Lifeline Internet: A welcome addition to the Lifeline phone program
Your selection of cheap internet options just got a little broader. On January 31, 2012 the Federal Communications Commission approved Lifeline Internet, a major expansion of the popular government’s free cell phone program.
Lifeline is the granddaddy of government programs designed to bring state-of-the-art communications tools to low income Americans. The program was originally designed to offer affordable rates on landline telephones. It was expanded to include cell phones in 1996 and the number of users has grown dramatically each year. In February 2012, Time Magazine estimated that 12.5 million people now participate in the Lifeline free cell phone program.
But cell phones can’t provide all the help people need so much these days. What the financially-strapped in this country need most is high speed broadband — to help them search for jobs, find services and especially to help their kids do well in school. Now we see that FCC commissioners have come to the same, obvious conclusion that we reached long ago: Internet access has grown so important, and yet so expensive, that Lifeline should be expanded to include internet access.
Details are still being worked out by the FCC, but it appears that the program will work like this:
Although cell phones and service are free under the Lifeline plan, Lifeline Internet will cost $9.95 per month. That, of course, is a major savings over the “inexpensive” $29, $49 and $69 per month plans now available through phone and cable companies (don’t believe the teaser rates you see advertised), and a major advance in making internet access available to America’s needy.
How will you qualify for Lifeline Internet?
Although no official guidelines have yet been established, it is assumed that the requirements for Lifeline Internet will be identical to the requirements for the Lifeline phone program.
There are many ways to qualify for Lifeline and you will probably be eligible if:
(1) You currently participate in some other federal, state or local
assistance programs such as food stamps (SNAP), public housing, Medicaid, Section 8 housing, Supplemental Security Income, various Home Energy Assistance Programs, National School Lunch and other programs.
or if…
(2) Your household income is at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. (More good news: Residents of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas can qualify with household incomes all the way up to 150% of Federal Poverty Guidelines.)
Coming soon
Like we said, the FCC just approved Lifeline Internet so it has not yet been rolled out and the rules haven’t been established. But they have announced a $30 million pilot program that will work out all the details, and then they will roll it out.
In the mean time, you’ve got two other similar options: Comcast’s Internet Essentials program and CenturyLink’s Internet Basics program. And beginning in Fall 2012, the Connect to Compete will begin to roll out across the country. If you are having a hard time understanding all the various programs, please read our help page.
Check back frequently, because we’ll continue to update this exciting news for low-income Americans. In fact, subscribe to our news updates to make sure you don’t miss a thing.
{ 74 comments… read them below or add one }
What is the information (website/contact number/company) for residents in AR and TX to qualify for free internet?
sign me up
I can’t afford the internet they have out here I want 2go back 2school and internet is 2expensive
i realli would like to have internet so i could go back to school
i already have a lifeline phone service would it matter if i wanted lifeline internet as well PS. thank you for a response
They are separate.
I had the same question but your answer does not clarify for me. Does this mean that you can have a lifeline phone AND lifeline internet?
how do you sign up for the low income internet program? please send information about what we need to do to get this program and the guidelines. thanks
I am on social security disability.
and food stamps.
How do I sign up?
im a single mom with to kids. i currently on ssi for a disabililty and tryin to
go back to school. i need internet to do school work at home
Just a tease, thanks a lot ! I should have known, too good to be true.
Rolls out fully in September.
September is nearly gone, could we get some follow-up on this please? I’m in upstate NY, is Verizon DSL a participating provider?
Still waiting for the government. They are not the model of efficiency.
Is it possible I can receive updates for this New Lifeline Internet you are advertising that is coming soon? Its kinda hard to keep coming back and checking because of NO Internet Service!! Thank You, Sandy in Riverside, CA
Yes. In the top right of any page here, there will be a box that says “Get updates in your email.” Enter your email, and don’t forget to click the confirmation email that you will immediately receive.
