[9/9/16] AT&T is benefiting from providing slow broadband internet service to some poor neighborhoods.
The FCC requires AT&T to provide discounted high speed internet service to poor families who are eligible for food stamps. But AT&T is exploiting a loophole in the federal mandate to refuse those discounts to some qualified families.
The reason: AT&T says its broadband service in low-income neighborhoods is too slow.
The program, known as “Access from AT&T,” costs either either $5 or $10 a month, depending on the speed of AT&T’s service. Those customers who can get service of between 3 and 5 megabits per second only have to pay the $5 fee, while those who can get service with 5 Mbps or faster pay $10.
The average broadband speed in the United States is 15 Mbps, according to Akamai.
But there are many neighborhoods in which AT&T’s service doesn’t reach even the 3 Mbps level. And people who live in those neighborhoods have to pay full price — an introductory rate of about $30 a month — for the inferior service.
AT&T (T, Tech30) agreed to the discounts in order to win FCC approval of its DirecTV purchase. The National Digital Inclusion Alliance, a public interest group, says it has pushed AT&T to make the $5 a month offer available for those customers whose service doesn’t reach the 3 Mbps speed. But AT&T said it will not be expanded beyond…CONTINUE READING