PCs for People, a nonprofit that describes itself as promoting digital inclusion, has introduced CONNECT, a fixed wireless service (FWA) and wired service.
The FWA element of CONNECT uses 5G and 4G LTE networking. The 5G service delivers download speeds as fast as 280 Mbps and uploads as fast as 80 Mbps. On the 4G/LTE side, the service runs as fast as 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload speeds.
The new PC for People CONNECT service provides wired symmetrical 100 Mbps connectivity through a multiple dwelling unit (MDU) service.
Costs are “a fraction of the cost of traditional Internet providers,” the organization says. “We believe access to the internet is access to opportunity,” PCs for People CEO Casey Sorensen said in a press release about the new service. “With CONNECT, we’re doubling down on our mission to expand affordable, reliable internet in communities that have historically been underserved.”
The organization was founded in 2008. It claims to have connected more than one million people — including more than 3,000 MDUs — and deployed hundreds of FWA access towers. PCs for People said it plans to enroll 11,000 people in Cuyahoga County, Ohio in the new CONNECT service by the end of September.
In April, PCs for People was cleared by the FCC to apply for funding in Minnesota in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.
PCs for People is not the only organization of this type that has been around for a while. Last week, Mission Telecom — a nonprofit that provides wireless internet hotspots primarily to schools and libraries — announced a $7 per month plan called Mission-Connect.
Mission Telecom provides inexpensive wireless internet coverage to schools, libraries, and some nonprofit organizations. It was founded in the 1980s as Instructional Telecommunications Foundation, Inc. Mark Colwell, the Director of Broadband Operations, told Telecompetitor that the federal government is making the task of supporting those with limited budgets more difficult.