Last year (2011), my 90 yr. old mother learned about the Life-line Program (that helps on her home landline phones here in Oklahoma) thru her Dept. of Human Services office. They gave her lots of info on Life-line. Then they told her to choose a phone provider & contact them about applying for Life-line. She chose AT&T, called them, and they sent an application to her. She signed it, provided verification of income , and that she’s on a government assistance program, and they got her on Life-line. fast. Perhaps this Life-line Internet program will work in similar fashion with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in various areas? I know my Mom will be interested in getting more affordable Internet access & this addition to Lifeline would sure help her in many ways. I hope it comes about as soon as possible.
how do you sign up for the low income internet program? please send information about what we need to do to get this program . thanks
I how do I sign up for Low income Internet program?
Thank you, Karen Lay
send me information please I am currently.with at@t it is a promotion threw dish network. but we struggle to pay the bills but my 13 year old needs it for school,
When did cell phones and Internet become a need? People who work pay taxes for this so called need! This is ridiculous, get a landline for everyone and they can go to the library for Internet.
What about homeless?
What about people who spend all day working or trying to find a job & aren’t at home?
What about disabled people who can’t get up to go to a landline phone and can’t afford a cordless?
For internet – kids now HAVE TO use the internet for school. Many can’t get to the library (or home from it) because parents are working or don’t have cars.
Don’t be an elitist jerk
not only that, BUT the library is usually full of ppl allready on the computers and you have to sign a list for your next turn.
Thank you, Georgie.
It is nice to know that there are still people out there who dont “look down their noses” at those who simply CANNOT use generally available options.
You are right, Internet AND phones (landline and cell) are an ABSOLUTE necessity in todays world. No phone/no call to go to work. No internet/ no application submitted.
Its just the way things work now.
dont be such a scrooge. there are many people out there that cant work or afford much of anything.
Hey Dave; I work every day for the wonderful income I’m lucky to have. I have three daughters in school and a wife out of work. (layed-off escrow officer)
I get food stamps to help out and hey I’m paying taxes to help myself and the others here who need it so buzz off !!
06/20/12
I live in California, US. I am a citizen of US. I was laid off a year ago and now living on Social Security receiving $354.00 a month. I need help in securing a cheap internet and home phone services. I could hardly breath every month with such a very tight income. I appreciate it very much if can be considered into the low income internet and home phone services or at least the internet. This is very important for me for communication purposes.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
Shupinar Koubong
Try Internet Basics. Lifeline Internet in this article is not yet up and running.
I would like more information about signing up for lifeline internet. I just recently recieved my lifeline phone. Thankyou
David, do you work? Well if you don’t, you should not care where federal funds are going to help people, especially seniors as myself, who live on meager funding in Social Security due to a early “retirement” due to disability. Seniors, women driving with small kids, and the car breaks down need cell phones because no one will stop to help besides it being unsafe to hail down a passing car in this violent day & age.
As for the free internet, you mention the library, well are you one of the selfish who abused its Internet use where now libraries have a lower limit of use, no more than a half and hour per day & they have a system that can detect if you used a computer in another library?….
Last I checked Trisha, ANY cell phone will still dial 911 which is what you need in a real emergency… doesn’t have to be on a current plan, just have a working battery. Otherwise, do what we all used to do- get an answering machine and call back when you’re home. Cell phones are luxuries. And it’s crazy that people are complaining about their bills and not having time… and then mention CABLE? Turn off the tv, go to the library and lower my taxes… and no, I’m not an elitist jerk. I actually qualify for this program… and food stamps… and use neither because I believe in personal responsibility and living within my means. You should too and our country would be in much better shape. To the people who post here asking for someone to tell them all the answers… this is why you are on assistance. The sources and links have already been provided for you if actually read the article. *2 cents, free change.
