HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Today, America faces something called the digital divide, which, put simply is a divide between the people who have access to broadband and those who don't.
We've all come to depend on internet access for everyday life.
The sad news is that roughly one in eight homes in Alabama cannot even access the internet, according to The Alabama Broadband Map.
"That need [for broadband/internet] has been highlighted over the last few years and living under the conditions of the pandemic and people having to work from home and kids having to you know, get on the internet to get their school lessons and things like that. So, I think a pandemic really highlighted what we really knew before, but it brought it into focus," President of AT&T Alabama, Wayne Hutchens.
Internet service providers, like AT&T, want to supply this access to all but that's a lot easier said than done; doing so requires a lot of resources and money.
"We [AT&T] would love to have broadband available everywhere. The cable TV companies would love to have broadband available everywhere. And a lot of other broadband providers that are coming into the market, the rural electric cooperatives, there are a lot of people who are spending a lot of money to provide broadband in the state. But again, you're always faced with those really tough areas, that are sparsely populated, where it would be extremely expensive to deploy broadband particularly using fiber," said Hutchens.
In order to combat this issue and bring more quality of life to Americans through broadband, the government is stepping in with those resources and money.
They're doing so through the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is an FCC benefit program that helps ensure that households can afford the broadband they need for work, school, healthcare and more.
"So, for the government to step in and provide a helping hand to address these very challenging areas. That's what's going to make it expansion of broadband much easier to do," said Hutchens.
AT&T is also offering discounted access to broadband here in Huntsville.
AT&T announced on Monday that it will provide a free internet option for eligible households in Huntsville. This is part of its program to help bridge the digital divide in local homes.
How you can get free internet
AT&T has combined a new plan called Access from AT&T with the recently announced federal benefits from the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) to bring the cost of internet down to $0 for eligible families.
AT&T is offering a new $30 Access Plan. ACP lowers the cost of internet service by $30 per month, plan free for eligible customers.
All households that qualify for ACP will also qualify for Access from AT&T.
Visit acpbenefit.org to learn more and apply for ACP through the federal government.
Once approved, call AT&T at 855-220-5211. You can also choose to apply the $30 ACP benefit to AT&T Prepaid or Cricket Wireless service, as well as other AT&T Internet plans.