Low-Income Internet Programs

Coverage of ISP-run affordability offerings across U.S. homes

After the federal Affordable Connectivity Program ended in June 2024, major internet providers have continued to offer their own income-qualified low-income plans. This page indexes those programs and estimates how many U.S. households fall within their reach.

at least

87%

of U.S. households are served by at least one provider that offers its own low-income internet plan.

Programs

Provider	Program	Residential units passed	% of households
Verizon	Verizon Forward	48,254,133	35.9%
Xfinity	Internet Essentials	47,397,530	35.3%
Spectrum	Internet Assist	43,999,198	32.8%
AT&T	Access from AT&T	28,128,008	21.0%
Cox	ConnectAssist	9,190,989	6.8%
Frontier	Verizon Forward	7,252,438	5.4%
Optimum	Advantage Internet	6,998,546	5.2%
Quantum Fiber	Simply Fiber	4,094,545	3.0%
Astound	Internet First	3,702,148	2.8%
Mediacom	Xtream Connect	2,825,251	2.1%
Sparklight	Lift Internet	2,377,815	1.8%
Breezeline	Internet Assist	1,611,960	1.2%

Provider footprints overlap: a home may be served by more than one provider, so the shares above sum to more than the combined 87% figure.

Methodology

Figures reflect residential broadband-serviceable locations, where each unit in a multi-unit building is counted separately, expressed as a share of all U.S. residential units. A location is counted as having a low-income program available if it falls within the footprint of at least one major provider that offers its own income-qualified low-income plan, based on FCC Broadband Data Collection availability (fixed service at 100/20 Mbps or faster, excluding satellite) as of December 2025. The analysis only includes the 25 largest providers by residential footprint, so the 87% figure is a lower bound. Programs limited to specific states, individual housing developments, or student households, along with discounts available only through the federal Lifeline program, are not included.