WASHINGTON — There is an axiom in technology: New products typically go to wealthy customers first, before prices eventually fall to reach the masses.

With broadband now classified like a utility, telecom and tech companies, including Sprint, Comcast and Facebook, are increasingly working to make high-speed internet accessible to every American, not just a luxury. The companies are among those that have set their sights on bringing free or cheap high-speed internet service to low-income and rural populations in the United States, spurred by philanthropy and, for some, the hope of turning Americans who are not online today into full-paying customers in the future.

Those goals were on display Tuesday, when Sprint announced that it planned to give one million low-income high school students a free device and a free high-speed data plan until graduation. Facebook is also working to bring to the United States a service known as Free Basics, which gives people free access to certain websites, including Facebook. Comcast recently loosened requirements for its low-cost broadband service, expanding it to anyone in public housing.

These moves go toward closing what has been an intractable divide between broadband haves and have-nots. About 20 percent of Americans do not have a mobile data plan or broadband at home because the services are too expensive or because of where they live, among other reasons. That often leaves such households in a worse position for basic tasks like doing homework and applying for jobs, all of which have been moving online.