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FCC ACP WIND-DOWN WEBINAR | Otter.ai

FCC ACP WIND-DOWN WEBINAR

Joly MacFie1h 5min

Speaker 1

04:50

Hi this is vile Ishida again from the FCC. Just wanted to give everyone another heads up. We'll be starting again at one o'clock. Eastern 10 o'clock Pacific. Time. Hang on.

Speaker 1

08:25

Hi this is Liz she again. So thank you for joining us. I just want to give everyone an announcement in terms of timing. But we're gonna start just a little a couple minutes late after the hour, just to give people time to settle in and make sure that we've got all the connections ready. So if we start about 103 or 105, just hang in there, please. We ask for your patience. We just want to make sure that everybody gets all the information they need about this important topic. Thank you very much. For your patience and thank you for joining us

Speaker 1

13:34

Hi, I'm Lila sheather. From the FCC again, a couple of announcements. So we are just about ready to start. We'll start in just a minute or two. Just want to make sure that we have others opportunity to provide get the information there. And secondly, for anyone if you are touching an echo, we ask that if you're a guest, please mute your mic and make sure that we and we have a clear and clearly heard webinar please. So so if you are a during the audience, please mute mute your mic and we'll get started. In just a minute. Okay. Thank you

Speaker 1

15:44

afternoon here on the East Coast. Good morning, wherever you are. My name is Lila sheet I serve as that she sees Consumer Affairs and outreach division chiefs. We are division within the FCC consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. I just wanted to say thank you very much for joining us on this important event. We thank you for your interest and we thank you for your previous collaboration and for the work we're going to do together to make sure that we can build awareness of the ECP swine down procedures. Before we started I have a couple of announcements. One the PowerPoint deck for this webinar will be shared and we will be posting it on FC fcc.ge.gov/acp. And don't worry, at the end of this webinar, we'll have a reference section that you can screenshot that for so we can make sure that you catch the slides. For the slide deck. Secondly, we will be recording this webinar and posting at the same place and I tell you this separately because perhaps there might be a delay between posting a slide deck and slide in that post that big video. So other things I wanted to tell you about you're going to hear it email address often that is our one stop shop for information. Our team at the FCC has Consumer Affairs on Bucha division triage is that email address and we make sure that FCC is best and brightest working on ACP, get access to your questions or information requests and such and so I just wanted to say this once the first time of many yo theoret That's si p info@fcc.gov. Any request or any information that you want, by all means please person. So let's start on my original mentor in the way back once told me that the mind can only absorb what the posterior can endure and we don't want you to wait. So to open this webinar and with our advancement of our first slide, is

Speaker 1

18:21

and the next slide please this is Lyle, this is our this is our agenda. This is what we will be talking about. With some of the FCC is best and brightest in both the wireline Competition Bureau and the consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. So, let's start with an introduction to our honcho rock. Alejandro Roach serves as the chief of the consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, our decorated professional. So, Alejandro with our advanced sliding advanced for now for you, please take it away. Thank you very much for opening us up. Well,

