Some parents may have to pay more for their students to learn online soon.
AT&T has offered free unlimited WiFi to students learning online during the pandemic, but that program is set to end next week and billing resumes.
More students across America are returning to classrooms but many are still learning from home, whether out of fear of COVID-19 or because some districts still haven't returned to in-person learning.
On the first day of virtual school in Dallas, we met student after student having trouble connecting.
"We were having trouble logging in, and since they haven't given us the hotspot we had to use the internet from other devices," said student Garcia.
As the district still works through connectivity issues many students are relying on home WiFi to stay connected to the classroom. In many low-income homes, their only internet connection is through a smartphone.
Dallas-based AT&T offers low-cost internet service for families on government assistance. If you use too much there's a fee. AT&T dropped the overage fee when COVID-19 first broke out. Now they plan to bring the fees back saying families rarely go over the allotted 1TB give.
Amanda Kloer with the advocacy group Parents Together has tried to get an extension on the program saying the need across the country is strong.
"It's really desperate and unfortunately common that families will rely on cell service and hotspot tethering to get work done and a lot of families that drive to a McDonalds or Starbucks and sit in their car in the parking lot trying to use that WiFi connection. That's a challenging environment for children to learn in," said Kloer.
A spokesperson for AT&T said, "after previously extending a waiver for overages, we’ll be returning to regular business practices on Oct. 1. Customers will receive multiple alerts before ever receiving an overage charge. "
AT&T also expanded the number of families that qualify for the low-cost program.
The issue still furthers the need for a permanent solution to the lack of internet in low-income communities -something Dallas School Superintendent Michael Hinojosa is working to provide with various partners including AT&T but the plan is in the millions.
"We started at 30 but it's north of 50 now. So who knows?" Hinojosa told us in an interview in July.
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