The government of Canada has announced the second phase of its Connecting Families program, which offers $20/month high-speed internet for qualified low-income families and seniors.
The federal government says the Connecting Families program works with 14 internet service providers that voluntarily contribute to the program. With Connecting Families 2.0, the program will soon get faster speeds and larger data caps, at the same $20/month price:
The new program will also expand eligibility from families receiving the maximum Canada Child Benefit (CCB) to include seniors receiving the maximum Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).
Participating ISPs include Access Communications, Bell Canada, CCAP, Cogeco, Hay Communications, Mornington, Novus, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, Tbaytel, TELUS, Videotron and Westman Communications.
“Being connected is important to maintain professional, social, economic and cultural networks within the digital economy. However, many low-income Canadians are still facing barriers that prevent their full participation in the economy. By working closely with Internet service providers across the country, we are increasing accessibility and providing all Canadians with affordable and reliable Internet,” said François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, in a statement.
Ottawa wants 98% of Canadians to have access to high-speed internet by 2026 and 100% by 2030.
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This may be good for my folks. But what happens if they exceed the 200 GB cap? They stream everything so I think it would be entirely possible.
I couldn’t find any information about exceeding the 200 GB data allotment. There’s a part that says “200 GB of data usage each month at the discounted rate”. Maybe it’ll bump up to a non-discounted price as soon as the limit is exceeded and for the remainder of the billing period.
A small family that streams movies and shows on Netflix/Disney+/Apple TV+ can easily go through 200 GB in a single month.