Alejandro Roark

19:07

good afternoon. Like I mentioned, my name is Alejandra Warrick, and I serve as the chief of the consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Thank you all so much for joining today's webinar on the affordable connectivity wine down order. As many of you know, in 2021, Congress established the affordable connectivity program and the bipartisan infrastructure law which appropriated $14.2 billion the FCC was tasked to develop and implement the ACP as well as the ACP outreach and awareness activities, including establishing the agency's first federal grant program. As of this year, the ACP is helping nearly 23 million households get online and stay online with the program's monthly benefit. ACP has proven effective and ensuring that everyone regardless of their zip code, so whether you're in rural urban and the suburban community, or live on federally recognized tribal lands, everyone can afford the Internet connections that they need to participate in today's modern society. First I want to start by thanking all of you on the call today for your incredible contributions inside creativity and partnership, bringing this life changing kind of like Affordable Internet program to millions of people, many of whom are historically unserved or underserved. households. So we were able to meet that incredible, you know, 23 million plus milestone with your help. And so I just want to acknowledge that, you know, it's been a busy last couple of years, year and a half. So thank you again, so much for your partnership. Today's meeting like Biomedicine is to provide our outreach partners with the opportunity to learn more details about the wide down order and to ensure that you and the communities that you serve, know where to find more digital information or know who to ask for more information. I want to preface by saying that this conversation is going to be a first in a series of briefings and updates that we will share as we have more information. And as a quick reminder to what Lyle mentioned the webinar will be recorded and posted on fcc.gov forward slash ACP along with the PowerPoint slides for easy reference. I also want to acknowledge this moment in the program's lifecycle and how without additional funding from Congress, the agency has to begin to prepare for the wind down process. The good news is that this past Wednesday, bipartisan legislation was introduced in both the House and the Senate. That would allocate 7 billion more dollars and additional funding for the ACP. So while we welcome congressional action to fund this important program, without that additional funding at this time, the agency must begin to prepare for the wind down process for both the affordable connectivity program and the affordable connectivity outreach grant program. So we are continuing to work with our partners on Capitol Hill to share the positive impact of the Affordable connectivity program has and continues to to make for American consumers. You know many of those stories of success have come from you all from our community of practice. So those stories are being shared, and all the places where they need to be sharing. We encourage you to continue to share the stories of success, because we all know the importance of being connected to affordable broadband and its ability to empower greater access to education and employment opportunities. Flexible healthcare options, and more opportunities for 21st century digital success. So again, I just wanted to hop on and say thank you again for your partnership. Thank you for being tuned into this and just know that this is just a deeper dive into the the wind down order but as we get more information as more and as we have more updates, we will make sure to schedule kind of follow up be friends or share more information via our email channel. So thank you again, and at this time, I'm happy to share to hand the mic over to Ben Nash from the FCC is wireline Competition Bureau to discuss the wide end report in order that was published on January 11.

Unknown Speaker

23:09

You guys

Unknown Speaker

23:13

y'all Andro go on to the next slide.

Speaker 2

23:16

I want to begin this morning by afternoon by talking a little bit about the background of the ACP. Program. So in 2021, through the bipartisan infrastructure law, Congress tasked the Federal Communications Commission to develop and maintain the affordable connectivity program. This is a federal program that offers eligible households a discount on their monthly Internet bill, and a one time discount off the purchase of a laptop desktop or tablet computer. Since launching in December 2021, nearly 23 million low income households have been enrolled. However, due to a lack of additional funding from Congress, the ACP is projected to run out of funding in April. Now I'm going to mention this data a couple of times a day. This is an estimate and may change. But as a result, the FCC has begun taking steps to wind down the ACP. So last Thursday, on January 11, the FCC issued an order detailing the wind down process the order does a number of things including preparing consumers for the end of the ACP. It directs providers to send notices to ACP households regarding the end of the program and the continuation of service and includes information about the timing, content and delivery of those notices. It also provides for further announcements from the FCC and USAC about the wind down. It includes timing of when the FCC will announce the end of the last fully funded month of the program. It establishes and enrollment freeze and discusses its impact on ACP outreach, including grant funded outreach activities. That amends the claims process by instituting an expedited claim submission timeline for providers. For more information, I'd encourage you all to read the order itself. It's available on the Commission's website and the link is here.

Speaker 2

25:10

As we talked about wind down, there's a couple important dates to keep in mind. The first is last Thursday, January 11, when the FCC issued an order laying out the wind down processes and important dates including the enrollment freeze and the impacts on consumers, Internet companies and ACP outreach

Unknown Speaker

25:26

grant recipients

Speaker 2

25:28

on February 7 2024, this will be the last day that the ACP will accept new applications and enrollments. eligible households must be approved and enrolled with an Internet company by 11:59pm. Eastern Time on February 7, to receive the ACP benefit starting on February 8 2024. There will be no more enrollments into the ACP during late January 2024. households that are currently receiving an ACP monthly benefit will start to receive notices from their Internet companies with information about the end of the ACP benefit. This information will include timing of the end of the program and the impact of the loss of the benefit on the households bill and service. And then in April 2024, the FCC anticipates the existing ACP funding to run out with only a partial benefit available in May if Congress does not provide additional funding. households that are enrolled in the ACP will continue to receive their benefit on their Internet service through April 2024. But this

Unknown Speaker

26:33

date may change slightly.

Speaker 2

26:39

So before February 7 2024, at 11:59pm Eastern Time to receive a benefit eligible households that are not currently enrolled and wish to receive the benefit should submit completed ACP applications and if approved, contact a participating Internet provider to receive the ACP benefit. households that are enrolled and receiving the benefit by 11:59pm. Eastern on February 7, continue receiving monthly discounted broadband service from their Internet company through the end of ACP as long as the household stays enrolled in the program and is eligible for the benefit.

