The Affordable Connectivity Program Ended in February 2024
The FCC announced the ending of the ACP: Affordable Connectivity Program. The program was an FCC program that helped people pay for cell phones and internet services who may otherwise be unable to afford these services.
The program stopped accepting new applications and enrollments on February 7, 2024. You had to be approved and enrolled with a service provider by 11:59 EST on February 7 to receive the ACP benefit. The last fully funded month of the program is April 2024, according to the FCC’s website. Congress has the option to step in and continue funding the program. There is no word on that happening yet.
As funds for the ACP are depleting, any remaining funds after the last fully funded month of April may be distributed the following month in May to benefit recipients on a reduced basis. This means that recipients may not receive the full $30 benefit. Your internet company will decide whether it will provide a reduced benefit. Recipients should contact their internet company for information on when they should last expect to see an ACP benefit on their monthly internet bill.
I hope a new program will replace the ACP soon because many families with school-aged children are benefiting from this program. These are the children and families the Hendrick’s Foundation supports with technology. In August of 2023, the FCC announced that more than 20 million households had signed up for the ACP. Since we do not know how Congress will respond, I am hoping citizens will contact their congressional representatives and request that funding to the ACP continue, or perhaps create another program to help lower-income families afford internet access.
Here are ways to ask Congress to save the ACP https://commonsense.tfaforms.net/4761616
Thank You on behalf of families affected by the ending of the ACP.
~Angel
