Congress passed the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in 2021 as a way to give eligible households a discount on their monthly internet or wireless plan. The program also gave them a one-time discount on a tablet or laptop. Ever since it was passed, the program was able to help around 23 million households. Unfortunately, it’s possible that the program will end soon.
This is the condition that will happen if Congress fails to renew its funding. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (ILJA) needs to work on the program again to make sure it gets renewed. The program was initially funded with $14.2 billion by the Congress.
If the program does not get renewed, we can expect lots of customers to be affected by this and many will lose their discounts. T-Mobile has proactive solutions to make sure that its customers do not lose their service. The Un-carrier has listed down some options that customers can turn to:
- Assurance Wireless: Existing customers using their ACP benefit with Assurance Wireless will keep their service through August 2024 without any changes to their price or plan. After that time, they’ll need to qualify for Lifeline, a free federal assistance program — if they don’t already have it — or move to another low-cost T-Mobile or Metro by T-Mobile plan.
- Metro by T-Mobile: If you’re already a Metro by T-Mobile customer with ACP, the prepaid wireless provider will cover your discount through your June bill date, and then offer a monthly $15 discount on your ACP line through August 2024. At Metro, you’re never locked into a contract so you can stay on the plan you have or choose from any of Metro’s plans, starting at $35 your first month and $30 per month thereafter with AutoPay for unlimited talk and text and 5GB of high-speed data on America’s largest 5G network.
- Connect by T-Mobile: Another valuable prepaid option that provides wireless access at a low cost. For $15 a month, you can get unlimited talk and texts along with 5GB of 5G data on America’s largest 5G network.
T-Mobile also has a number of tablets and hotspot 5G mobile internet data plans that start at $10 per month for 2GB of data and up. You can learn more about these options here.
Source: T-Mobile