Sounds like bull S***
You need to download the FREE internet book ‘The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America” by C. Iserbyt (not just any Republican, but Ron Reagan’s Sr. Advisor) who exposes the OFFICIAL secret gov’t program to drop literacy rates in this nation. We USED to stand at 94% literacy in 1970: as of 2011 the US is at just 50% literacy. This means 1:2 US citizens can’t read/write at a 5th grade level!
Other nations (who’ve NO problems getting jobs for their citizens) made it a priority to RAISE literacy rates. S. Korea now has 98% literacy (w/all students required to learn both English & Korean by 5th grade), India pays for college for those seeking technical, teaching & business degrees, and even Vietnam is pushing for higher literacy (now at 78%) – while the US has gutted programs & forced schools to ‘teach to the test’ so as to stop literacy & learning.
To encourage drop-outs many states no longer give diplomas after 12 yrs of H.S.- they give ‘certificates of attendance’ if you can’t pass all 5 sections of the test w/80% scores or better. My learning disabled son got honors in all but Science – he missed his 12th grade test by 2 points – & the school said he couldn’t have a ‘real’ diploma. We sued (& won) because he couldn’t get a job w/just an ‘attendance sheet’. Most students who realize they won’t get a ‘real’ diploma drop out by 10th grade & turn to crime & welfare. The US has more citizens in prison (2.46 million) than the next 3 countries combined – at a cost of 112 Billion/yr! Why? Privatization of prisons = profit.
Welfare gives just barely enough so people’ll take their checks, sit back, not vote & leave the wealthy (like ALL of Congress) to gut this nation’s resources. Obama was an idiot to think he could take on the organized wealthy of Congress. You think these programs are expensive? Ha! The military (57% of the budget) has a program of deliberate waste that’s staggering: 7 secret gov’t dumps operate 24/7 where boxcars of BRAND NEW items – laptops to kitchen cabinets to custom-made couches are destroyed by the trainload – all to spend what Congress keeps giving them to continue ‘the war effort’ or they’ll lose their funding.(my son – who went in all gung-ho – was high up in counter-intel & still can’t reveal much of what soured him on the military machine but the sheer waste he encountered was staggering… starting w/Bush getting all troops & ships into position 10 months b4 9/11 then invading Iraq on pure lies to the tune of 2.5 TRILLION bucks)
W/most Americans too ignorant & uncaring (love thy neighbor? Ha!) this nation’s doomed to fall in the next 20 – 30 years. People listen to radio personalities like Trivisonno (10th grade education & brags about it!) or Limbaugh (H.S. diploma) to get their info because they can’t read & never check sites like Snopes.com to see if what they hear is truth or myth- like birthers who don’t know Hawaii’s a state or the President’s birth announcements were planted in ’61 because ‘they’ planned to run Obama in 2007 (in ’61 blacks still had separate water fountains).
Everyone’s busy blaming someone else for all their troubles, plus we’re afraid of EVERYTHING. This nation’s a bunch of wusses. 1 nut shoots up ONE theater & now people’re afraid to go to the movies & gun sales shoot thru the roof? The gov’t keeps telling us to ‘be afraid’ (like during Bush/Cheney when they advised people to tape up their homes w/ plastic & duct tape d/t ‘an imminent biological attack ‘someplace’ & idiots went & did this. 8 families DIED of C02 & C0 poisoning). What ever happened to ‘we have nothing to fear but fear itself!”?
I have 3 REAL college degrees – all paid for by ME. The 1st cost just $2200: I used CLEP tests (6 credit hrs still cost $65) & FREE textbooks from the public library to test out of the entire degree from Univ. of the State of NY [which NO student 'advisor' tells grads is available]. The 2nd cost 4,600 and the last just $3945 (Canterbury Univ in the UK). I’ve degrees in nursing (RN,C), applied management & theology. Anyone can do it – but we teach students & citizens how helpless they are & how they need someone to tell them how to learn. Hogwash!!!
I’d like to kiss you on the mouth then slap you. You make the great factual point that America has been dumbed down and then slam the victims of said policy.
