Providing inexpensive or even free high-speed internet to low income Americans is a rapidly growing trend. The latest news comes from San Francisco.
Residents of the city’s Hunters Point East and West HUD-assisted housing complex just received a pleasant gift from the city of San Francisco and a community-minded company called — believe it or not — Monkeybrains.
Those residents didn’t just get some ordinary internet service — they got access to blazing-fast gigabit speed internet. And we’re not talking about internet that’s shared throughout the complex. Instead, each of the 212 apartments scattered across the complex’s 27 buildings is now hardwired with its own fiber optic internet connection.
The folks at Monkeybrains say this is just the beginning. Within 18 months, they will add the same service to one thousand HUD-assisted housing units in thirteen Tenderloin and four Bayview apartment complexes.
Monkeybrains specializes in beaming high-speed internet received via rooftop antennas. The company strayed slightly from that technology for the Hunters Point when it agreed to run cable from its rooftop antennas to connect every apartment.
Ahhhh, there’s an old adage that says, “There’s no free lunch.” So what will this high-speed internet service cost?
recode.com has the surprising details:
The service will cost residents nothing for at least the next two years, and after that, Monkeybrains has agreed to not charge residents more than $20 per month. To put that in perspective, Verizon shared in April that it would start selling a subscription for gigabit internet for $70 a month.
Not free forever, but pretty darn close. However, residents will be required to pay for their own routers.
Don’t feel too bad for Monkeybrains because they didn’t do the project strictly out of the goodness of their hearts. Part of the cost was paid with a grant from the California Public Utilities Commission and additional funds provided by the Bank of America, which will also offer computer classes to recipients of the service.
As we said, this San Francisco project is just the latest step in low-income internet projects available to residents of HUD-assisted housing. Here’s a quick round-up of other, similar projects that we’ve covered in the recent past, including programs from virtually all of the nation’s leading cable TV and leading high-tech companies:
Let the celebration begin: HUD and AT&T bringing $5 Internet to families in HUD-assisted housing
AT&T and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have joined forces to bring low-cost $5/month Internet service to families living in HUD-assisted housing.
Cox Low-Income Internet: Making more families eligible for high-speed internet
One high-speed internet plan for participants of SNAP, TANF and School Lunch programs. And another plan for residents of HUD-assisted housing with school age children. Cox Communications is now offering two different plans that bring high-speed Internet to financially-struggling Americans.
Finally: HUD approves internet access program for low-income seniors
Seniors in all of Comcast’s markets can now apply for the company’s Internet Essentials program to obtain internet access for $9.95 per month. It’s also offering technical training, digital literacy programs, and devices for senior citizens in those communities.
If there’s one complaint we hear most often here at CheapInternet.com, it is that none of the low-income Internet plans are available to families without children. Well, Comcast and its Internet Essentials program has taken a big step toward solving that problem.
Just what the needy need: Google giving free high-speed internet to the poor
Search engine giant Google has announced that its Google Fiber project has begun offering free high-speed internet access to residents in affordable housing. This is great news for low-income Americans who simply can’t find enough spare cash in their limited budgets to pay for gigabyte speed internet service, which can cost $70 or more per month…
Please keep in mind that each of these programs have slightly different eligibility requirements and each of them is available in widely varying parts of the country.
But each and every one of them helps bring high-speed internet to low-income families that desperately need it to help bridge the digital divide.
We expect other programs like the ones above to spring up around the country. And we’ll let you know every time one of them does, because it may be the one that can help your family.
Larry B. says
July 25, 2017 at 10:26 amThe article doesn’t quite make sense. I can’t imagine there’s enough spectrum available to beam internet wirelessly for 212 units to have gigabit speed? I’m thinking they’d have to run fiber to the property for this project?
However, I welcome any internet competition. I hope more companies can compete with cable industry which refuses to do anything until they’re forced to because they’re a still monopoly in most areas.
CheapInternet.com Administrator says
July 25, 2017 at 6:06 pmIndeed.
Steve says
July 19, 2017 at 5:45 pmA Virtual Trojan horse, what’s that old adage about “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”.
However, doing such a check would be a sign of mistrust towards the giver. Which there’s good reason to mistrust here. Big business, big government, I’d bet hacker all are rejoicing as the digital divide gets filled in too.
Just look at the UK and all the camera’s all over the streets, rooftops and monitored by the authorities.
So in the US this is a form of surveillance in the homes of the poor / low-incomes all are moving towards.
Da’ have we not herd of data mining and profiling of ourselves in our on-line activity, even going as far as cross-device and multi-browser using tracking? All in a pool of data that we’ll never have a say to correct or even see.
No cost and Low cost has an impact on your privacy ! ! !
From just of one in long line of these intermediaries, a purchase of the users profile records can be made. Users profile data such as Web IP addresses that is disclosed to third parties can be linked to a users email addresse(s) and phone numbers or Names of all family members -as well as the Home Address.
The users profiled data of individual users IP web addresses is a key aspect to where they have stopped on the Web, and so allows to further create then of movement profiles online about these users, and in their local neighborhoods when linked with that of mobile devices and all of those installed applications on them.
This network involuntarily collection and use of people’s data that’s not approved by themselves, can then link to a number of personal links in the online services, interests, group associations, as well as banking, medical, insurance, and job related to each profiled user.
Not to mention many – to – many other online visits as the activity of the user may demonstrate. What this can lead to is identity thefts among other personal hardships and not to say of the harassment of spam calls and email to them.
Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say. Edward Snowden
We all need places where we can go to explore without the judgmental eyes of other people being cast upon us, only in a realm where we’re not being watched can we really test the limits of who we want to be. It’s really in the private realm where dissent, creativity and personal exploration lie. Glenn Greenwald in Huffington Post
Sold, shared, hacked this profile is linked to you !!!
Steve