AT&T has a new faster internet plan, and some of you can get it free

AT&T announced a significant upgrade to its affordable Access from AT&T internet plan this week. Going forward, Access from AT&T will offer speeds of up to 100 Mbps for $30 a month. Previously, AT&T charged $10 a month for 10 Mbps, but anyone who is eligible for the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program can get a discount of up to $30 toward internet service. In other words, a number of AT&T subscribers will get faster speeds and pay nothing.

AT&T upgrades its low-cost internet plan

As AT&T notes, every household that qualifies for the ACP is also eligible for the Access from AT&T internet plan. If you take advantage of the $30 discount that the ACP provides, you will get internet service from AT&T at no monthly charge.

In order to be eligible for the ACP, your household has to be at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines or needs to participate in certain government programs, such as SNAP or Medicaid. If there is one person in your household, the maximum income limit to be eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program is $25,760. For two people, it’s $34,840, and for five, it’s $62,080. It goes up by $9,080 for each additional person in the household.

If you are in fact eligible for the program, you can apply at acpbenefit.org. After confirming your eligibility, you can call AT&T at (888) 594-0694 to decide which plan you want and order service. You are now well on your way to getting free internet.

Cheryl Choy, SVP of Broadband Management & Strategy at AT&T: “Making home internet affordable for low-income households is an important step toward closing the digital divide. The new Access from AT&T plan provides improved speeds, no data cap and works in concert with the federal ACP benefit. Free internet service can be the difference in getting homework done, being able to apply for a job, or receiving medical care.”

More details

There’s one notable caveat worth mentioning: Not everyone will have access to 100 Mbps speeds, even if they are eligible for the ACP. Internet speeds are dependent on the location of the subscriber, and AT&T warns on its site that the faster speeds will be limited to certain areas. The provider will let you know more once you call about signing up.

Thankfully, even if you aren’t able to get the new 100 Mbps tier, AT&T is keeping its original $5 – $10 a month Access plans. All of the Access plans with speeds of 10 Mbps or lower have data allowances, though, and customers who exceed those allowances will be charged a $10 fee. That said, AT&T will waive overage fees for Access customers through April 30th.

Finally, AT&T also points out that you can apply the ACP discount to other plans. If you need even faster speeds, you can sign up for a more expensive plan and get it for $30 cheaper. This even applies to AT&T Fiber, which provides speeds of up to 5 Gbps in some areas.