To: Maralee K.
Not all of us out here are blessed with your Superior Intellect.. Now with your “3 REAL college degrees” and your “degrees in nursing (RN,C), applied management & theology ” AND your ‘Superior Attitude’, do something useful with them besides bashing “most Americans too ignorant”. You’re not Helping anyone with YOUR ‘Ignorance’. Where is your ‘Compassion’? If you knew as much as your comments ‘try’ to reveal…..you wouldn’t ‘KICK’ the ‘people’ while their down.
Your comments reveal a very angry person….and it takes a lot of energy to be that angry. Use that energy to help others who are not as Fortunate as yourself. Teach with Compassion…..NOT loathing as you display in your comments. (Ex: “so people’ll take their checks, sit back, to gut this nation’s resources”) Or is that beneath you? Something, it seems, you truly missed with ALL your EDUCATION. This is not the place to boast of all YOUR accomplishments, OR to complain about the government and all their faults (or about the people that live under this government). Most of us “ignorant” people (as YOU say) already know FIRST HAND about our government (GOOD & BAD). Use your EDUCATION for change, but not on a site where, as you say, “ignorant” people are asking for help. Asking for HELP doesn’t mean we are “ignorant” . And it DOESN’T mean we need “someone to tell them how to learn.” “Hogwash!!!” (as you put it). We don’t all possess ” 3 REAL college degrees” or “degrees in nursing (RN,C), applied management & theology”. And NO! NOT EVERYONE OR “Anyone can do it “, as you have so KINDLY put it.
This comment applies to ALL the negative comments I’ve read on here regarding people in need. If you want to “bash” the ‘less fortunate’ or ‘the government’, why not do it at the correct website or forum. This forum is for the’ less fortunate’ to get the necessary information they need.
I already replied to Dave. Now miss REAL SOLUTIONS it’s your turn.. I hope some day you don’t go so far down the drain that you do need the help. If you think these programs are why your taxes are so high. You need to do a little more research. Are you aware of the fact that the government has a building, three stories high and as long as a football field. Inside this building is office furniture from many of the previous politicians? That furniture wasn’t good enough for the next politician in office, so he remodeled.( mind you none of it was in bad shape) just not to his taste. Some of these desks cost as much as hundreds of thousands to custom make. Now Imagine the total cost of all our tax dollars sitting in this room. I’m going get help whenever and wherever I can and so should others. The politicians use it at there free will, Why shouldn’t We?
How long before people can sign up? I am on disability & trying to cut back! This program could be a life saver!
Soon we hope. But no word yet.
How can i apply for the lifeline internet….please let me know ,,,i have a lifeline land phone and am interested in this…as i can’t afford the prices that i would have to pay ,,too expensive for me….
Valuable information. Lucky me I found your website accidentally, and I’m surprised why this coincidence did not came about earlier! I bookmarked it.
What is the information (website/contact number/company) for residents TX to qualify for free internet and computer? The internet I have is to expense, I can not afford it. I would like to go back to school to prepare for a good job.
Sounds like a great deal to me.
This cheap high speed internet is the greatest thing I have found. I’ve had dial-up for a few years because I couldn’t afford the high speed internets. The words I’d like to use to describe dial-up would not be approprate to use on here.
please send info for affordable internet
PLEASE. Nowhere I go to, tells me where to apply. Where? I am in Kentucky.
I am currently on government assistance and I have LifeLine on my Verizon phone. I cannot afford pricey internet service. How can I sign up for this? Does this work on desktop computers as well?
How do I apply? I don’t see it anywhere here
ok if you can not afford to pay for it yourself then you dk NOT need it. this all goes back to when the welfare act was set up after ww2. now you have deadbeats taking advantage of it that are able body and can work bit choose not too because why should they when they can have someone elsenpay thier bills and feed them. i remember growing up andnhearing….. if you don’t work then you don’t eat. i know several that are rippng off prgrams. when i report them NOTHING is done and yet they still milk the system.