Speaker 2

27:22

So during the enrollment freeze, on February 8, ACP will begin an enrollment freeze, which means the ACP will not accept new applications and providers can no longer sign up new households for the benefit of households who are enrolled with an Internet company by February 7 at 11:59pm. Eastern Time and remain enrolled in the program will continue to receive their ACP benefits during the wind down period. As ACP funding runs out, households who are enrolled in the ACP will receive notices from their Internet company about when the program will end and information about options to continue service without the ACP benefit. Again, APR is projected to be the last month households will receive the full ACP benefit after April 2024. If Congress does not provide additional funding, the ACP anticipates existing ACP funds to run out at the with only a partial benefit available for May 2024. The ACP will no longer have funds to provide benefits and discounts to households subscribers who participate in the ACP are encouraged to see if they also qualify for the Lifeline program. Eligible consumers can get up to $9.25 off the cost of phone, Internet or bundled services and up to $34.25 if they live on qualifying tribal lands, consumers can apply for the Lifeline program at lifeline support.org

Unknown Speaker

28:51

slide.

Speaker 2

28:54

I'm now going to turn it over to Alejandro back over to Allah honcho, the Chief of our consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau for this next section.

Alejandro Roark

29:02

Thank you. It's been so I just wanted to take a quick moment to acknowledge there's a couple of different stakeholders, few different stakeholders actually in fact on the line and where you can get more information. So if you can go to the next slide, please. If you are a grantee, we encourage you to stay connected with our ACP grants team. There is actually a webinar that's scheduled for later today, I think at 2pm. And they'll continue to have more office hours. So between now and February 2, here is the information that you need. But please stay in contact with Miriam and joy in our national community impact managers at the FCC. They will have all this information are happy to send you more links and resources again as we have more information. So for grantees keep in touch with your main point of contact here at the FTC. They will be the best source of information. And of course, all information can be found at ACC fcc.gov forward slash ACP grants management. Next slide please. Right as PS, we encourage you to stay connected with USAC they are also having opposite wind down office hours. So today I think at 3pm. So a lot of things happening today. They have already hosted one webinar that talks ISPs through the wind down process and what's in the order so you can access it by visiting the USAF website. And again, we are happy to include a link Lau there's a link that we can share along with this deck if people want an easy one click solution there. So providers please keep in touch with USAC they have all the information that you need. And then I think on the last slide we want to make sure that we're consumers. We still encourage consumers that are experiencing any type of issue with their ACP benefit to please contact our ACP Support Center at 877-384-2575. We have a multilingual call center operators that can help answer any questions you can have. You can also send an email to ACP info@fcc.gov. And then of course, you can if you're online submit an informal complaint through consumer complaints@fcc.gov. So again, this is just the first rollout of the information that we have available at this moment. And there will be more that we will communicate via through email through office hours and webinars. So please keep in touch stay tuned into the Convo and we are happy to share information as we happen. So with that I'm happy to turn the mic back over to Lila sheet if

