Free Government Cell Phones

Lifeline phone service provides free cell phones to America's financially disadvantaged

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What is the Universal Service Fund?

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You’ve probably noticed the term “Universal Service Fund” and wondered what it meant. We’ll do our best to explain this as simply as possible. The Federal Communication Commission created the Universal Service Fund back in 1997 to help achieve goals set by Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. According to the 1996 Act all providers of telecommunications services (otherwise known as phone companies) must contribute to federal universal service in some equitable and nondiscriminatory manner.

The “universal” part of the name means that the phone companies must offer advanced telecommunications service to everyone who cannot afford to pay for it -– including all schools, classrooms, health care providers, libraries and, of course, the needy. Every paying telephone customer has a small fee (usually less than a dollar) to their phone bills every month. Those fees are collected in a Universal Service Fund that is used to provide discounted and free service to everyone who needs it.

The Universal Service Fund is where the money comes from to pay for the Lifeline cell phones from Safelink Wireless, Assurance Wireless, ReachOut Wireless and other providers of cell phones to the needy.

For an overview about how to get your own government phone, go to the Free Cell Phones page for instructions.

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  1. If you are going to ask "how do I get a cell phone?" go here instead.
  2. If you are going to ask "how do I get a replacement phone," go here instead
  3. We are not your cell phone company. All technical questions should be asked of your vendor.
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Comments

  2. They say this is a free phone. Well I don’t see what is so free about it. I ordered a phone through the Safe-Link plan. My telephone server AT&T then left a message on my answering machine, telling me that my order had been delivered. Since I didn’t order anything I called AT&T, since I was going for the free cell phone it disqualified me for their Life Line program that saved me $16.00 a month in taxes.

    So my telephone bill is going to go up $16.00 add that to the $113.00 that I pay for unlimited long distance and Internet service my bill will be $129.00.

    Now I would like to know if there is another plan I can qualify for that will not disqualify me from the government backed phone? Do all phone companies disqualify you from their Life Line services or is it just AT&T?

    Otherwise there is no free phone here.

    Hot in Kansas

    Reply

    • We’ve never heard of AT&T and Safelink working together, especially in this manner. So we don’t know what’s going on.

      Reply