ISPs getting grants must offer “low-cost” plan, but they get to pick the price.

The Trump administration is telling states they will be shut out of a $42 billion broadband deployment fund if they set the rates that Internet service providers receiving subsidies are allowed to charge people with low incomes.

The latest version of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) FAQ on the grant program, released today, is a challenge to states considering laws that would force Internet providers to offer cheap plans to people who meet income eligibility guidelines. One state already has such a law: New York requires ISPs with over 20,000 customers in the state to offer $15 broadband plans with download speeds of at least 25Mbps, or $20-per-month service with 200Mbps speeds.

    • blitzen@lemmy.ca
      37·
      25 days ago

      Well, states are still free to do as they wish if they are okay not receiving money from this fund.

      Lots of stupid going on with this, but I wouldn’t consider it a violation of the tenth amendment.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
        18·
        25 days ago

        Don’t pretend for even a second that this could be applied to anything Republicans like. They’d scream “state’s rights!” and block it.

      • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
        11·
        24 days ago

        That’s not the argument Republicans make. They say using federal funding to influence state decisions is violating the rights of the state to make decisions for itself. This isn’t a legal argument, but an ethical one. They aren’t claiming actual constitutional violations, rather a violation of the spirit of state independence.

        I agree with a lot of this opinion, if they were making it in good faith. However, they obviously are not, as usual. They want states to be free to make decisions about not providing education to children, but they should be forced to not allow people to choose to have abortions, for example. If they were consistent it wouldn’t create so many issues, but they just want to enforce their views on others.

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.worldEnglish
    94·
    25 days ago

    Small consolation, but I expect Trump voters will be disproportionally affected.

    The states and ISPs need to make noise about this, so MAGA knows what they’re missing.

      • JohnnyFlapHoleSeed@lemmy.world
        35·
        25 days ago

        Yeah, he’s not just grifting this time, he’s actively working against the American people and their interests, as well as our nations. It’s the literal definition of treason

        • Blooper@lemmynsfw.com
          2·
          25 days ago

          There is nothing you’ve said that can’t be applied to virtually every decision he’s made since getting back into office. Plenty of it is grift. Most of it is fulfilling the wishes of giant corporations and the GOP. It just so happens that the interests of those two groups almost never align with those of the American citizens or even his most ardent supporters.

      • Jay@lemmy.caEnglish
        10·
        25 days ago

        He= Christian Nationalists. Project 2025 didn’t come from his delusional mind, he’s just the one with the keys.

    • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
      4·
      25 days ago

      The (…) ISPs need to make noise about this

      Will they though? The way I see it, isn’t it much nicer for them to bag the subsidies and maximize profit.

  • aramis87@fedia.io
    77·
    25 days ago

    We’ve already paid for nationwide broadband, and the corpos took the money, did a fraction of the work, and called it done. I don’t see what this latest infusion of cash-to-corpos is going to do for the average Joe.

    • floofloof@lemmy.ca
      43·
      25 days ago

      The USA isn’t run by or for the average Joe. Average Joes are human resources to be mined, plundered, exploited and discarded as their rulers see fit.

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      25 days ago

      We didn’t just pay for it, we also gave up the public TV spectrum in order to make it happen. That’s why your old-school TV antennas won’t work anymore.

      • JcbAzPx@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        25 days ago

        Technically the antennas work, it’s the old tuners that don’t. Plug rabbit ears into a smart TV you’ll get whatever stations are left now.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      23 days ago

      don’t see what this latest infusion of cash-to-corpos is going to do for the average Joe.

      Who gives a fuck what the average Joe wants? If they aren’t in the donor class, fuck 'em.

  • FrostbittenDuck@lemmy.zip
    55·
    25 days ago

    This will most likely hurt rural voters, who overwhelmingly supported Donny Dipshit, the most, given the expense of expanding Internet availability to rural communities.

    It really is hard to overstate how badly the average Republican voter shot himself in the vote. Not that they care.

    • Glitterbomb@lemmy.world
      51·
      24 days ago

      There’s a surprising amount of rural electric co-ops that have pivoted to installing fiber on their own poles and becoming their own ISP. It’s honestly impressive, they have done more to tell the major ISPs to fuck right off than any city ever has.

