Obama Phone

Helping Americans with free Lifeline cell phones

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

Wall Street Journal claims only 5% of Obama Phone users really need free government cell phones

July 12, 2015 | | Filed Under: General Tagged With: media

The opinions expressed in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial will come as a huge surprise to millions of Americans who depend on their Obama Phones.

The Journal says, “…it turns out that most recipients of a popular government telephone subsidy would buy the service on their own.”

These opinions were prompted by a Georgetown University study and quoted in a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. According to the study, “…in the absence of the subsidy, only one in eight Lifeline households would not have phone service. And only one of 20 households benefiting from a Lifeline subsidy specifically for wireless telephony would not have service absent the government benefit.”

There is no doubt that the Obama Phone program is flawed and that it suffers from an unacceptable level of waste, fraud and abuse. The Federal Communications Commission attempted to address those issues when it instituted strict reforms in 2012. Those reforms eliminated hundreds of thousands of subscribers with duplicate accounts, but that still left more than 12 million needy Americans participating in the Obama Phone program.

For those of us who feel for the neediest among us, and for those of us who understand how beneficial this program has been for millions of Americans, perhaps the most galling line in the Wall Street Journal editorial was this:

“And even now most of Washington wants to ignore the inconvenient truth about a federal benefit that almost nobody seems to need.”

Those words could only have been written by someone who doesn’t understand the plight of America’s poor. No one else would think such thoughts about a program that helps the needy find jobs and helps them communicate with potential employers, a program that helps concerned parents keep tabs on their children and helps children stay in touch with their parents, a program that helps the sick and infirm reach their medical providers.

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