showed them just by having one digital skill — knowing that 92% of all jobs today require you to have at least one digital skill — increases your earning potential. It’s so much more than the internet.”

Despite the program’s success, outreach remained an issue. 

Whether the program dies or gets a new life, organizers caution that the suspension of the benefits will erode trust they’ve worked so hard to build with Black communities, who already don’t trust the government. 

“This was one that they volunteered for … and to now perhaps tell them, ‘Well you can keep it, but you’re going to have to pay what everybody else will be paying for it’ … it’s extremely disheartening,” Price said. “[We] consider how we will exhaust funds and find ways to pay for certain programs and activities for certain people in this country, as well as people outside of this country, but when it comes to something like the ACP, we can’t do it.” 

They also wonder whether people will reapply for the program — a process that is tedious and requires participants to share sensitive information. Individuals must complete verification, find a provider who accepts ACP, and apply the subsidy to the internet plan.

The process can take up to 45 minutes. In some instances, it can take longer to get approval if the applicant runs into issues with documentation, said Danielle Davis, director of technology policy at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Capital B submitted a FOIA request to the FCC requesting the complaints regarding the Affordable Connectivity Program from January 2022 to November 2023. Of 7,000 complaints filed, Capital B reviewed a sample of 900. We found that customers had challenges verifying documentation, receiving the subsidy, or reapplying for the benefits. Some people mentioned their internet service provider tried to upcharge them for the service.

“Approval is not always immediate; about 45% of applicants are actually rejected,” Davis told Capital B. “Additionally, many applicants just abandon their application before submitting them.” 

Other options to consider 

Although affordability is one of the largest barriers to broadband access, there hasn’t been enough focus on it, said Alisa Valentin, broadband policy director for Public Knowledge. It wasn’t until the coronavirus pandemic hit that Congress instituted the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, a short-term emergency program to give up to $50 on internet service. That program ended in 2021 when the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law created the Affordable Connectivity Program. 

Prior to that, the only program that existed for low-income residents was the Lifeline program, which was created in 1985 through the Universal Service Fund to provide monthly discounts to either telephone or broadband internet, or bundled services. But the subsidy, a $9.25 discount for eligible subscribers and up to $34 for tribal members, isn’t helpful for families, advocates told Capital B. 

Advocates, organizers, and public interest groups aren’t giving up, as there are other legislative avenues to pursue if the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act of 2024 doesn’t pass, Valentin said. One option: reform the Universal Service Fund and fold the ACP into the Lifeline program. On the state level, lawmakers can find ways to continue to fund the program.

The government isn’t alone in solving the problem. More pressure needs to be put on internet service providers, too, said Jillian Morrison, Delta Legal Fellow with the Delta Directions Consortium, a network of individuals, academic institutions, groups and foundations to create solutions and positive change for communities in the Mississippi Delta region. She has hosted ACP signup events in Mississippi.

Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $42.5 billion went to states through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to build out infrastructure. The infrastructure is contingent on people affording the service.

“It’s not good enough to just have the actual infrastructure, people have to be able to adopt it. So affordability is key,” Valentin added. “We know that a new digital divide can occur in the future, especially when you’re talking about artificial intelligence. We do not want communities to be behind because they don’t have an affordable, reliable broadband connection. There’s a lot at risk.”