The unfortunate circumstance is that a lot of senior citizens are not well off financially but yet they are still in need of some sort of communication device. Do any of the following questions apply to you?
• Has your home phone been turned off?
• Do you currently have a cell phone but you don’t have any minutes for it?
• Are you simply unable to pay for a cell phone at all?
If any of those questions are answered yes how are you planning on contacting someone in case of an emergency? For many of us this isn’t something that we will have to worry about but for many people it is a very real problem and a problem that doesn’t seem to have a solution.
A lot of these people are seniors and they could easily find themselves along and injured without any possible way to contact someone should an accident happen.
There is a solution now. The government has come up with a solution to this problem through the offering of a free cell phone. In addition to that there are monthly minutes. All of this is of course subject to qualification.
If you’re someone that is handicapped, currently draw disability or purely live on a very low income you can potentially qualify for this very unique program. Through working with Safe Link Wireless almost all states are offering a government funded program which allows qualifying citizens to receive both a phone and the minutes without incurring any personal cost.
Both the minutes and the phone will vary a little from state to state but regardless of the differences the core remains the same of the free phone with the free monthly minute allotment. If any of the monthly minutes go unused they will simply rollover to the following month. There are some features which will come free with the phone service as well, like call waiting, caller id and even a voicemail box.
Regardless of the state in which you live the phone is almost always just going to be offered to one person in the home. The reason for this is that the phone serves the purpose of being a family phone. You’ll most likely qualify for the free program if you are:
• On food stamps
• On disability
• In a government housing program
• A family member is drawing SSI
There is no "Obama phone" or other newly created federal program to provide free cell phones. As you may know, this is a myth that is now circulating on the Web via email and blog sites. It has been thoroughly debunked by independent groups. (See for example: FactCheck.org at http://www.factcheck.org/2009/10/the-obama-phone/, which notes: "Low-income households have been eligible for discounted telephone service for more than a decade. But the program is funded by telecom companies, not by taxes, and the president has nothing to do with it."
The federal "Lifeline" program was created during the Reagan Administration. Lifeline is a federal program created by the Reagan era Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1984. The program was enhanced under Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was supported on a broadly bipartisan basis in Congress. The FCC’s Low Income Program of the Universal Service Fund, which is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), is designed to ensure that quality telecommunications services are available to low-income customers at just, reasonable, and affordable rates. Lifeline support reduces eligible low-income consumers' monthly charges for basic telephone service.
Thanks to SafeLink, Lifeline support is now available for wireless phones. Traditionally, the Lifeline program was only available as a discount on a consumer’s landline telephone bill. SafeLink Wireless was created by TracFone Wireless, Inc. when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently approved the company to offer Lifeline -- a public assistance program that ensures telephone service is available and affordable for low-income subscribers. SafeLink Wireless applies the Universal Service Fund subsidy to an allotment of free airtime minutes and TracFone provides the wireless handset at the company’s expense. Instead of receiving a subsidized monthly telephone bill for Lifeline service, SafeLink converts the total amount of discounted service into minutes each month for one year. The cell phone offers in-demand features: voicemail, text, three-way calling, call waiting, caller ID and access to 911.
SafeLink phones are not paid for by taxpayers or the federal government. TracFone Wireless pays for the phones and also the cost of promoting its SafeLink program to make sure that eligible consumers know about the program.
SafeLink Wireless is making the vision of universal access to telecommunications services for all Americans a reality. As of October 2009, SafeLink has over 2 million customers and is available in 31 states - Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Today, there are over 1,700 companies in the United States currently providing discounted telephone service. But, thanks to its extensive outreach promoting SafeLink, TracFone Wireless is one of the largest providers of Lifeline services in the United States, second only to AT&T.
Only certain Americans are eligible for SafeLink. Eligibility guidelines vary by state but in general individuals qualify if they participate in a public assistance program such as Food Stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), National Free School Lunch, Federal Housing/Section 8 Assistance, or if they do not receive any of these public assistance programs, they may also qualify based on total household gross monthly income. Customers can learn more or apply by calling 1-800-SAFELINK or visiting www.SafeLink.com
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