Tag Archives: lifeline
Verizon gives customers extra mobile data, drops broadband data caps
More cellular carriers are taking steps to ensure people can stay online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Verizon (Engadget's parent company) is giving consumer and small business customers an extra 15GB of LTE data speeds per month on their plans, wit...
Bernie Sanders proposes $150 billion for public broadband improvements
Bernie Sanders has unveiled his plan for US broadband if he wins the 2020 presidential election, and it won't surprise you to hear that his strategy would focus on making high-speed internet as widely accessible as possible. He intends to earmark $15...
FCC crackdown on cellphone subsidies leaves millions without service
The Ajit Pai-era FCC has spent much of its energy cracking down on claimed abuses of the Lifeline subsidy program, but this anti-fraud effort may be hurting low-income households more than it helps. The investigative news outlet Center for Public In...
FCC says Sprint falsely claimed Lifeline subsidies for 885,000 customers
The Ajit Pai-era FCC has been determined to crack down on Lifeline program abuse from the outset, and now it's leveling some particularly serious allegations. Regulators have accused Sprint of claiming monthly subsidies in the low-income communicati...
FCC proposes ‘988’ for quick access to national suicide prevention line
The FCC wants accessing a national suicide prevention line to be as simple as dialing 988. In a report sent to Congress today, staff members recommend that the FCC designate 988 as the 3-digit dialing code for a nationwide suicide prevention and ment...
FCC loses bid to cut tribal broadband subsidies
Things definitely aren't going the FCC's way this week. A federal appeals court has reversed the FCC's attempt to cut broadband subsidies in tribal lands, citing both a lack of supporting evidence as well as a lack of considerations when making the...
Court blocks FCC from cutting broadband subsidies in tribal lands
The FCC has hit a snag in its plan to curb broadband subsidies for low-income homes. A DC appeals court has issued a stay order temporary blocking the regulator from limiting the $25 monthly Lifeline subsidy in tribal lands, arguing that native grou...
Bipartisan bill calls for study on economic impact of broadband access
Two Democratic and two Republican Representatives have introduced a bill that, if enacted, would require the Department of Commerce to research how access to broadband impacts a variety of economic factors like employment, income and population growt...
FCC Commissioner Clyburn talks about net neutrality at CES
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn has been a vocal defender of net neutrality and even helped author the Open Internet Order in 2015. She was on the ground and Las Vegas for CES and was nice enough to make time to swing by the Engadget stage. She sat down...