If your spelling and sentence structure was a little better I may give your thought equal consideration..Perhaps that is why no one does anything if indeed you are reporting TRUE “deadbeats” ,as you should of course.
the economy is in a tailspin, you douche nozzle. then some jackazz like you steps out and say ‘hey you losers pull yourself up by yer bootstraps’ to ppl who can’t afford boots through no fault of their own. jerkface.
how do i apply?
I would like to know how to apply for cheap internet service. I am in school online and I need internet service to do my homework.
Will there be a limit on how much you can use the internet with this program? I know there is a limit on the time on the phones.
I’m a senior, so I think this is the only program that would apply to me, and it sure would help. My Social Security is $637 a month and my cable bill with internet (49.95) is $127 a month, and getting ready to go up to $166.
I am retired, get food stamps, and live in a rural area. I would like to get the lifeline Internet. Please tell me how?
Don
That’s why we created this website. It’s all here.
Is this available in Mississippi? I’m on disability with 2 children & divorced.
Look at our menu up top and click on States to find out.
IS the gov. going to be watching
No they won’t. Not that we don’t think they are snooping on us elsewhere, but I don’t think they have any special interest on snooping on people who are low income.
Update from North Carolina: the help with a land line installation is gone at the federal level as of March, 2012, per the FCC and the phone company here that would have participated: AT&T.
The know nothings at the local DSS offices still have brochures in their offices stating that this is available, but it no longer is. They also know nothing about any other communications options other than the cell phone assistance. What do they care, after all? Until the recent budget cuts get them too, they’re salaried, with benefits and paid well above the poverty level of those they “serve”.
How can I find information on the cheap internet…I’am a student, and i have two disabled parents that i can show their income. Where can i find the application for my dad
To whom it may concern:
where can I find the application for the internet and the cellphone that is offered for disabled low income families. I’m trying to get a phone for my father as well as internet. where should we look. Any where i click takes me to bunch of writing
thanks
how to sign up for low income internet.
http://www.cheapinternet.com/get-help
I already have a lifeline phone service would it matter if i wanted lifeline internet as well PS.
thank you
I am NOT seeing info I need at all. All I read requires that I have kids in school but nothing about those of us who don’t have kids. I am Deaf and because of it, I need internet so that I can make and recieve phone calls using video relay. Without it, I am totally cut off from society.
To date, I found NOTHING to those of us who need Internet to communicate.
Is the pending Lifeline Internet open for those who doesn’t have kids in school? I do not have lifeline phone service because 250 texts per month is too few for the Deaf, even though I qualify for it.
You have correctly pointed out an obvious flaw in this system. Unfortunately, seniors are also under-served by the various programs. We will continue urging all the companies involved to address these issues, so please keep checking back here at CheapInternet.com frequently so you’ll be aware when they take action.
Lifeline Internet any info would be helpfull
This program seems to be moving very slowly other than where Comcast has service. I’m a senior living in a VERY small town in Illinois and my cable company is Mediacom. There are no other internet providers here. Is there any possibility that AT&T might enter the program, or that there might be any other access?
I keep getting emails from you, sometimes every day, but they all seem to say the same thing – Comcast will offer 9.95 internet. Any “NEW” news would be welcome.
You may be getting emails every day, but they’re from CheapInternet.com.
Great idea. . . but Florida has some of the poorest of the poor in the Nation. Yet NONE of the groups outlined here provide service in our area.
Bah!
It said this was approved in 2012? Here it is 2013…..so why no updated information on how to apply? Comcast is not in my area so it doesn’t help much to offer that.
How do i apply? Im not understaning. I need this very bad. Im on foodstamps&I draw ssi. Could u help me?
You can’t really apply yet. Read the “Coming Soon…” section of the page. We’re still waiting, as you are.