Skip to main content
Currently Reading
The government wants to pay your Internet bill for a few months. Here's what you need to do.
Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post
May 12, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail
A student surfs the web while working on a college paper. The federal government launched the Emergency Broadband Benefit Wednesday to help a wide range of people hit economically by the coronavirus pandemic cover the cost of Internet service.Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
Washington wants to pick up the tab for tens of millions of Americans' internet connections. That may include yours.
The Emergency Broadband Benefit, or EBB, was launched Wednesday to help a surprisingly wide range of people hit economically by the coronavirus pandemic. It can pay $50 every month toward the cost of your internet service, and it is available to all families who lost some income in the last year and earn less than $198,000, among others. With $3.2 billion up for grabs, the EBB is the largest federal program to help with internet bills in the three decades Americans have been going online.