New Mexicans lose high speed internet with end of federal discount program

Money is all out for a federal internet discount program more than 180,000 New Mexican households used to help pay their bills.

As a result, people are being forced to choose between higher internet costs, more affordable slower speeds or no internet at all.

Northeast Heights resident Erin Ashlock had to let go of her higher speeds. Ashlock, administrative manager of the Supportive Housing Coalition of New Mexico, has three children and makes about $46,000 a year. Her mom also depends on Ashlock’s internet access, as she doesn’t have any at home.

The Affordable Connectivity Program, or ACP, saved Ashlock $30 a month on internet bills.

About a month ago, Ashlock looked into cheaper internet plans since the ACP was set to end. She chose one with lower internet speeds, cutting her costs by $100 a month. She said it’s still $60 or $70 to pay for the slower internet monthly.

“That $30 was helping me out a lot more than I even knew,” she said.

That money can go to things like buying the kids food or paying a credit card or utility bill, she said.

“There’s just a lot of things that you could do with $30, even though it doesn’t seem like much,” she said.

The last fully funded month of the program was April, and users got partial discounts in May. Ashlock said she got $17 in May.

Now, she’s not getting anything.

One of New Mexico’s federal delegation members tried to extend the Affordable Connectivity Program through a congressional amendment, but it ultimately didn’t get through. U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján said in a statement he’s going to continue work to save the program.

“While I am disappointed that my bipartisan amendment to strengthen the Affordable Connectivity Program was not considered, our push made it clear that there is strong bipartisan support to keep the ACP alive for more than 55 million Americans,” Luján said.

Ashlock said it’s sad that it is a political issue.

“I think that things that are necessary to human life should not be a political issue,” she said. “I don’t think you should have to be a Republican or a Democrat to agree with the fact that we all need internet access.”

Ashlock said she used to work as a digital inclusion program manager with the New Mexico Black Leadership Council and there’s been talk for years that ACP would be ending. She said she’s disappointed, but not surprised, the COVID-19-era program is over.

“People are of the mindset that the pandemic is over and people don’t need help anymore, “ she said. “When in fact, I feel like, personally, this should have always been a thing because everybody needs to be able to use the internet right now in the modern era, regardless of pandemic or not.”

Ashlock has her master’s degree in public health and said internet access affects people’s health and wellbeing.

“I don’t think that maybe people really think about the fact that having access to the internet or saving those $30 a month can truly alter somebody’s life,” she said.

Catherine Nicolaou is the broadband program manager for the city of Albuquerque. She said her office’s mission is to ensure everyone has equal access to the internet.

Ashlock said she’s glad Nicolaou is in the city’s broadband manager position, and it makes her hopeful people are out there to help with internet accessibility.

“It’s really inspiring, and that brings me hope to know that she was put in that position because she knows what she’s doing,” Ashlock said.

Nicolaou encouraged people to stay hopeful and look into resources available for Albuquerque residents. She said many private companies offer their own low-cost programs for residents to fill the ACP gap, and the city has a webpage with resources, like a map of free Wi-Fi locations.

“If people want to reach out to their current internet provider and let them know, ‘Look, I’m not going to be able to pay. Can you work with me?’ I think that community residents need to make sure they’re not shy about that,” she said.

Low-income accessibility

Nicolaou said Albuquerque may have more internet connectivity than rural and tribal areas in New Mexico, but many areas in the city still have antiquated technology.

“Regardless of their income, everyone should have equal access,” she said.

Ashlock said her mom, Sylvia Romero, lives in a subsidized property and doesn’t have the infrastructure set up in her area to get internet access. Low-income areas are much less prioritized to get internet infrastructure like fiber, Ashlock said.

“I don’t want to say that people care less but they kind of do if it’s a low-income property versus (somewhere) like Tanoan,” she said. “And that’s really unfortunate because it’s kind of a necessity nowadays to have high speed internet.”

Romero told the Journal she wouldn’t want to get internet anyway.

She said it’s just too complicated to set it up, figuring out the pricing and servicing and not getting scammed. Romero said she uses her daughter’s Wi-Fi or goes to the library when she needs internet access.

“I think it’s just harder when you’re older,” she said.

Nicolaou said she was helping an elderly resident sign up for another internet discount program and was shocked at how difficult it was. She said it was a learning experience as a broadband manager to see if she can do more things to help out with that.

“It’s a complicated industry, but if we can make it less complicated … so that everybody feels comfortable with it, I think what will happen is, the communities will be empowered to make more decisions that are better for their life, for their household,” she said.

Romero’s also experiencing some confusion between the ACP and the Lifeline program. The Lifeline program is another federal discount program that takes about $10 a month off of cell phone services and also supports broadband services. The discount is up to $35 on tribal lands.

Romero got a phone through what she thought was the Lifeline program, but it was actually paid for through the ACP. Now that the ACP is over, she doesn’t get the phone paid for anymore.

She said those savings really matter for people who are older and retired.

“I’m retired and retired from APS, and so you could work 20 years and not really have a whole lot of money for retirement,” Romero said. “So those things matter — $30 or however much you get off and discounted matters. That’s a bill, that’s food.”

The Lifeline program does help with internet discounts as well, but Ashlock said it’s only with specific providers and none of the providers in her area accept it. She also said the cell phone bills are only through certain providers and can’t be applied to a pre-existing phone bill, “which just makes it so much harder.”

Ashlock is getting a phone in the mail through Lifeline and plans to sign her mom up for the program as well.

Nicolaou said she wants to see the Lifeline program get better advertised now that the ACP is over. Local internet service providers could shift ACP ads or resources to focus on Lifeline, she said.

“The bottom line is, even if it’s only $10 a month, I think we’d all agree there are families that would benefit from having a $10 a month discount,” she said.