New York, NY – Low-income New Yorkers can now dial up wireless phone service – for free.
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Starting today, Virgin Mobile will offer Assurance Wireless, a federally subsidized program providing eligible residents a free Kyocera Jax phone and 200 minutes of free local and long-distance calling per month.
One account per household will be available.
If users want more than 200 minutes, or text messaging, they’ll have to pay for it. Virgin Mobile is hoping to turn some Assurance customers into paying accounts.
The freebie service is open to New Yorkers eligible for Medicaid, food stamps, Supplemental Social Security Income or other government-assistance programs. An estimated 1.5 million households statewide fit the bill.
HeartShare Human Services, a downtown Brooklyn social services agency, will set up centers across the city that will assess eligibility and enroll customers. Applicants can also check assurancewireless.com or call (888) 898-4888.
“This will be user-friendly for folks who really need it,” said HeartShare’s president, William Guarinello.
While other free and discounted cell-phone offers are available to low-income New Yorkers – including TracFone’s Safelink, which provides 68 minutes per month of free service – Virgin Mobile is offering “more free minutes than other programs,” a company rep said.
The Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline Program provides the cell-phone carrier with a subsidy of up to $10 a month per customer who signs up for Assurance.
Because Virgin Mobile is a prepaid plan, there’s less risk that low-income customers will go beyond the 200 free minutes and be asked to pay for services they can’t afford, FCC spokesman Mark Wigfield said.
“When you run out of minutes, you can’t make any more calls without paying for them first,” he said. “You can’t by mistake ring up extra expensive minutes beyond your plan.”
k Ching – there go your taxes.
Very nice… Give them Medicaid, food stamps, WIC Section 8 and an earned Income Tax Credit. I’ll just get myself a second job so i can pay my oxford health insurance this year for only $1,8000.
this “federal program” comes out of the additional surcharges we all pay on our standard telephone services. In other words, taxes…
People have been entitled to this subsidy for “telecommunications” since 1963… and were partially eligible since 1934. However, cell phones were added as an eligible service in 1997 when the Universal Service Fund was expanded under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This was a REPUBLICAN bill sent up as a revision of the Communications Act of 1934 for President Clinton to sign (which he did).
Land-line carriers have been offering this since the ’60s. It was not until the last couple of years that cell service became cheap enough to provide at that low cost.
It should also be noted that the only other proposed change to the program came in 2007 when Alaska REPUBLICAN Senator Ted “The Bridge To Nowhere” Stevens (remember him?), one of the original bill’s most staunch supporters introduced a bill to add VOIP and broadband services into the bill in order to ensure that rural poor people had emergency communication.
FACT: Only ONE Republican voted against it…. Senator John McCain.
There was a phony email spurred by Glenn Beck earlier this year calling it “Obamaphone”. Another proven Beck LIE. It was actually “Republicanphone”.
Hey, wait a minute… didnt the capital just announce that they are out of money??? They have known about this crises for a while now… why are they making more services available? Especially if there are other options available? Why do they need 200 minutes a month when they cannot afford it? If it is to be for emergency-use-only, 200 minutes is quite a lot. They get $10 for every household- that adds up!!!
WHY ARE THEY WASTING MY MONEY??? IF YOU HAVE EXTRAS, GIVE IT BACK. IF WE ARE IN A DEFICIT- DONT WASTE IT!!!
oh, #4 - stop making this into an “anti-Beck” or “anti-republican” issue. Lets keep to the topic at hand. Voice your opinions on a blog or other arena where they are wanted and apropos. If you want to vent, find an article that fits it better. Oh, and Beck has a lot more informative things to say than any other major newscaster. He actually looks at the fact. Oh, he made one mistake? How many do you make every single day???
So who still pays for their cell phone service? I know I do. How is it that Virgin is offering this free service to the unemployed, however, cannot give a discount to their already existing customers. I am a current customer for Virgin and I have NEVER received anything for free from them. I’m a broke college student and when I called and asked about this service, they informed me that I do no qualify which is completely nuts considering I BARELY have any income and my bills are through the roof. Needless to say, I will be looking for a new service provider in the new year. Preferably one that takes care of its current customers and does not seek to become a foundation serving those who cannot pay their bills. Sorry, but I am not looking to do charity when I am in need of donations.