01
The wireless industry is
keeping America’s
students connected during
COVID-19.
Education Today
As schools around the country work to mitigate the risk of coronavirus, wireless providers have quickly stepped up to make sure homebound children have the tools they need to participate in distance learning and stay engaged with their classmates and teachers from afar.
To date, the industry has helped connect 2.4 million students by providing free and discounted devices and data plans, as well as millions of dollars in donations and resources. Learn more about how the wireless industry is helping, and how we continue to partner with school districts and governments to keep kids connected.
Tempele's Story
02. connecting underserved kids
The wireless industry has long partnered with schools to expand connectivity opportunities, particularly in underserved communities—in almost 1 in 5 households, the only internet connection is a smartphone. Since March 2020, the industry has intensified efforts to connect students.
Member Stories
Verizon’s Distance Learning Program offered discounted connectivity to more than 38 million students across 40 states and the District of Columbia as of September 2020.
Since February 2020, T-Mobile has connected more than 1.6 million students. Their Project 10Million is a $10.7 billion initiative to provide wireless hotspots, high-speed data and access to laptops and tablets, at-cost—or the equivalent value of ~$500 annually per student household.
AT&T is pledging $2B over the next three years to help close the digital divide through low-cost broadband offers, participation in the Emergency Broadband Benefit, community investment and initiatives such as AT&T Connected Learning which will help narrow the homework gap through digital solutions and connected learning centers in underserved communities across the country.
Our Impact
Wireless providers have worked with state and local governments and school districts across the country to connect America's students.
See Data by State
03. Connecting kids initiative
The wireless industry’s Connecting Kids Initiative is a new resource for schools and school districts to help keep kids learning in these unprecedented times.
How wireless is Helping
CTIA launched the Connecting Kids Initiative to simplify the process for school districts to find remote learning hotspot solutions by connecting them with wireless operators working to provide broadband access to kids and families in their area.
School districts are encouraged to submit their connectivity needs, and CTIA will help connect them to participating carriers, including the three nationwide wireless operators and regional operators across the country.
School Districts
The submission must be from an official representative of a school district with responsibility for procuring and managing technology and connectivity solutions. We will share your request with participating wireless operators in your community that are working hard to connect kids and families. Please remember there may be other broadband options in your community beyond our participating carriers that could help address your needs as well. Carriers will follow-up with you directly if there is a good match. Please direct any questions to ConnectKids@ctia.org.
Parents and Teachers
Please reach out directly to your wireless provider to explore your options to enable hotspot-functionality on your smartphone or other wireless device to support remote learning. Please share this initiative with your school district, as we can only process requests from school districts.
Jaylene’s Story
04. enhancing existing partnerships
During the pandemic, the wireless industry expanded and enhanced their existing education programs.
Enhanced Education Programs
T-Mobile made 20 GB of data free per month to students who use their EmpowerED digital learning programs, which provide discounts on hotspots, laptops, tablets and other wirelessly enabled devices to students who may not have access to high-speed internet at home.
They also expanded the program to reach over 56,000 students during the ’20-21 school year—since its launch in 2012, 350,000 students have benefitted from the program’s mission to foster digital inclusion, by offering free devices, data access and STEM-focused lesson plans.
Qualified schools that were activating new data plans for school-issued tablets, 4G LTE-enabled laptops and hotspot devices received free service for 60 days.
Carolina and Stefanie's Story
05. high-speed data and flexibility
Wireless hotspots are helping kids access school programs on a laptop, tablet or directly from the smartphone.
Connectivity solutions
Turning a smartphone or tablet into a hotspot to create an internet connection for a
computer or
other connected device is called tethering and it can be done via USB, Bluetooth, or
most commonly,
via a wireless data connection.
This kind of broadband connectivity can be very convenient if a family already has a
mobile device.
Separate hotspot devices, like Mi-Fis, create a Wi-Fi signal to connect families’ phones, laptops or other devices. And just like with a cellphone, there are different data plans to choose from to meet a student’s needs.
Adjusted Data Plans
AT&T increased mobile hotspot data by 15 GB a month for each line on unlimited plans that included a monthly tethering allotment.
