The start of the holiday season has led the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to warn consumers about service providers that have not updated their websites and other materials to reflect the ending of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).
The FCC and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) also are warning providers that failure to update their websites and other materials could result in violations of rules governing false or misleading advertising about the ACP.
Consumers can report such false advertising to the FCC’s Consumer Complaint Center.
The FCC’s press release heavily implies that not updating advertising and data collection efforts related to the ACP are likely not accidents. The FCC says that consumers who provided their social security numbers, credit card information, bank account numbers, and similar sensitive data after February 8 can get information at IdentityTheft.gov.
The ACP provided $30 toward broadband for eligible households ($75 on Tribal homelands). It ended on June 1, due to lack of funding from Congress.
Congress took a stab at replacing the program in late July.
The end of the program is likely having significant impact. In July, the Benton Institute surveyed more than 2,500 households with annual incomes of less than $50,000. The research found that 13% of ACP households — about 3 million households — planned to disconnect their service when it ran out.
Another 8.3 million households — 36% — said they would downgrade to cheaper or slower plans. 18% of the lowest income families said they would cancel service when ACP ended. This was twice the rate of other ACP households (9%). Consumers like these may be the likeliest targets for the type of false ACP advertising of which the FCC is warning.
A variety of service providers, including Altafiber, Altice (Optimum), Astound, AT&T, Comcast, Cox, Mediacom, Starry, Verizon, Burlington Telecom, UScellular, TDS, and T-Mobile offered replacement programs for the ACP.
