A program that the FCC has been working on for a number of months now is finally set to begin rolling out next month that can potentially save you up to $50/month on your broadband bill (up to $75/month for tribal areas). The program is the Emergency Broadband Benefit and its goal is to keep America connected during the mess we have been in since Covid first started wreaking havoc.
It moves on from there to potentially provide up to a $100 discount on the purchase of a laptop, desktop, or tablet computer (as long as your provider contributes a small portion of this through their participation in the program).
Enrollment will finally begin on May 12th (next month) where you will be able to determine if you qualify or not. The FCC does have a set list of qualifiers you’ll have to fall into.
Per the FCC: A household is eligible if a member of the household meets one of the following criteria:
- Has an income that is at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or participates in certain assistance programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, or Lifeline.
- Approved to receive benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision in the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 school year.
- Received a Federal Pell Grant during the current award year.
- Experienced a substantial loss of income due to job loss or furlough since February 29, 2020 and the household had a total income in 2020 at or below $99,000 for single filers and $198,000 for joint filers.
- Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider’s existing low-income or COVID-19 program.
You can check the list of participating providers here where you can find if yours is listed. From there, your provider will have a dedicated site or page (on their site) for determining your qualification and enrolling shortly (likely closer to or on May 12th). For example, you can find Cox Communication’s page here.