UScellular provided its Unlimited Everyday and Even Better Plan customers with an extra 15 GB of hotspot data.
Verizon added an extra 15 GB of data to most mobile hotspot plans to support increased connectivity needs.
T-Mobile shifted consumers on metered data plans to unlimited data, plus provided an extra 20 GB of hotspot data to those with smartphone hotspot plans.
Demi and Bella’s Story
06. Fighting Student Hunger
Nationally, over 29 million children are eligible for low-cost or free school lunches, a critical support system under threat with the closure of so many American schools. The wireless industry is doing our part to provide meals for students and their families in this time of need.
How Wireless is Helping
A $5 million dollar donation was made in support of No Kid Hungry Responds: Coronavirus, which will help feed low-income children who are impacted by school closings.
T-Mobile donated additional funds to help the organization’s quest to end hunger through relationships with manufacturers, retailers and other partners to collect and distribute healthy food that would otherwise go to waste.
$500,000 went directly to a local food bank that seeks to fill the food gap for residents caused by school closures and other COVID-related events.
Keysha and Matthew's Story
07. Supporting educational programming
Providers are also investing in educational programs and services that will help engage children in new forms of immersive, online learning.
How Wireless is Helping
AT&T is pledging $2B over the next three years to help close the digital divide through low-cost broadband offers, participation in the Emergency Broadband Benefit, community investment and initiatives such as AT&T Connected Learning which will help narrow the homework gap through digital solutions and connected learning centers in underserved communities across the country.
USCellular’s JASON Learning partnership allows students to explore STEM learning topics through their “Storm Sanctuary” module, which is available for free for students to download.
Verizon offered customers 60 days of free educational games and tools, including Quizlet, which helps students practice language, science, math and history skills; Bookful, which uses AR to create an immersive reading experience for children; Chegg, a study aid and Epic!, an accessible, safe, digital book library of over 40,000 titles.
CTIA developed a comprehensive tool to help educators and parents understand what wireless services and products are available and to help kids use them appropriately, safely and securely at Growing Wireless.
08. Easing the Transition for teachers
The industry also knows how hard teachers are working to adapt their lesson plans to distance learning and keep their students engaged and we’re supporting them by offering new tools and services to make the transition easier.
How Wireless is Helping
Verizon Innovative Learning’s Teacher Training Pathways program provides opportunities to earn micro-credentials with Digital Promise, an organization committed to accelerating innovation in education.
This coalition is an online resource center to give teachers the help they need to navigate this new digital learning environment.
Keeping Students Connected
Over two million kids—including some of the most at-risk populations—have the internet connectivity necessary for their learning needs thanks to wireless hotspots. Read the full report to learn more about how the U.S. wireless industry is working with forward-thinking educational leaders to connect America’s children to the educational resources they need.
Download the Report
AT&T partnered with Baldwin County, Alabama, to provide hotspots for families of students without home coverage.
The Cordova Telecom Cooperative is offering unlimited data to K-12 families and all Cordova School District staff
Students in Arizona are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Texas Education Agency created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Governor Hutchinson announced agreements with AT&T and T-Mobile to purchase $10M worth of access points & data plans at reduced cost.
T-Mobile and Apple are providing up to 1 million students in California with iPads and data connectivity for next school year.
AT&T donated over $550,000 in a partnership with California’s State Board of Education and State Superintendent of Public Instruction to purchase devices and implement distance learning programs in schools across the state.
Verizon partnered with Los Angeles Unified School District to connect 125,000 students with wireless solutions--expansion of the agreement now supports hundreds of thousands of students across the state.
T-Mobile and Apple are providing up to 1 million students in California with iPads and data connectivity for next school year.
AT&T donated over $550,000 in a partnership with California’s State Board of Education and State Superintendent of Public Instruction to purchase devices and implement distance learning programs in schools across the state.
Verizon partnered with Los Angeles Unified School District to connect 125,000 students with wireless solutions--expansion of the agreement now supports hundreds of thousands of students across the state.
T-Mobile and Apple are providing up to 1 million students in California with iPads and data connectivity for next school year.
