The White House has teamed up with Google as well as ISPs such as Sprint, Centurylink and Cox to provide free broadband internet to low-income families across the country. It’s a pilot program at this stage that aims to significantly improve the internet experience of low-income families in the USA. President Obama is due to announce this pilot program during a speech later today at a high school in Durant, Oklahoma.
The program is called ConnectHome and in the initial phase will provide either free or highly discounted broadband internet to 275,000 low-income families across the country.
It will be rolled out in 27 cities during the pilot phase which includes Los Angeles, Atlanta, Newark, Cleveland, New Orleans and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
Google Fiber will be providing free service to eligible families in Durham, Kansas City, Atlanta and Nashville, other ISPs will cover different cities and some will offer broadband internet for as low as $9.99 per month.
During the pilot program the focus is going to be on providing this service to low-income families that have school-aged children, “too many lower-income children go unplugged every afternoon when school ends,” the White House said in a statement released to the media following a report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers that revealed income to be a major hurdle in getting access to broadband internet.
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