Free Government Cell Phones

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

Menu

What is the Universal Service Fund?

< Back to all FAQ's

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.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Before you post your comment...

  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.
  4. Your comments are moderated, and we will manually approve those worth publishing within 24 hours.

Comments

  1. America assurance Lifeline company that’s not honor the agreements that they write their representatives are rude very disrespectful one of the representatives would not transfer me to a supervisor refused I was trying to explain to her the song was defective so as a package it up to get it mailed in my mailbox is beside my door and as you would know it a package Thief so I called the company and he tells me that I have to buy upgrade phone if I don’t replace funds then I had a girlfriend’s mother’s phone get stolen with her purse they replace her phone at no charge because you are allowed one replacement phone within the year being that it was stolen or it was some kind of Damage Done by fire the guy tells me they don’t have no more free things all they have is upgrade phones then wanted me to pay for a thing I can’t be held reliable for people stealing the reason that I even apply for the phone I am a disabled woman and I only draw enough to pay my bills and for them to talk to me an act the way they did well talk the way they did to me was very disrespectful they are not a green and a Vine by their terms and agreements I feel discriminated very disrespected so I asked for the police ID number and he gives me a name see see how many more people have been treated this way Treatise talk to us anyway because we are low income people we are disabled people we do you do not hold the Dream It’s the policies that you put in place and your representative stated no more free phones to give out what about the next 10 people game so you know that’s on you on and you all act like anybody else has had any problems with them you’re more welcome to join us this has to stop you know that those we signed agreements where the one supplied they have to honor that agreement but they don’t stand for nobody else to be talked to the way I was talk to because it’s a universal service fund is the one who pays for the phones they are going through the company

    Reply

  3. 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