Speaker 1

31:51

I help. Thank you. Thank you very much, Alejandro and thank you thank you all for your continued interest on the topic next time. Next slide please. So one thing we would like to do at the aggravation is find ways to work together we've continued throughout the ACP Bill rollout campaign to have great work and relationships with people who are working in their communities and in their childhood. And so for the potential rollout information, so here's some information or resources I want to tell you with the website fcc.gov forward slash HCP have a number of fact sheets translated in different languages and FAQ. That is really informative, and an ESL video that we think we want you to make sure that you know about and socialize around folks in your communities and in your circles. Again the Consumer Complaint Center at the consumer complaints website that you see there is really direct way to for consumers to file informal complaint on service providers not following the like non proceedings, emails inquiries, whether they are requests or not our information requests go to ACP info@fcc.gov And then separately, the division have done a whole lot of virtual printers and to when we rolled up the ACP and we'd love to continue to work together with you. So a request for guided webinar on the roll down procedures will go to ACP speakers@fcc.gov. And you sack Support Center 877848342575 is really a great way for consumers to get into information updates on application status and questions about the wind down. Next slide please. Hello, again. So these this is just reporting what we're going to do one thing we want to do on the second bullet is we want to offer again, printed materials at no cost to you on the ACP facts sheet and the F ECP FAQ. So it's easy to get. So we would need just a point of contact and amazing address. That's without peel boxes because FedEx doesn't use peel boxes in about a week. ACB info@ftc.gov Just let us know, hey, I want a fact sheet I want 17 Fact Sheets at this address 123 Maple Street or whatever, and then we'll get it to you in about a week or so. As a reminder before we go into Q and A's right after February 8 2020 24 Sorry, this is Lyles table, can you add what year I'm in? So there will be no EC awareness related activities or campaigns because we will have hit the deadline. Next slide please. Before we go into questions and answers, I just want to put this up here to also give you contacts of some great people who work in the Bureau on both ECP and other telecom related policy matters, who you may hear for from during the q&a session. Susie Rosen single 10 is chief of a disability rights office. She Gomez is Chief of our Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Bambi Krause is Chief of our Office of Native Affairs and policy. And Miriam Montgomery has a really great governmental title but she's just really grants chief for the ECP outreach grants. They're there, you can save their contact information when you get your PowerPoint deck posted tomorrow on fcc.gov/acp. But just wanted to put in a plug for that because you will find no greater team of folks who are committed to public service cyclists and with that, we'd like to sort of begin our q&a session. So I want to bring to the to the to the seminar Taylor Hernandez who's your deputy chiefs of the CCB Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division. Either the floor is yours thank you very much.

Speaker 3

37:00

Thank you Lau Good morning or good afternoon everyone, depending where you are. Right now, as law said I'm Kayla Hernandez soochow. Deputy Chief for the Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division part of the consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. I want to start by saying if you don't remember anything we discussed today, please remember that all requests any questions you may still have a request for print printouts and such can be sent to ACP info@fcc.gov. And so now we're going to go to the portion of the questions and answers. There's a lot of them that have been submitted by everyone here. Some of the ones that I have right now are directed to Miriam Montgomery, who's our grants management policy adviser. So for Miriam, I do have the following questions. The first one is will this end the grant portion of the program sooner than anticipated? So Miriam.

Speaker 4

38:14

Kayla, thank you for that question. And hello, everyone. As Kayla mentioned, my name is Miriam Montgomery and I lead our outreach efforts. Here at the commission. So well the wind down of ACP impact the affordable connectivity outreach grant program, and the answer is yes. As you all may know, the primary objective of the affordable connectivity outreach grant program is to provide eligible governmental and non governmental entities with the funding and resources needed to help increase awareness of and participation in the program among eligible households. As the SEC begins wind out winding down at the affordable connectivity program. The need for awareness and enrollment support activities to assist eligible households will not be necessary after the enrollment freeze, which is currently February 7 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. The SEC is issuing a guidance to the grantee community on how the ACP wind down will impact the open grants that are currently in place and what kind of the next transition will look like

Speaker 3

39:33

thank you for that. And also, we have another question here about just regular information. So Can Can grantees still use the ACP grants@fcc.gov email address to get more information?

Speaker 4

39:52

Yes, um, so there's different ways that we are sending out information we continue to for primary grant recipients. So these are the approximately 240 governmental, non governmental organizations that are the prime grant recipients have, we're sending information out directly to them. We're also publishing information on the website that we shared earlier. We also have webinars, office hours, various other mechanism mechanisms to make sure that they're getting the information. And if I know there are a lot of consumer groups here and those that may not be a field, you know, part of a prime grant organization but are supported and affiliated with those granting organizations either as a sub recipient or a contractor or whatever other liens for that community. You know, we, we encourage you to go to the ACP grants website, as you know, that is available and open to the general public, but we also encourage you to make sure that you're working closely with the prime grant recipient as similar to how we're releasing guidance on grant program in general. And in this particular instance, what winding down the outreach grant program would look like those you know, primary grant organizations may also have their own guidance that they will be releasing to their sub recipients and contractors. So there's various ways to get information and and just highly recommend to choose the different paths that are available. Thank

Speaker 3

41:39

you. Thank you, Miriam. For the next question. This one will go to Susie Rosen singleton who is our Chief for Disability Rights Office. I want to make sure that Susie is here. There she is. Thank you, Susie. Question is for you. It's what is the FCC doing to inform the households, especially households in the accessibility community who are currently enrolled in the ACP?

