New federal program can help more Mainers afford an internet connection

Bangor Daily News
Dana Connors

The biggest obstacle to making sure that more people in Maine can benefit from high-speed internet isn’t a lack of wires or the ability to connect to a service provider.

It’s that too many people can’t afford to bring high-speed internet into their homes or they do not have the skills to feel comfortable in a digital world or even see why it’s relevant.

Fifteen percent of Maine households don’t have high-speed internet in their homes, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Many of them simply do not have the money to pay for the service or they are not online because they don’t know how to or believe that they need to be.

This tracks with national trends. Of those American households that don’t have high-speed internet, 75 percent of them don’t because they can’t afford it or feel like they don’t know enough about how to use it to make high-speed internet worthwhile, according to a recent nonprofit study.