      I was trying to find a clear list or map, but this site suggests 250 coops are doing this. Since the coops usually encompass a single county, you can sorta read that as 250 rural counties across America have already told at&t and comcast to kiss their yeehaw ass

      • swelter_spark@reddthat.comEnglish
        1·
        23 days ago

        The electric company provides fiber internet where I live. It’s much cheaper than previous internet providers. Biggest complaint is that there isn’t much technical info available on their website.

  • slurpinderpin@lemmy.world
    5212·
    25 days ago

    You stupid fucks here were crying so hard about “Genocide” and Killer Kamala that you let an actual threat to the world gain the most powerful position in the world. Fuck all of you. This is your fault

    • ameancow@lemmy.worldEnglish
      205·
      25 days ago

      Lets not forget the waves of grown-ass men who raged and rallied every time a video game developer like, made a lesbian protagonist with realistic proportions and swore to burn the world down before anyone would tell them what kinds of games they should and should not play…

      Who are now utterly and completely silent about porn controls and internet gatekeeping sweeping across the nation as a direct result of the dictator regime they memed into power.

      I genuinely would give up video games and internet browsing forever if it meant making some incels shriek in their basement that they can’t fap to My Little Pony porn anymore.

      • Toneswirly@lemmy.world
        8·
        25 days ago

        Trust me bro, those freaks you’re talking about will find their MLP Filth (no judgment) regardless. The ironic thing about all these draconian right wing censorship attempts is that it will most likely squeeze out major companies from profits while the high seas gain an ever increasing “market share.” It’s never been easier, and they’ll never be able to stop it.

        • ameancow@lemmy.worldEnglish
          23·
          25 days ago

          they’ll never be able to stop it.

          I hope they make a strong attempt at trying so that maybe the basement dwellers will put their Guy Fawkes masks on and actually do something productive finally.

    • Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz
      116·
      25 days ago

      Shame genocide is so unpopular with anyone who might vote democrat. If only someone tried to tell the dems that doing fuckall to improve the material conditions of your constituents, expanding republican policies we all agreed were bad when Trump did it, and sending the cops to kick the shit out of the politically activated and organized youth would decrease voter turnout.

      • ameancow@lemmy.worldEnglish
        94·
        25 days ago

        The problem wasn’t voter turnout. I get a lot of hate for saying this, but facts bear out. The last three election cycles had the highest voter turnout and the highest youth voter turnout in American history.

        This means one or more of several things:

        1. Genocide was just a performative stance for most voters and they would have voted how they voted no matter what, it’s just a validation for hating Harris so much for aesthetic or tonal reasons that they couldn’t put a finger on.

        2. The election was rigged in some way, which is very possible but not in the overt way we tend to think of. If you combine enough small-scale tactics of voter-suppression in key areas by slim margins, combined with tomfoolery in voting machines in key areas by just barely enough margins again that enough areas pushed red, and of course large-scale social manipulation thats been at play for years and years now that has given many people the validation to hate minorities and women enough that even people of color voted against their best interest.

        3. People have let their fucking brains ooze out their goddamn ears across the whole Western population. We don’t see how bad the situation really is, because the people who browse forums are NOT the people who drive to work every day listening to AM radio and working 6 days a week and only get their news from Facebook for an hour every other Sunday night. But it’s bad, it’s very, very bad and I am worried not enough of the thinking people see just how dumb and confused the average median voter is. They literally had no idea if there was a meaningful difference between people like Biden, Harris or Trump. There has been waves of post-election exit-polling and the number one issue people cared about was the price of groceries and they heard Trump scream about it and Harris deliver lines that “sounded like Biden, and he was the one in charge when prices went up.”

        4. The Democrat party broadly is not an opposition party and many people sense it. They are the enemy character in the WWE spectacle narrative that people are engaged with, and Trump and his band of overtly evil nazis and fascists are more “cool” and people love to hate them even as they hate to love them, because we are unevolved creatures that care more for stories than outcomes.

        I don’t think there’s fixing this. I think we’re kind of fucked for at least a generation or two, and that’s assuming it shifts back towards progress at some point. Short of a large-scale disaster that literally cuts off people’s food and luxuries, we have to hunker down and survive. Or leave the country, but the problem is spreading.

        • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
          3·
          24 days ago

          People have let their fucking brains ooze out their goddamn ears across the whole Western population. We don’t see how bad the situation really is, because the people who browse forums are NOT the people who drive to work every day listening to AM radio and working 6 days a week and only get their news from Facebook for an hour every other Sunday night. But it’s bad, it’s very, very bad and I am worried not enough of the thinking people see just how dumb and confused the average median voter is. They literally had no idea if there was a meaningful difference between people like Biden, Harris or Trump. There has been waves of post-election exit-polling and the number one issue people cared about was the price of groceries and they heard Trump scream about it and Harris deliver lines that “sounded like Biden, and he was the one in charge when prices went up.”

          All those “did biden drop out?” searches the night of the election are haunting.

          I don’t understand how so many people are so profoundly ignorant and stupid. I guess a poor educational foundation followed by shit media would do it?

          My friends and associates tend to be pretty educated, literate, and wealthy. I don’t know what’s going on down in the depths.

          • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            23 days ago

            There has been waves of post-election exit-polling and the number one issue people cared about was the price of groceries and they heard Trump scream about it and Harris deliver lines that “sounded like Biden, and he was the one in charge when prices went up.”

            Yep. I have heard some rather “centrist” types and a whole lot of low info types ascribing blame for inflation (and the companies using it as an excuse to price-gouge) on Biden, when our country did fairly well compared to international numbers and recovered fairly quickly. Doesn’t matter though - Taco said a bunch of shit about it on his campaign, and these people think Biden pulled some lever somewhere to make their groceries go up.

            Doesn’t help that a lot of WELLAXETUALLY types will pop up to do some bothsiderism and talk about “the status quo” and how the numbers are not really the entire picture and so on, further muddying the waters.

        • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          24 days ago

          it’s bad, it’s very, very bad and I am worried not enough of the thinking people see just how dumb and confused the average median voter is. They literally had no idea if there was a meaningful difference between people like Biden, Harris or Trump. There has been waves of post-election exit-polling and the number one issue people cared about was the price of groceries and they heard Trump scream about it and Harris deliver lines that “sounded like Biden, and he was the one in charge when prices went up.”

          Exactly this. Democrats basically went: “I voted for the dems 4 years ago and my life didn’t get better, why bother voting”

      • Auli@lemmy.caEnglish
        101·
        25 days ago

        Who’s a genocider? Why isn’t anyone calling Trump that but they call kamilla that. When she was never in power. Vice president doesn’t really do anything.

        • AndrewZabar@lemmy.worldEnglish
          71·
          25 days ago

          Because it’s too depressing to them to admit both “sides” we have are equally against the will of the people and 100% OWNED by the ultra-rich who OWN - in the most literal sense - the country at this point. We - as in the people being a nation represented in government - fucking LOST.

        • ubergeek@lemmy.todayEnglish
          21·
          24 days ago

          I’ll help: Trump is a genocider too.

          Want to know what a genocider is? One who either directly, or materially, supports a genocide.

      • keyez@lemmy.world
        3·
        24 days ago

        Both options were supporting a genocide-er unless I missed the news that Trump stopped it like he promised

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
      716·
      25 days ago

      Yes, its the voters fault.

      Its not Biden or Kamala’s fault, for supporting the genocide, for prioritizing arming a genocide over domestic affairs and issues, for prioritizing Israel over America.

      God I wish I had this level of intellect. Must be so nice to not have to deal with pesky things like critical thinking or thoughts.

      • Jarix@lemmy.world
        156·
        25 days ago

        Yes yes it is the voters fault. (Not an American, just see too much of their elections )

        Trump was much worse than either Biden or Harris would have been. Harris did repeatedly speak out against the abuse in Palestine and claimed a 2 state solution was the only way forward.

        Trump? Literally supporting Israel and wants resorts where the Palestinians are. This is madness to let the voters of the hook for this

        • Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz
          44·
          25 days ago

          Harris did repeatedly speak out

          Harris represented the democratic party. When you speak out against they very thing you’re facilitating, you just show your constituents that your words are worthless. Same deal with dems speaking out against ICE in trump pt I and then voting to fund it under Trump and again under Biden.

          claimed a 2 state solution was the only way forward.