Speaker 3

42:24

See me, okay. All right. Great. So I was frozen on the screen there for just a moment but this is Susie Rosen Singleton. Thank you so much for that question. Hello, everybody. As you've heard from previous speakers, the FCC during this wind down process, our goal is to ensure that ACP households are well informed about the end of this program, its impact on their Internet bills. And to help ACP households stay connected after the ACP after the ACP ends. So we in the Disability Rights Office are working closely with the state nationwide as well as local representatives to help and ensure communication is happening throughout their organization and with members with the disability rights. The Disability Advisory Committee, we are doing such consumers can sign up for access info to receive information about the FCC accessibility and disability updates by sending an email to access info@fcc.gov will be added to the listserv then to keep informed as well as your communities can be informed as well. About the FCC is accessibility work that we're doing to support you all you can contact us also through an ASL line. You may have already heard that number but here it is again. 844-432-2275. That is for people who use video phones and ASL can also go to the ACP page at www.fcc.gov/acp. There are ASL videos there that you can share widely with your communities. And please do feel free to reach out to us directly and through that email address on this slide info@fcc.gov for assistance. Thank you so much, Susie. Another question here that we have this one is I'm going to address it to Bambi Krause, who is the Chief of our Office of Native Affairs and policy there is Bambi. So this question is are there other federal programs that households on tribal lands should consider for assistance with Internet costs now that ACP is winding down? Thank you, Kayla. As Ben mentioned during the slide deck presentation if you currently receive the ACP benefit, you may still qualify for the Lifeline program. Save on Internet service. Lifeline program is another federal program that makes phone and Internet service more affordable. If you qualify for lifeline you can get you can get a monthly benefit of up to $9.25 off the cost of phone, Internet or bundled services. The monthly benefit for households on qualifying tribal lands is up to $34.25 of the cost of phone Internet or bundled services. On slide 10 that Ben had shared earlier there was a URL for more information about the Lifeline program and that is lifeline support.gov And it's not case specific. So thank you very much, Kayla. Thank you. We have another question. Here. Or Bridget Gomez, who is the Chief of our Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Internet

Speaker 3

46:26

you can hear me yes here we go. Thanks. I was waiting to make sure you you are on. Okay, so the question for you is as the FCCs chief of Intergovernmental Affairs Office, you're frequently interacting with elected and appointed leaders about the FCC. happenings and now ACP not that there's planning for potential wind down what are some of the planning best practices that you've encountered? That are good ideas for anyone here to kind of learn from?

Speaker 5

47:02

That's a great question and actually just want to echo that all of you on this call, or the reason that so many folks are connected. You are the trusted messengers. And that's really ultimately what a lot of our local leaders are. They are the trusted messengers and you have a big platform that's both through your access with your own websites, your own access to your listeners, and most importantly for those that are local actives. The access they have to a lot of entities and other trusts, local leaders. So one of the things that a lot of folks have done is used opportunities, other listservs to share latest updates, and it can be information overload, so almost naming the very in what you saw in one of the slides on the deck. Here, the top important dates to remember one is if you're eligible, you can still enroll, but you have to enroll by February 7 at 11:59pm. And that enrollment includes the three pieces you have to apply, be accepted into the program and then contact a participating provider to get connected. So and the other date is that in the transparency that the program's funds are set to expire get fully you know you can get your benefits fully funded your discount for the month of April. Beyond that, you know funds right now currently two to two sunset so with that I think making sure that you share the critical pieces and dates to folks. And the other area that folks have shared is I think when folks have already been doing a lot of outreach events both via in person events and meetings, things that you may already have scheduled. Make sure that you use that opportunity to lift this information so that nobody is surprised and that folks can prepare for when ACP is officially winding down and ended. And so I'd say I think those have been some of the best practices that folks have shared, and most importantly, within governments and local states. It's making sure that folks are communicating that and discussing that internally so that at their opportunities, they can take advantage of echoing the same acids together so that folks are hearing the same message and not getting confused about what is happening, and most importantly at going to the community that it is not done yet. So that nobody is scared that the program has ended as of today. We don't want to see confusion and so your leadership there and communicating that it's a process and that right now it's to make sure folks are informed about what will happen in the future is critical. But I would say those three pieces of leveraging your access to your own access to Internet, your websites, your email, zine, outreach in person events, opportunities that you already have scheduled. And for some people they've also have access to local leaders, whether that's your churches or whether that's your radio stations and making sure that we're not pushing out that misinformation but sharing the correct information and date so that nobody again is confused or scared. And I will pause there because there's a lot many more activities, but I'd say those are probably the most.

