{"id":268298,"date":"2025-10-01T04:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T04:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/268298\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T04:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T04:44:09","slug":"lupe-advocating-for-hidalgo-county-to-restore-free-wi-fi-service-for-rural-areas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/268298\/","title":{"rendered":"LUPE advocating for Hidalgo County to restore free Wi-Fi service for rural areas"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many living in rural Hidalgo County colonias, access to internet is not a luxury \u2014 it’s a necessity\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though Covid is over, the internet continues being part of our lives,\u201d rural Edinburg resident Maria Arias said.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Hidalgo County began offering free Wi-Fi to rural areas. On Sept. 16, Channel 5 News reported that the county will end the service by the end of 2025 due to a lack of funding.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Hidalgo County ending free Wi-Fi service for rural areas<\/a><\/p>\n

For Arias, the service was how her children were able to do their school work. It\u2019s why she joined members of the non-profit organization La Union del Pueblo Entero to protest the end of the service during a Tuesday meeting with the Hidalgo County Commissioners Court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately\u2026 we don\u2019t have the authority to provide internet services,\u201d Hidalgo County Precinct 2 Commissioner Eduardo \u201cEddie\u201d Cantu told the LUPE members during the meeting.<\/p>\n

The service connected 130 colonias in Hidalgo County to the internet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez previously said the service was funded by a Covid-era program that has since ended.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic has now ended, the funding that once was available is also ended,\u201d Cortez said. \u201cSo now, in order for us to sustain it, we would have to use taxpayer funds.”<\/p>\n

LUPE Executive Director Tania Chavez said she wasn\u2019t satisfied with that explanation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had four years to put together a plan of action,\u201d Chavez said. \u201cIf we knew that that was not a right that they had, then they could’ve worked with us from a long time ago to ensure that today didn’t happen.”<\/p>\n

The organization is now urging commissioners to take part in a feasibility study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many folks in the rural communities that can\u2019t even contact the [internet] provider because the optic fiber doesn’t reach them,\u201d Chavez said. \u201cSo we want to make sure to identify what the gaps are and that we also work with our elected officials to ensure that we draw funds to the community.”<\/p>\n

Channel 5 News reached out to Hidalgo County\u2019s public affairs office, and was told that the county is limited in what they can do.<\/p>\n

The office said people who need free Wi-Fi access can go to the community resource centers located in each precinct, or use public libraries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arias said she and others will continue to fight for digital access for everyone\u00a0<\/p>\n

Watch the video above for the full story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many living in rural Hidalgo County colonias, access to internet is not a luxury \u2014 it’s a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":268299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[42262,139727,139729,75165,10521,139733,139734,118527,26865,139726,17930,139731,712,139730,139728,77084,1809,10872,17929,139732,17928,139725,139735,158,358,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-268298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-broadband-access","9":"tag-colonias","10":"tag-covid-era-program","11":"tag-digital-access","12":"tag-digital-divide","13":"tag-eduardo-eddie-cantu","14":"tag-eduburg","15":"tag-feasibility-study","16":"tag-federal-funding","17":"tag-free-wi-fi","18":"tag-hidalgo-county","19":"tag-hidalgo-county-commissioners-court","20":"tag-internet","21":"tag-la-union-del-pueblo-entero","22":"tag-lack-of-funding","23":"tag-lupe","24":"tag-protest","25":"tag-public-services","26":"tag-rgv","27":"tag-richard-cortez","28":"tag-rio-grande-valley","29":"tag-rural-internet","30":"tag-school-work","31":"tag-technology","32":"tag-texas","33":"tag-united-states","34":"tag-unitedstates","35":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115297089237334195","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}