The ACP Has Ended. Here's What You Can Still Get.

If you’re searching for the Affordable Connectivity Program in the hope of getting $30 off your internet bill, the short answer is that the discount no longer exists. The ACP stopped paying out on 1 June 2024, after Congress declined to add money to the $14.2 billion it originally set aside. Around 23 million households were enrolled when it ended.

But that’s not the end of the story, and it’s worth reading past the bad news, because one important benefit never went anywhere: Lifeline. It’s smaller than the ACP was, and it has stricter eligibility rules, but it still exists, it still pays every month, and if you were on the ACP there’s a reasonable chance you qualify.

Before anything else, one warning. The FCC has flagged that some provider websites carried on advertising the ACP — and even collecting people’s personal information for “ACP enrollment” — after the programme closed to new applications on 8 February 2024. If a site is promising you an ACP discount today, it is either badly out of date or trying to harvest your data. If you’ve already handed over personal details on one of those sites, the FCC directs people to file a complaint and visit IdentityTheft.gov.

What actually happened to the ACP

The ACP launched in December 2021 under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It gave eligible households up to $30 a month off internet service — up to $75 a month on qualifying Tribal lands — plus a one-time discount of up to $100 towards a laptop, desktop or tablet if the household paid between $10 and $50 towards it. Eligibility ran up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, which made it one of the most broadly available benefits the FCC has ever run.

The money ran out. Here’s how the wind-down unfolded:

The FCC’s own language on its ACP page is that the programme has “ended for now”, and it says it will publish further guidance there if Congress ever provides new funding. As of this writing, no revival has happened. It’s sensible to check that page occasionally rather than trusting third-party sites that claim the ACP is back.

One consumer protection survived the programme: if you signed a contract while receiving an ACP discount, your provider cannot charge you an early termination fee for ending it early, even now.

Lifeline: the benefit that never ended

Here’s the detail most people get wrong: Lifeline did not replace the ACP. Lifeline is older than the ACP, ran alongside it the whole time, and simply kept going when the ACP stopped. The FCC has explicitly warned that not every ACP household qualifies for Lifeline, and not every ACP provider participates in Lifeline — so treat it as a separate application, not a rollover.

Lifeline gives you up to $9.25 a month off phone, internet, or bundled service. On qualifying Tribal lands the total rises to up to $34.25 a month — that’s the standard $9.25 plus up to $25 of enhanced Tribal support, which the provider must pass through in full. There’s a wrinkle worth knowing: for voice-only service, the reimbursement is up to $5.25 a month, so the full $9.25 applies to broadband or bundles. If you want to understand what those amounts translate into in practice, see what the $9.25 discount actually buys you.

The limit is one Lifeline benefit per household, and it’s available in every state, commonwealth and territory, and on Tribal lands. About 8.12 million people were enrolled as of the June 2025 data month — so this is a large, live programme, not a leftover.

Why some ACP households won’t qualify

The ACP’s income cut-off was 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Lifeline’s is 135%. That gap is the single biggest reason a former ACP household might be turned down. The other route in is programme participation — if anyone in your household receives one of the following, you qualify regardless of the income test:

• Medicaid
• SNAP
• SSI
• Federal Public Housing Assistance, including Section 8 vouchers and public housing
• Veterans Pension or Survivors Benefit

On Tribal lands, Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal TANF and income-qualifying Head Start households also count. Note what’s missing from that list: Medicare doesn’t qualify you, only Medicaid does, and only certain VA benefits count.

How to apply

You apply through the National Verifier at lifelinesupport.org, by mail, or through a participating provider. If you live in Oregon or Texas, you apply through your state’s own system instead. There’s a support line at 1-800-234-9473 and an email address, LifelineSupport@usac.org. If you want to know how the checking process works before you start, read how the National Verifier decides whether you qualify — and if it can’t find your address, that’s fixable too.

One extra benefit for Tribal lands: Link Up gives a one-time discount of up to $100 off the initial set-up charge for voice service at your primary residence, and for set-up charges up to $200 it offers a deferred, no-interest payment plan for up to a year. It’s only available through certain facilities-based providers, and once per address change. The enhanced Tribal benefit has its own rules worth reading if this applies to you.

E-Rate and Rural Health Care: real money, but not for households

Two other FCC programmes survived the ACP’s end, and you’ll sometimes see them mentioned in the same breath. Neither pays households directly, but both affect where you can get online for free.

E-Rate gives schools and libraries discounts of 20% to 90% on internet access, data transmission, internal connections and related maintenance, with the discount level based on local poverty rates and whether the area is urban or rural. The programme runs on an annual cap the FCC adjusts for inflation — the funding year 2025 adjustment was a 2.4% increase, worth about $118.6 million. For you as an individual, the practical upshot is simple: your local library’s free internet is very likely funded this way, and it isn’t going anywhere. Details are on the FCC’s E-Rate consumer guide.

The Rural Health Care Program helps rural clinics and hospitals afford connectivity, through a 65% flat discount on broadband under the Healthcare Connect Fund and a separate scheme that subsidises the urban–rural price gap for telecoms. Its funding year 2026 cap is $744,161,841, and USAC announced that all eligible FY2026 requests can be fully funded without prioritisation. Again — it pays institutions, not people, but it keeps telehealth viable in places where a private line would be unaffordable. The FCC’s RHC page has the programme detail.

All three of these programmes — Lifeline, E-Rate and Rural Health Care — sit on the Universal Service Fund, and it’s worth knowing that the fund’s legal foundation was recently tested and held. In FCC v. Consumers’ Research, the Supreme Court upheld the USF’s funding mechanism, reversing a lower-court ruling that had threatened the whole structure. The programmes that remain are on solid ground.

State programmes

Some states run their own low-income phone and internet support on top of, or alongside, federal Lifeline. What we can say with certainty is that Oregon and Texas operate their own Lifeline intake systems — residents of those states apply through their state rather than through the National Verifier. Beyond that, state subsidy schemes vary, and the amounts change; check your state’s public utility commission website directly rather than relying on a summary that may be out of date.

What to do this week

If you lost your ACP discount and haven’t replaced it, the practical path is: check whether anyone in your household receives SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, federal housing assistance, or a qualifying VA benefit; if yes, apply for Lifeline through lifelinesupport.org with proof of that benefit. If no, check whether your household income sits at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines and apply with income documents instead. And if a website tells you it can sign you up for the ACP today, close the tab.

Frequently asked questions

Is the ACP coming back? Nobody knows. The FCC describes the programme as “ended for now” and says it will post guidance at fcc.gov/acp if Congress provides new funding. No new funding had been appropriated at the time of writing, so treat any site claiming the ACP is accepting applications with suspicion.

I had the ACP. Am I automatically enrolled in Lifeline? No. They are separate programmes with separate rules. Lifeline’s income limit is 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines against the ACP’s 200%, and not every ACP provider offers Lifeline. You need to apply through the National Verifier — or through your state system in Oregon or Texas — and be approved.

How much is Lifeline actually worth? Up to $9.25 a month off broadband or a bundle, up to $5.25 a month for voice-only service, and up to $34.25 a month in total on qualifying Tribal lands. It’s one benefit per household, applied to one service.

Can my provider charge me a fee for cancelling my old ACP-era plan? No. The FCC’s post-ACP guidance is clear that providers cannot charge an early termination fee on a contract that had an ACP discount applied, even after the programme’s end.

Can I get E-Rate or Rural Health Care money as an individual? No. E-Rate discounts services for schools and libraries; Rural Health Care does the same for rural clinics and hospitals. The benefit reaches you indirectly — free library internet, affordable telehealth — but the money never goes to households.