Colorado officials announced that $1M of CARES funding would be dedicated to a partnership with T-Mobile to provide a hotspot and data to 34,000 low-income K-12 families
AT&T Connecticut team worked closely with Nutmeg Big Brothers Big Sisters (NBBBS) to provide 100 devices to low income, high risk children to continue engaging in distance learning and remain in contact with their NBBBS volunteer mentors.
Students in Delaware are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Palm Beach County, FL, created $1.2M deal with T-Mobile for 5,000 hotspots
The Georgia Department of Education partnered with Verizon to enable distance learning for 12.5 million K-12 students in 10 neighboring states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia).
Hawaii DOE allocated $16.9M in CARES Act funding for learning devices and $9.7M for connectivity
The Boise School District purchased 500 T-Mobile hotspots for students without home internet access.
Thanks in part to CARES Act funding, Chicago Public Schools partnered with T-Mobile to provide cellular connectivity as part of their Chicago Connected program—a $50 million effort to provide high-speed internet to more than 100,000 public school students over the next four years.
T-Mobile donated 1400 hotspots to South Bend schools for free for five years.
Students in Iowa are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Texas Education Agency created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Students in Kansas are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Texas Education Agency created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Students in Kentucky are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Georgia Department of Education created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Verizon partnered with the Urban League of Louisiana to lauch the Technology Loaner Program to provide laptops, hotspots, and other resources to Urban League participants, including students engaged in distance learning.
Maine is using $9M of CARES Act funding to connect 24,000 students with hotspots & devices.
T-Mobile worked with Frederick County Public School District to provide 1,000 hotspots for students who didn’t have internet access.
Verizon and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education enabled distance learning solutions to cover 4.9 million students in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.
Students in Michigan are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Texas Education Agency created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
T-Mobile is working with Brainerd Public Schools as part of their Project 10Million to bring free and low-cost hotspots to families in need.
Students in Mississippi are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Georgia Department of Education created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Students in Missouri are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Texas Education Agency created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
The Montana State Library is using a portion of their CARES Act program to expand its mobile hotspot and mobile device lending program.
Smith Bagley has delivered over 1,300 access points (hotspots and smartphones) to ten schools throughout the Navajo Nation.
Students in Nebraska are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Texas Education Agency created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
T-Mobile's Project 10Million is providing over 18,000 wireless hotspots with free high-speed data to Nevada schools
Students in New Hampshire are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Students in New Jersey are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Georgia Department of Education created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Students in New Mexico are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Texas Education Agency created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
New York City’s Department of Education is working with Apple & T-Mobile to provide data connections and IPads to 300,000 public school students.
UScellular partnered with the Weldon City, NC, school system to provide hotspots to families.
Students in North Dakota are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Texas Education Agency created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access
Ohio is setting aside $50M of CARES for a hotspot grant to provide hotspots & internet-enabled devices.
Oklahoma’s Department of Education used CARES funding to acquire 50,000 hotspots with unlimited wireless data.
The Oregon Trail School District has provided over 750 hotspots and 2500 Chromebooks to students learning at home.
Philadelphia is allotting $5.1M of CARES funding for hotspots
Students in Rhode Island are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Verizon and South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff created an agreement to provide 150,000 K-12 students distance learning through CARES funding.
Students in South Dakota are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Texas Education Agency created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Students in Tennessee are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Georgia Department of Education created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Verizon and the Texas Education Agency worked together to provide 18.9M students in Texas, and neighboring states Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin with access to distance learning tools like data plans and security solutions.
The Davis School District is offering students that don't have internet at home the option to request a T-Mobile hotspot.
Students in Vermont are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access
Students in Virginia are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Georgia Department of Education created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
T-Mobile provided 850 hotspots to students in the Seattle area’s Northshore school district.
The T-Mobile for Education team helped DC Public Schools by providing 5,000 hotspots to students in need.
Students in West Virginia are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Georgia Department of Education created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Students in Wisconsin are able to benefit from the partnership Verizon and the Texas Education Agency created to more quickly get access to devices and internet access.
Wyoming received over $32 million in federal funding for its school districts to offset the costs associated with COVID, including for laptops or broadband access.
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