Thursday 24 November 2011

Free Phones and Airtime

By Harold Adams


It is now being commonly believed that the government free phones is nothing but a socialist program. At least, this is what the Right Wing would have us all believe. However, this cannot be true as the program helps the weaker sections of the society by giving them a phone as well as free air time. Assurance Wireless is the program created by Virgin Mobile which gives a free phone as well as free talk time and this program is endorsed by the government.

200 minutes of airtime is provided free along with a free Kyocera Jax phone by this program sponsored by Virgin Mobile. This is given to those hit hard by the financial crises and is given in the states of North Carolina, New York, Virginia, and Tennessee. Other such government endorsed programs are offered by companies such as TradFone and Safelink Wireless. However, the minutes offered are only 60 minutes and this too differs from state to state.

To avail of this program one should be already availing of other government assistance such as Food Stamps, Medicaid and so on. These types of government free phones were available right from 1987 after the Telecommunications Act which was passed in 1996. During President Bushs time the program underwent some modifications and Safelink started giving off these phones from the years 2005 to 2008. There were several other programs that supplied such phones right from 1985.

Universal Service is the company that sponsors and actually funds the program and name is to be seen on the bills itself. In previous years a discounted phone bill service was provided to disabled people and the modified version of the program now provides a free wireless service in the form of cell phones along with airtime. This has come as a great boon to many people who have to travel all the time and also to those unfortunate, homeless people. Such people gain maximum benefits from the program.

Virgin Mobile and Safelink both offer the program, but Virgin Mobile is provided in a greater number of states and also their coverage as well as the airtime offered is also more. Being a subsidiary of Sprint, they use its network to provide the government free phones. In some cases, the phones may also be offered at discounted rates.




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