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Open the companion tool →Why the comparison has to be written down
Low-income tiers are marketed with a headline price that often assumes a bundle, a promotion period, or autopay, and the equipment fee is frequently excluded. Writing the effective monthly price for each offer — before and after the promotional period — is what prevents a household from moving from a subsidy it lost to a plan it cannot sustain.
That matters more for the households the ACP left behind, which are the same households most sensitive to a $10 monthly change and least able to absorb an instalment or early-termination fee.
The protocol
- Write down what you have now: provider, speed, monthly total including equipment, and any discount applied.
- List the alternatives that are actually available at your address, including the provider's own low-income tier.
- For each one, compute the effective monthly price with equipment and any autopay or bundle condition.
- Check Lifeline against the same bill, and ask whether the tier and the discount can stack.
- Ask each provider in writing what the price becomes after any promotion, and what the exit terms are.
What the tool does
Compare low-income broadband offers on the effective monthly price and the post-promotion terms, not the headline. It runs locally in this browser and sends nothing.
Limit first: This is a planning and referral aid, not legal or financial advice. It cannot enrol you in a programme, connect a service, or guarantee that free help is available where you live.
Open the companion tool →Cost and free path
Cost: Free: one complete run in this browser, no account. Optional $4 one-time unlock allows unlimited runs of this tool on this browser. The free path and safety guidance never require payment.
Rule status (mixed route): in force: the ACP ended in June 2024 and Lifeline ($9.25/month, $34.25 on Tribal lands) remains the federal discount; provider low-income tiers and state funds are the other live routes, and their terms change, so the comparison has to be made on the current published offer.
Automated decision this documents: provider pricing tiers and eligibility rules that decide the effective monthly price
Free path, in order (no cost):
- FCC broadband consumer resources (fcc.gov/broadband-consumer-resources)
- Lifeline Support Center — 1-800-234-9473 (lifelinesupport.org)
- 211 — local digital-inclusion programmes and device help (211.org)
What this cannot do: It cannot enrol you in a programme, connect a service, or guarantee that free help is available where you live.
Sources checked 2026-10-03 · source bank reviewed against the live pages listed in metadata.
One human next step
Ask each provider for the post-promotion price and the low-income tier terms in writing before switching, and confirm with the Lifeline Support Center whether the discount stacks with the tier you are considering.
Research log and safety checks
AI-assist path: not used for a verdict. This builder organises the reader's own documents and names an independent source; it does not infer authenticity, eligibility, or legal rights. §6.9/§6.10/§6.11 disclosed in the batch report; §6.12 status line carried in metadata as `status_line`.
§0.5 protection result: category is access-and-digital-affordability; crisis-adjacent: no; fear/urgency/scarcity toolkit used: no. The protective function is free and the paid feature is convenience only.