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I tried to see if this has been talked about but may have missed out. I know there are a lot of hits on "Obama phone" but this is a new twist. I rode the city bus today and there were two inside ads for benefit phones. One was the free one and the other was for a WalMart smartphone that I never heard of before.
Although eligibility criteria can vary by state, in general, in order to qualify for discounted service through the Lifeline Discount Program, consumers must have an income that is at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or participate in one of the following government programs.
Federal Public Housing Assistance (FPHA) or Section 8
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
Medicaid
National School Lunch Program's free lunch program
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
The free lunch one is the most interesting one to me. I was even qualified for that as a kid.
I'm not posting this to rehash the general idea of subsidized phones in general but it does concern me that if someone can afford $35 per month for a phone why does it have to be a smartphone? The government typically kicks in $9.25 per line per month but I bet the program costs more than that to implement.
I can just imagine the bureaucracy involved with this. The only thing I can see as a plus for the taxpayer is maybe it costs govco less per month than paying more for a basic phone. I don't know.
$35 per month is great for unlimited talk, text and web. But $45 isn't much more. Maybe it would just be easier for the government to send a check for $120 each year and let someone else do the paperwork.
Behind almost every good deed, one is going to find special interest groups who have paid to benefit.
I'm not speaking of the program in general. I'm wondering why it's being expanded to include smartphones. What "lifeline" service is being provided that causes the government to want subsidize someone that can otherwise afford a cell phone?
Who can afford $35 that can't afford $45? I guess they exist but why the need for a smartphone paid out of the universal fee?
I'm not speaking of the program in general. I'm wondering why it's being expanded to include smartphones. What "lifeline" service is being provided that causes the government to want subsidize someone that can otherwise afford a cell phone?
Who can afford $35 that can't afford $45? I guess they exist but why the need for a smartphone paid out of the universal fee?
Because the FCC is expanding the program to include broadband and data plans.
They are already doing pilots across the US.
They are "modernizing" the program and renaming it to "Connect America".
There's also going to be some bundled services.
We're not connecting. That's OK. I'll give up. I was looking for opinions and you're saying it's happening because it's happening. Thanks for the links though.
I'm not speaking of the program in general. I'm wondering why it's being expanded to include smartphones. What "lifeline" service is being provided that causes the government to want subsidize someone that can otherwise afford a cell phone?
Who can afford $35 that can't afford $45? I guess they exist but why the need for a smartphone paid out of the universal fee?
A benefit I can think of, offhand, is that a smartphone can virtually replace a home computer. Getting unlimited data allows you to do email, job search, surf the net, etc., as well as actually use the phone as a phone. So a person might be able to afford a discounted cell plan, but not a phone and a computer and an internet plan.
I personally have a limited data plan that my husband and I share, so. shrug
I tried to see if this has been talked about but may have missed out. I know there are a lot of hits on "Obama phone" but this is a new twist. I rode the city bus today and there were two inside ads for benefit phones. One was the free one and the other was for a WalMart smartphone that I never heard of before.
Although eligibility criteria can vary by state, in general, in order to qualify for discounted service through the Lifeline Discount Program, consumers must have an income that is at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or participate in one of the following government programs.
Federal Public Housing Assistance (FPHA) or Section 8
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
Medicaid
National School Lunch Program's free lunch program
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
The free lunch one is the most interesting one to me. I was even qualified for that as a kid.
I'm not posting this to rehash the general idea of subsidized phones in general but it does concern me that if someone can afford $35 per month for a phone why does it have to be a smartphone? The government typically kicks in $9.25 per line per month but I bet the program costs more than that to implement.
I can just imagine the bureaucracy involved with this. The only thing I can see as a plus for the taxpayer is maybe it costs govco less per month than paying more for a basic phone. I don't know.
$35 per month is great for unlimited talk, text and web. But $45 isn't much more. Maybe it would just be easier for the government to send a check for $120 each year and let someone else do the paperwork.
Being that half of Walmarts employees probably qualify for the phone, good for them. Walmart that is.
If we're going to have a program to cover cell phones costs it does makes sense to cover data. Not for email/internet, but because with the deployment of LTE (broadband-like data speeds), cell phone carriers are already planning to eliminate our regular talk +text plans with tiered data plans (Hence, Verizon forced us all of unlimited data). The reason being, in the near future voice minutes as we know them will be billed as VoiP, or "calling minutes used over a data connection."
Since the gov't is offering this service, it's nice that they have the foresight to address this before it becomes an issue.
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