T-Mobile Giving 10M Children's Homes Free Wi-Fi

Students are struggling each day with online learning due to unreliable Wi-Fi. This morning, over 15,000 student households in five school districts have been gifted with free internet access, as many children struggle with online learning in the midst of the latest coronavirus pandemic due to poor Wi-Fi.

Good Morning America, "the surprise announced today to students attending five Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania, Jackson, Mississippi, Baltimore, Maryland, Santa Fe, New Mexico and South Bend, Indiana public school districts." Thanks to T-Mobile's Project 10Million, a campaign that aims to gradually get free Wi-Fi to 10 million student households in the US, they will now have five years of free internet access in their homes.

According to the Center for Democracy and Technology, of the 50 million children studying remotely, between 15 and 16 million lack sufficient internet access. As a result, to join online courses, many students have switched to fast food restaurants or school parking lots.

SURPRISE! @ReeveWill had a BIG gift for a South Bend, Indiana school district that will help students get connected to WiFi and bridge the digital divide crisis amid COVID-19. https://t.co/Q03jriTjDj pic.twitter.com/Edcv3tA5jD

— Good Morning America (@GMA) September 30, 2020

Even before the pandemic struck, the digital divide was real, with many households lacking internet access due to ethnic, economic, and regional disparities.

20,000 families were without internet service in Baltimore, which is equal to 40,000 students. And 40 percent of students do not have internet access in indigenous communities in New Mexico.

Through its program, Project 10Million, which offers affordable internet connectivity for free to students who do not have access to it, T-Mobile has provided hot spots with free data for five years in South Bend, where public schools have deployed Wi-Fi buses to communities that need it most.