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Innovating to Address Affordability and Adoption

The quality of existing and new broadband infrastructure only matters if people have the means to connect to it. COVID has exacerbated existing barriers, as families and students quarantining at home struggled to remain connected to school, services, and work.

A 2020 study by All4Ed found that 16.9 million children didn’t have high-speed home internet before the pandemic, and 7.3 million children didn’t have a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer. According to EducationSuperHighway, 18 million unconnected households, or 47 million people, have access to internet service but cannot afford to connect. As the organization notes, disconnected families and individuals often are unaware of what’s available, do not trust in the government and providers, and have difficulty enrolling in programs. Targeted investments based on data and in partnership with trusted community groups are necessary to help overcome these barriers and reach disconnected families and students.

Case Studies

  • Oakland, CA: Free Apartment Wifi

    The City of Oakland's initiative, #OaklandUndivided, in partnership with Education SuperHighway, has successfully piloted a model to provide free WiFi to disconnected students and tenants in five low-income apartment buildings. The model involves installing and maintaining a single WiFi network for each building, similar to a hotel, at a low cost for the landlord and no cost to the residents. The efforts have resulted in widespread adoption and a significant increase in the percentage of students connecting to the internet.

  • Clark County, NV: Internet for Students

    The Clark County School District in Las Vegas, NV collaborated with local organizations and service providers to contact every student and established a virtual family support center to provide resources to get them online. They reached an agreement with service providers to provide no-cost internet to families and mobile hotspots to large families that required more bandwidth, those located outside of the service area, and those facing housing insecurity and homelessness.

  • New Castle County, DE: Free WiFi and Device Lending

    County Executive Matt Meyer helped expand the county’s free wireless broadband connection spots program. This initiative started in library parking lots and has now grown to include all county facilities and parks through partnerships with a range of service providers. New Castle County partnered with county libraries and the state to use American Rescue Plan funds to start a device lending program, allowing residents to borrow Chromebooks and WiFi hotspots for a week at a time.

  • San Jose, CA: Public-Private Partnerships

    Former San Jose, CA Mayor Sam Liccardo has launched a public-private partnership with an open-source blockchain-based IoT network to enable impactful smart city applications while also reducing the cost barrier to broadband access for San Joseans. This initiative uses the proceeds from cryptocurrency tokens mined through hotspot devices on the Helium LoRaWAN network to fully subsidize low-cost internet plans for households whose incomes are below the federal poverty threshold.

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