One Year Without the Affordable Connectivity Program

WASHINGTON, May 31, 2025 – One year after a key federal broadband subsidy ran out of money, millions of low-income American households have found themselves forced to reduce spending on food, medical care, and other essentials just to stay online.

The Affordable Connectivity Program, hailed as a lifeline during the pandemic, expired on June 1, 2024, with no federal replacement in sight. More than 23 million U.S. households had relied on the $30-a-month broadband subsidy during its run from December 2021 to May 2024. While the program’s end prompted many families to downgrade their service to stay connected, an estimated 5 million households have cut internet service altogether, according to a recent Brattle Group report.

A January 2025 survey by the National Lifeline Association painted a grim picture: Nearly 40% of former ACP participants said they’ve had to cut back on food to afford their internet bill; 36% indicated they discontinued telehealth without the ACP; and 64% reported being unable to maintain regular contact with friends and family.

For low-income families, the program’s collapse hasn’t just meant slow or no internet – it’s meant fewer job prospects, limited access to healthcare, and mounting social isolation. 

“I have read thousands of heartbreaking testimonies from consumers since ACP funding ran out,” David Dorwart, chairman of the NaLA Board, said in a release. “Lawmakers must refund the ACP to ensure all American households have affordable access to essential communications.”

The nation’s largest broadband affordability effort is over

In 2021, under former President Joe Biden’s administration, Congress funded the largest single investment in broadband affordability to date as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, establishing the federal Affordable Connectivity Program with a $14.2 billion allocation. 

Building on the temporary Emergency Broadband Benefit launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACP was designed to be a longer-lasting solution. It provided a $30 monthly discount on internet service for eligible low-income households, and $75 per month for those living on tribal lands or in high-cost rural areas.

The program also included a $100 device subsidy to help eligible households purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet, with participants required to contribute between $10 and $50 toward the purchase.

Adoption was rapid and widespread: over 9 million households signed up in the program’s first week, beginning December 31, 2021. Enrollment surged to 15.4 million by the end of 2022, and reached 22.4 million by the end of 2023, according to the Universal Service Administrative Company. 

All told, the ACP helped roughly one in every six U.S. households stay connected in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data from the Pew Research Center continues to show a clear income-based digital divide: In 2024, broadband adoption was at 92% for households earning $100,000 or more but fell to 78% for those making between $30,000 and $69,999 and dropped even further to just 57% for those earning under $30,000. 

"These figures highlight the persistent and stark affordability barrier that prevents millions of Americans – especially those in the middle- and lower-income brackets – from accessing reliable home internet,” said Colby Humphrey, research officer with Pew's broadband access initiative.

Internet: “It’s not a luxury”

For low-income seniors, families, students, and veterans alike, the program offered stability, access to healthcare, job opportunities, education, and a sense of connection to the world.

Phyllis Jackson, a 78-year-old living outside Pittsburgh, had no computer or Internet access at home prior to the ACP.  She detailed how the pandemic left her completely cut off from the world, in testimony shared by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance.

“Not only were you shut in, you didn’t have any way of communicating with people,” Jackson said. “When the [COVID-19] shutdown came, I had nothing. I couldn't go to the [community] center, I didn't have a computer, so it really made it rather difficult, and I would say [so] for a lot of other seniors [too].”

Since receiving a computer and getting online through the ACP, Jackson said she uses it for everything – from accessing medical care to finding new recipes to staying connected with loved ones. 

“It’s not a luxury,” Jackson emphasized. She said the ACP’s end would create financial strain, forcing her to choose between critical medication and her internet subscription.

“I have medication I need to take, and I spend about $30 a month on it – about the same as the ACP discount,” she said. She urged lawmakers to reinstate and expand the program, noting, “Seniors are part of society too.”

Walter Prescher, a disabled veteran and father of 12 from Texas, said the ACP’s $30 discount “made a huge impact into the livelihood of [his] family and what [they were able] to do together,” in remarks published by NDIA.

As a digital navigator, Prescher helped more than 85 low-income families in rural Texas secure internet access through the ACP, often in areas where identifying a provider was a challenge in itself.

“Many of [them] thought it [would] never be possible,” Prescher said. “For many living paycheck to paycheck it's offered an incredible amount of breathing room. It allowed them to provide more food for their families and put gas in their cars.” 

“Affordable internet is essential, especially for our veterans,” he said. “Our rural communities also need it to keep up with telehealth appointments, and see the specialists they need.”

Gridlock in Washington doomed a broadband lifeline

Unlike earlier pandemic-era programs, the ACP was built to be longer-lasting. But its $14.2 billion in funding was nearly depleted by the end of 2023.

Multiple bills were introduced in early 2024 to save the ACP – including a $7 billion extension act proposed by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, a discharge petition in the House brought by Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and a bill proposing to use spectrum auction funds for the ACP from Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. – but each failed amid congressional gridlock, despite overwhelming public and industry support.

As recently as May 14, 2025, Clarke attempted to attach an amendment to a major reconciliation bill that would have allocated a portion of $88 billion expected from future spectrum auctions to restore ACP funding. 

Despite 64% of Republican voters, 70% of Independents, and 95% of Democrats supporting the continuation of the ACP, Clarke's amendment was blocked during a House Energy and Commerce Committee markup.

How are states stepping in?

In the wake of the ACP’s expiration, several states began exploring their own mechanisms to preserve broadband affordability for low-income households.

New York moved first. With nearly 1.8 million households impacted by the loss of ACP, the state passed the Affordable Broadband Act, making it the first in the nation to require internet providers to offer a $15 monthly plan to qualifying residents. 

Other states, including California, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Maryland, and Minnesota, have since proposed similar affordability mandates.

However, these moves have not gone unnoticed by the broadband industry. On May 28, trade groups including CTIA, NCTA, and USTelecom filed comments with the Department of Justice urging federal preemption of such laws, despite the Supreme Court so far refusing to interfere with states’ authority to enact their own broadband affordability measures.

Although the broadband industry has pushed back against state-imposed affordability mandates, it has been broadly supportive of the federal ACP.

A new path forward?

With the ACP now expired and Congress stalled on a long-term replacement, some experts say the most viable path forward lies in reforming existing funding programs. That includes the Universal Service Fund overseen by the Federal Communications Commission.

In December 2024, EducationSuperHighway released a report outlining recommendations for a cost-neutral, permanent broadband affordability program that could be created, without taxpayer burden, by repurposing funding from High-Cost Programs as a first step toward modernizing the USF.

The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council has also highlighted the potential of USF reform to create a sustainable broadband affordability program.

These proposals underscore a growing consensus on the need to modernize the USF to better address current connectivity challenges, particularly in ensuring affordable broadband.

For those who witnessed the ACP’s impact firsthand, the urgency of action remains clear.

“The ACP was the most effective program I have ever seen for helping low-income Americans get online and stay online," FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said at a roundtable hosted by Broadband Breakfast in February. 

“I believe truly that it was the most successful program [the FCC has] ever had anywhere in our decades-long bipartisan effort to crack the digital divide,” Starks said.