NYC Worker-Owned ISP Faces Uncertain Future Amid Shifting City Broadband Policy
Battle between NYC ISPs rages on.
WASHINGTON, July 3, 2025 – People’s Choice Communications, a worker-owned broadband provider established in 2020 by striking Spectrum employees, has connected thousands of low-income households across New York City to free or low-cost internet.
Backed by federal broadband subsidies and former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) Internet Master Plan, the cooperative offered a community-based alternative to larger internet service providers. However, since being excluded from Mayor Eric Adams’ Big Apple Connect program in 2022, People’s Choice is at risk of closure.
People’s Choice relied heavily on the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which gave low-income households discounted or free internet access.
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Through that program, People’s Choice offered 200 Mbps service at no cost, or for $30 per month, and sold laptops for $11. Its Digital Stewardship program trained network subscribers to help their neighbors get connected online, part of its mission to reach the 1.5 million New Yorkers who cannot afford Internet service.
With the expiration of ACP in June 2024 and the loss of the city’s support two years earlier, People’s Choice is running out of funding.
In the Bronx, the cooperative built extensive broadband infrastructure. In 2020, it provided thousands of Bronx residents with free high-speed wireless broadband through rooftop antennas.
By 2021, it connected more than 600 units of supportive housing to wireline broadband. At Melrose Houses, a New York City Housing Authority development, People’s Choice provided 1,244 families with free internet through the Federal Emergency Broadband Benefit. But after completing nearly 90 percent of its broadband infrastructure there, the city denied the cooperative a license to operate and ordered the removal of all installed equipment.
A petition on the People’s Choice website states, “Our network in NYCHA (New York City public housing) is under attack.”
The co-op’s service was priced lower than other ISPs like Spectrum, with a 500 Mbps plan costing $45 a month compared to Charter Spectrum's $50, and a 1 Gbps plan for $60 versus Charter Spectrum's $70. These competitive prices were possible only through programs like the Internet Master Plan and the ACB – both of which have now ended.
People’s Choice did not respond to an email asking about the recent loss of funding.
With a mayoral election approaching, People’s Choice's future could shift once again. Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic party’s candidate for NYC Mayor, has a political background rooted in progressivism and social reform. His platform closely aligns with the People’s Choice’s democratic founding and mission.
Mamdani explained his political beliefs in a recent interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” stating, “When we talk about my politics, I call myself a Democrat socialist in many ways inspired by the words of Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] from decades ago, who said: ‘Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism. There has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country.’”
Although Mamdani has not spoken directly about broadband, his election could challenge the dominance of large ISPs like Charter, leaving room for community and worker-led alternatives such as People’s Choice.
Mamdani’s office did not respond to an email asking about People’s Choice and his plans for affordable broadband internet access in New York City.
