Access is often defined in policies oriented to digital inclusion as the potential, if not the means, to access an Internet connection. Using a policy anthropology (Wedel & Feldman, 2005) approach that combines methods of critical policy analysis with an ethnography of adults' learning experiences in a public-access digital café, we argue that access is complicated, contingent, and precarious. We find that the actualities of digital learning among adults on the margins of access differ considerably from those of the "model users" imagined in leading digital policies, and we argue that more contextual foregrounding with respect to the nature of digital learning is therefore required among adult educators and policy makers. We conclude with recommendations for how digital policies might attend to the learning needs of those on the margins of access who will benefit most from affordable Internet and from appropriate, timely, and consistent digital learning opportunities.