Speaker 3

49:57

Thank you Bridget. We have a lot of questions that are continuing to roll in. I'm going to address these next few questions to Ben Nash, and I hope I'm pronouncing your last name correctly. My colleague from the wireline Competition Bureau There he is. Okay, so one of the questions we have here is when will the FCC announced the last fully funded month or ACP kala.

Speaker 2

50:28

So the wind down order that was released last Thursday actually lays this out and requires that the Commission do the announcement at least 60 days prior to the end of the last fully funded month. So if we work backwards and the last fleet month funded month is April like it's currently projected, the announcement would come out sometime in February. Of course, if that April date shifts, then the announcement would come out sooner or later, depending but 60 days before the last fully the last the end of the last fully funded.

Speaker 3

50:57

Thank you for that. And thank you for a while there are a lot of questions you are you. If Congress provides additional funding, will the freeze be lifted?

Speaker 2

51:10

Oh, if you know and Alejandro pointed out at the beginning of this that there there has been legislation proposed should there be more funding from Congress the FCC are announcements and information about what will be happening to the program.

Speaker 3

51:23

So stay tuned. And yet another one for you. Will I be automatically enrolled in another program like lifeline when ACPs?

Speaker 2

51:38

So that's a that's a great question. And there's been a lot of talk about the Lifeline program but you will not automatically be enrolled in lifeline. If and when ACP ends. You need to enroll yourself. It's important to note that you don't have to wait for ACP to end to enroll on lifeline you can apply now. And to do so visit lifeline support.org For more information on how to

Speaker 3

52:03

thank you for that. So now for this portion because there's still a lot in the they 20 and say thank you to the audience for submitting your questions. We may not get to all your questions because I want to be respectful of everyone's time. But there are a few questions here that then I'm going to keep you on so that you can you can help answer these. So there are consumers here concerned about recertification for ACP. So some some consumers are asking attendees are asking since ACP is winding down if I receive a notice for recertification should I recertify.

Speaker 2

52:50

That's a great question. Households should continue to respond to requests to recertify their eligibility date in order to receive the benefit through the end of the program.

Speaker 3

53:03

And it's scrolling down I'm trying not to give you all the same questions but a lot a lot on that came about. Someone is asking here here we go. So some consumers are asking about see, I've already recertified for ACP and a friend completed a paper application during the wind down period, our applications paper applications still being processed.

Speaker 3

54:14

I may be experiencing technical difficulties. Okay,

Alejandro Roark

54:22

I think we couldn't hear Benny there.

Speaker 3

54:25

Okay. I thought it was me. Bucha This

Speaker 6

54:31

is Jessica Campbell from the FCC. I can take that one. While we work out the kinks here. I think your question was, will paper applications continued? And the answer is yes. But you know, up until that February 7, deadline, you know, our recommendation you know, since we're a couple of weeks out is if consumers want to apply for the ACP benefit, you know, we really encourage provider or consumers to use get internet.gov and to process you know, apply electronically online. Because that will I think be a quicker process for consumers given the upcoming deadline.

Speaker 3

55:14

Thank you, Jessica. And as you're speaking another one is coming here to I believe this similar but how does the consumer know if they've checked the box that would allow the ISP to opt them in to continue the service after the end of ACP? Muted hear me um, let's see. I I can hear you, Jessica. Oh, okay.

Speaker 6

55:50

Sorry. I thought I thought it was muted, um,

Unknown Speaker

55:55

that you think we know how to use Zoom by

Speaker 6

55:57

now in 2024. So the question was, how do I know whether I've opted in or not? And you know, and I recognize that for some households, they may have opted in to continue receiving service when they sign up for the emergency broadband Benefit Program, which of course, got started in 2021. You know, my recommendation there is to contact your provider they will have records of you know, what you've consented to when you signed up? I think it's also important to kind of reflect on were you a paying customer for that broadband service before you started receiving, you know, the benefit on that plan. And are you currently contributing to the cost of your broadband service with the ACP benefit? If you can answer yes to any of those questions, your provider will likely continue to provide you broadband service at an undiscounted rate after the end of ACP. If you do not wish to continue with that undiscounted service plan after the end of ACP household should reach out to their providers and opt out and to also discuss with them what other plans that may be available that may be within budget for them.

