Government Mobile Phones For Free | The Communication Blog

Monday, December 6, 2010

Government Mobile Phones For Free

By Pam Brytes


Can you imagine getting a cell phone for free from the government? It is true. The US government not only gives free mobile phones to people having low monthly income, but also pays for the airtime they use. If you are eligible for this federal program and prove you live under poverty line, you can own a cell phone and get plans with free talk time and incoming calls without spending a single penny.

Lifeline program was introduced in 1984, by the Reagan administration. They created this program to provide cheap yet high quality telecommunication services to people with low income. This program offered a huge discount on such peoples monthly telephone bills.

SafeLink Wireless program is an extension of Lifeline program. It took the discount to the mobile phones. SafeLink program converted the discount amount in the monthly bill into free airtime and allowed the users to use it on a monthly basis. But what if the people using this service cannot afford a cell phone? The US government decided to provide such customers with free government cell phones. People who qualify to get all free government cell phones under the SafeLink program get free airtime also.

These all free government cell phones can use the free minutes given for various types of services like nationwide calling, activating call waiting and caller ID services, calling 911, using voice mails and 411 directory services. SafeLink Wireless services are now available to people in 31 states across the US. Nearly 2 million people use the service everyday and the Trac-One Wireless Company pays for all the calls they make.

Eligibility criteria to use the Safe Link services are very simple. Your monthly household income should not exceed $14,621 (for a single person). Else you should be a recipient of any one of the public assistance programs like Food Stamps, SSI, Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), National Free School Lunch, Federal Housing/Section 8 Assistance. However the eligibility criterion varies slightly in every state based on various guidelines set up by the state government.




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