Fios and DSL users don’t have data caps, Verizon reiterated.

The provider is also offering some breaks for those facing a financial hit from the coronavirus outbreak. It’s waiving overage charges and late fees, and will waive broadband and voice charges for existing Lifeline customers. If you need wired internet access, Lifeline customers will get a $20 per month discount on Mix & Match plans that lower their service to $20 per month for a 200Mbps plan. You’ll eventually have to rent the router, but those charges are waived for 20 days.

It’s not necessarily difficult for Verizon to implement some of these moves. When many states are effectively on lockdown, there’s likely to be less demand for mobile data in general. We’d add that other carriers have implemented their own measures, such as T-Mobile’s new $15 5G plan and AT&T’s expansion of its Access low-cost internet plan to more households. Providers are bracing for a significant impact from stay-at-home orders and mass closures for businesses, and efforts like this could be crucial to both keeping people online and preventing a steep drop in subscribers.

Update 3/23 7:20PM ET: Verizon reiterated that there haven’t been caps on landline broadband to start with — we’ve updated accordingly.

The candidate also vows to “dramatically” lower the cost of service. He would require basic internet plans, up the FCC’s minimum definition of broadband from 10Mbps to 100Mbps, regulate rates and fully subsidize entry-level plans for low-income households. This would involve protecting and expanding the Lifeline program. He would outright ban data caps and throttling, and would offer $500 million per year in grants to foster “digital literacy, adoption and inclusivity.”

As you might imagine, Sanders would join Elizabeth Warren in planning to end internet monopolies. He would use existing antitrust regulations to break up cable and ISP monopolies, restore net neutrality, reinstate privacy protections and appoint FCC members who’d foster “competition, choice and affordability.” He’d also mandate transparent prices, accurate speed claims and granular service info. He would not only call for more accurate broadband maps, but run a national census to help with that goal.

Other plans would focus on creating more resilient communications networks that could not only withstand and recover from disasters like hurricanes, but hold up to the effects of climate change and install fiber lines alongside road improvement projects. He would thwart providers who exploit disasters to profit from customers, and establish a “modern smart grid” that can deliver electricity reliably and efficiently while dealing with high levels of renewable energy.

Sanders isn’t the only Democratic candidate making large commitments to broadband access. Warren is pledging $85 billion toward rural broadband, while Joe Biden would offer $20 billion. There’s a clear desire to support internet access beyond cities — it mainly comes down to which (if any) policy is best, and whether or not these strategies will influence voters in November 2020.

Some of the problems may stem from a verifier system that was approved in 2016. It was meant to automatically check whether people qualified for Lifeline service and reduce fraud, but its incomplete access to benefit databases appears to have rejected people who were eligible for the program. Enrollment has plunged in those six states where the verifier launched, although a connection to the Medicaid database (and ideally state databases) might solve some of these problems.

However, the current FCC’s crackdown (including ongoing support of the verifier) is raising concerns that it’s simply interested in cutting off support for poor people, in sync with a presidency that has focused on cutting other benefits for low-income homes. There are particular concerns that changes due in December may prompt carriers to quit Lifeline and leave customers without access. Networks are supposed to help Lifeline recipients by providing more data and phasing out support for call minutes, but they’re expected to complain when the subsidy amounts to less than $10 per month.

Ina statement, the FCC’s Mark Wigfield claimed that the sharp drop in users reflected the success of the anti-fraud campaign — it only “makes sense” that the numbers would go down with the “high rate of improper payments,” he said. It’s not clear how many of those people were actually committing fraud, however, and the evidence to date suggests at least some were kicked out in error.

Those services are already provided by the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, but users must dial a 10-digit number, 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). In 2018, Lifeline counselors answered over 2.2 million calls and 100,000 online chats. But the FCC’s report, which was mandated by the National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2018, found that a 3-digit number “would likely make it easier for Americans in crisis to access potentially life-saving resources.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he plans to move forward with this recommendation. “There is a suicide epidemic in this country, and it is disproportionately affecting at-risk populations, including our veterans and LGBTQ youth,” he said. “Crisis call centers have been shown to save lives.” While many (from Facebook to Canada and universities) have discussed using AI and social media to prevent suicide, a 3-digit hotline number could be another tool.

Anyone in need of suicide prevention can dial 1-800-273-8255 (TALK).