Speaker 3

57:13

Right Thank you for that and the questions. Keep rolling in. So here's someone who's asking, are ISPs going to continue their low cost ACP plans, which I think is similar, but they also asked what happens to consumers who pay for phone and TV as part of a package plan will they automatically be opted in and get a bill for the entire package once funding ends?

Speaker 6

57:41

That's a great question. I think this is going to be really important here for the consumers to communicate with their providers on this. Really, it's the opt in is specific to that broadband service. But if it's part of a package, you know, and I'm thinking particularly like mobile phone packages, you know, this is going to be important to talk to your consumer about what you should expect out after the end of ACP and to also to keep a lookout from notices from your provider that will set out for you what the impact will be on your service and Bill after the end of ACP. Again, you know, what you're seeing from the provider is not going to work for you. You know, call that provider and talk to them about options.

Speaker 3

58:28

Here's another questions. Are there any protections for current ACP subscribers to ensure that they will not receive a bill or fee from their Internet service providers after the subsidy ends if they choose not to continue? unsubsidised service and the person adds ie protections against automatically enrollment, equipment relate term fees and other potential fees?

Speaker 6

58:59

It's gonna be important for us to hear at the FCC what households are experiencing here. You know, we are expecting providers to comply with wind down requirements. I mean, those are requirements from an FCC order. If you're experiencing something that doesn't seem right, that you're getting bills that you didn't consent to after the end of ACP. Let us know. I think we have shared previously the the link in the contact information for the FCC Consumer Complaint Center.

Speaker 3

59:34

Thank you so much for that. Let's see. And somebody is also asking See, a lot of these are I'm looking at a lot of the questions and looking through there are a lot of people so I will I can answer. A lot of people are asking and we have said it before, but it's worth repeating again, a lot of consumers are asking where can I get today's slide deck and as was said before, it will be posted at www.fcc.gov/acp. And just in case anyone wants to send us information or ask questions. They can always use the email address ACP info@fcc.gov. So looking at the time, I will move on from questions. There's one more slide that I'd like to share with the audience and next so I will say Next slide please. Here are references and resources for everyone. I will be reading through the information but please feel free you know to take notes as I'm moving along. So for example, I will start with the top and move my way down for FCC printables which we were mentioned before this, you can also find we're currently@fcc.gov slash ACP we have the FAQ for the ACP wind on and we also have the ACP wind down fact sheet on our site their current both currently available in English and Spanish. So for these principles, send an email request to ACP info@fcc.gov Please include a point of contact and a mailing address and not a post office box. Because are we delivered to to mail address and please include the number of printed materials requested so if you want a 10 FAQs in Spanish and 10 fact sheets in English, please let us know all that information. The ACP one DOM fact sheet as I said is already available at FCC. gov slash ACP. We have here on the screen the URL or the ACP. Why not she www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/ac p underscore wind dash down underscore fact underscore sheet underscore final dot pdf so it's in PDF form. We also have the address for the ACP wind down FA Q's www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/acp_wind_down_faqs_v as in Victor F as in Frank underscore clean underscore final dot pdf. anyone is interested in scheduling a virtual speaker between now and February 7. Please send an email request to ACP speakers@fcc.gov Please include the date and time and let us know the number of audience members. This lets us better prepare for just knowing how many people will be in the room. Our FCC ACP website and you've been hearing this a lot is www.fcc.gov/acp USAC, the Universal Service administrative company which manages the application process has an ACP Support Center. It was mentioned before but I'll mention it again. The Support Center can be reached at 877384575 A you can call this number for updates on the status of your application. If you have any questions about the ACP wind down this is the number to call and again that ACP Support Center is 877384 to 575. And finally, the FCC continues to have its consumer complaints center available to file any formal complaints regarding service providers, especially those that are not following FCC wind down proceedings. But again, a reminder that you can use this for all types of complaints and that address is HTTPS, colon slash slash consumer complaints.fcc.gov/ac/e As in ERIC N as in Nancy, dash US war. Now this concludes our webinar for today. Please remember, I will close by saying thank you for coming here today, ACP info@fcc.gov For any questions or concerns you may have with the wind down. Our ASL line is 844-432-2275. And again, all this information will be posted at fcc.gov/acp. So thank you all for attending today.

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