Obama Phone

Helping Americans with free Lifeline cell phones

  • Home
  • What?
  • Eligibility
  • Get one
  • Providers
  • States
  • FAQ
  • History
  • News
  • Contact

Obama Phone by the numbers

January 13, 2015 | | Filed Under: General

Lifeline Assistance is the official name of the program that provides free cell phones and free minutes to financially-strapped Americans. But far more people know them as Obama Phones.

Contrary to some of the negative news you may have read, the Obama Phone program has been very successful and helped millions of Americans land jobs, stay in touch with their friends and families and communicate with their parents and children.

In an effort to counter some of the misconceptions about this outstanding program, we present this list of Obama Phone facts by the numbers:

0 – Amount Obama Phone participants pay per month for a cell phone and service.

1 – Number of dollars paid for 1000 minutes per month by Alaska residents who qualify for the Obama Phone program.

49 – The number of states in which Obama Phones available. Montana is the last hold-out.

135 – If you’re below 135% of federal government poverty guidelines, you may qualify for an Obama phone in 44 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

150 – If you’re below 150% of federal government poverty guidelines, you may qualify in eight other states — Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas.

250 – Number of free minutes offered to program participants in most states. (California, which so often leads the way in so many things, now offers Obama Phone customers unlimited talk and texts).

1999 – The year the Lifeline Assistance program began offering subsidies on home phones.

2008 – The year Tracfone handed out the first free government cell phone in Tennessee.

200,000 – The population of Puerto Rico is approximately 4,000,000, but in 2012 the Federal Communications Commission estimated that 200,000 of Puerto Ricans had fraudulent Obama Phone accounts.

10,000,000 – The number of households on Food Stamps that qualify for an Obama Phone but do not yet have one.

13,000,000 – Current estimated number of free cell phones subscribers.

214,000,000 – The number of dollars the FCC says it saved by cracking down on Obama Phone fraud, waste and abuse in 2012

400,000,000 – The number of dollars the FCC says it saved in 2013.

1,384,000,000 – Estimated number of Obama Phone dollars to be saved in 2014 if FCC effort to curb fraud, waste and abuse is achieved.

2,000,000,000 – Total to be saved in three years if the FCC is successful in curbing fraud, waste and abuse. We can’t wait to find out if they succeeded.

2,000,000,000 – Number of dollars spent per on the Obama Phone program in 2013. It is estimated that the 2014 number may be several hundred million dollars less.

72,000,000,000 – Net worth of the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire who owns Safelink Wireless, the first and largest company in the free government cell phone business.

UNLIMITED – Amount of free calling and texting that California Obama Phone users get each month.

Important Pages

  • A guide to Obama Phone providers in your state
  • Obama Phone News & Updates
  • What is the Obama Phone?
  • Who qualifies for an Obama Phone?
    • Tribal Head Start
    • Veterans Pension and Survivors Pension Eligibility for an Obama Phone
  • How to Get an Obama Phone?
  • Obamaphone Providers
  • Who Started the Obama Phone?
  • Lifeline Facts
  • Obama Phone FAQs
  • Discussion Forum / Q&A

Subsidized Internet Too

The FCC has also encouraged major internet providers to provide high-speed broadband to the very same people that qualify for the Obama Phone. Only $9.95 a month. There are cheap internet plans for both cable and DSL. To learn more please go to CheapInternet.com.

Recent News

  • Dropping like a rock: ObamaPhone enrollment falls by two million in three years
  • $7 Billion Bonanza: The new FCC Broadband Connectivity Fund
  • Sprint charges government for inactive Lifeline customers, FCC fines them $200 million for fraud
  • More than 1,000,000 have already signed up for government’s new $50 per month internet discount
  • Universal broadband for everyone who needs it! Free government cell phones for everyone who needs them! Mark Lowenstein for FCC Commissioner!
  • Could your ObamaPhone arrive with malware installed?
  • Assist Wireless exposes tens of thousands of customer IDs in five states
  • Is it the BidenPhone? Free unlimited talk, unlimited text AND unlimited data for a limited time
  • USAC’s port freeze rule eliminated, ObamaPhone customers can now switch companies at any time
  • Obama is gone, and now his enemies want to kill the Obama Phone program

Return to Top of Page
Copyright © 2023

Privacy Policy