          A 2 state solution has been dead on arrival for decades.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    39·
    25 days ago

    Lmfao or what

    Also, this is transparently an effort to push people towards Starlink. They are trying to holistically control the flow of information to as great a proportion of the population that they can.

    • MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca
      81·
      25 days ago

      Aside from being run by an absolute asshole, the realities of the speed and lag will luckily prevent me from ever ever getting starlink.

      • onslaught545@lemmy.zip
        4·
        25 days ago

        Musk is an asshole, but starlink really doesn’t have issues with speed or lag, at least with my experience having it as a backup circuit in an office environment (not my decision)

        • aesthelete@lemmy.world
          10·
          25 days ago

          Psssst you shouldn’t be encouraging others to use your shitty Internet provider. It’ll only make it slower for you.

        • MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca
          9·
          25 days ago

          symmetric gigabit.

          I’m honestly impressed though, if that is starlink. That said, I would never give that nation destroying douchebag my money.

        • xyzzy@lemmy.today
          2·
          25 days ago

          I mean, I just ran the same test and I have 900 Mbps WiFi with 5 ms ping and symmetric upload for $70 per month for life. But importantly I also don’t fund a Nazi polluting the night sky.

  • mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.world
    29·
    25 days ago

    Pay higher so we can be tracked like in FL, where you have to show ID to watch porn?

    What a fucking joke

    BTW, whats the typical price for internet access these days in the US? Havent been there since 2024.

    • doughless@lemmy.world
      14·
      25 days ago

      I pay $140/mo for ~300 down / 100 up. I found another provider with similar bandwidth for $50/mo, but I self-host a couple things, and they wouldn’t assign me an IPv6 prefix or allow port forwarding. Also, my son complained because his games had 70 ms ping on the less expensive provider.

      Edit: I’m in a big city, I think it’s even worse in rural areas.

      • Kirp123@lemmy.world
        181·
        25 days ago

        Wow. I live in Denmark and I pay 150 dollars every 4 months for 1Gb up and down.

        You guys are getting scammed in the US.

      • bruce965@lemmy.ml
        6·
        13 days ago

        If port-forwarding is an issue, you can always use a free VPN to reach your self-hosted services. Or if you want to make them public, you can set up yourself a relay on AWS LightSail for less than 5$/month. Or if you want to save as much as possible you can use TailScale or CloudFlare’s Zero Trust network to self-host for free using their server as a relay.

        • Spice Hoarder@lemmy.zip
          4·
          25 days ago

          I’ve been port forwarding for decades at this point. I just recently found out about tunneling your traffic through relays like that. Pretty neat stuff. Glad I can finally ditch my isp and switch to another without worrying about their port forwarding policies

      • DannyMac@sh.itjust.worksFrançais
        3·
        25 days ago

        $90/mo for 1Gbps up and down for me in a 30k town for me. I also have two fiber providers, one cable, and wireless as options. I realize I’m more of the exception than the rule. When I first moved here, 50Mbps cable was my only option.

        • doughless@lemmy.world
          4·
          25 days ago

          I already have my own router, but they do NAT from the modem with no way to switch to bridge mode.

          • Bytemeister@lemmy.worldEnglish
            4·
            25 days ago

            Ah, fucking assholes.

            I had to call my ISP because I specifically requested a modem only, no router, and they gave me one of their stupid locked-down combo units.

            If you bitch enough, they will relent.

            • doughless@lemmy.world
              2·
              25 days ago

              This was T-Mobile 5G internet, and they only had one modem available. I never bothered looking for my own 5G modem (assuming T-Mobile would even allow BYOD), because my son was already complaining about his ping. And even then, they would still only assign a single IPv6 instead of the full /64 prefix I get with my current provider.

    • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
      9·
      25 days ago

      Turns out if the worst that can happen is a judge saying “Hey don’t do that” a few weeks later, you have unlimited authority.

  • Australis13@fedia.io
    20·
    25 days ago

    They’re probably trying to stop low-income people from having some means of learning about the world (at least until the Trump Administration manages to control their part of the Internet like China does) and reducing their ability to organise en masse.