{"id":147005,"date":"2025-09-10T17:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/147005\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T17:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:21:08","slug":"illinois-pushes-to-expand-broadband-access-for-low-income-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/147005\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois pushes to expand broadband access for low-income users"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Illinois Commerce Commission is encouraging residents to take advantage of the FCC&#8217;s Lifeline program, which offers monthly discounts on voice or broadband services for eligible low-income customers, according to a community announcement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The initiative is part of Digital Connectivity and Lifeline Awareness Week, a collaborative effort with Gov. JB Pritzker, the FCC and other organizations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cStaying connected is crucial when looking for jobs, scheduling healthcare services, or calling 911 in an emergency,&#8221; ICC Chairman Doug Scott said in the announcement. &#8220;The FCC\u2019s Lifeline program makes it easier for low-income customers to afford their phone and broadband bill.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The program provides discounts of up to $9.25 per month for broadband or bundled services, $5.25 for voice-only service, and $34.25 for residents on qualifying Tribal lands, according to the announcement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For more information on eligibility, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/LifelineSupport.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:LifelineSupport.org;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">LifelineSupport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This story was created by reporter Abreanna Blose, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/mailto:ablose@gannett.com\" data-ylk=\"slk:ablose@gannett.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ablose@gannett.com<\/a>, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at <a href=\"http:\/\/cm.usatoday.com\/ethical-conduct\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:cm.usatoday.com\/ethical-conduct;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">cm.usatoday.com\/ethical-conduct<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sj-r.com\/story\/news\/local\/2025\/09\/10\/illinois-lifeline-program-phone-broadband-discounts-low-income-residents\/86045442007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Lifeline program offers savings on phone and internet for eligible residents;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Lifeline program offers savings on phone and internet for eligible residents<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Illinois Commerce Commission is encouraging residents to take advantage of the FCC&#8217;s Lifeline program, which offers monthly&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[91080,23519,53037,41934,91081,91079,174,42094,91078,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-147005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-broadband-bill","9":"tag-broadband-services","10":"tag-community-announcement","11":"tag-digital-connectivity","12":"tag-doug-scott","13":"tag-illinois-commerce-commission","14":"tag-internet","15":"tag-jb-pritzker","16":"tag-lifeline-program","17":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}