I have received an email concerning free cellphones provided by federal government funding to welfare recipients: https://www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/Home.aspx The number of free minutes supplied is determined by income level.
The email I received referred to this as the “Obama Phone.”
Is this for real?
Also, this is the first time I remember seeing a link with an https address?
Watcha think,folks?
No, not true.
Check the link for a full explanation.
I haven’t read through their entire site, but actually they go into depth that this is NOT some “Obama” phone, and a program that has been available for quite some time, paid for by the Telecom industries.
Again, have no idea if this is legit - but at least they are not making that claim, according to this page.
Oops…sorry for double post of same info…your beat me by a couple minutes, Ellen Cherry!
It’s real. SafeLink is TracFone’s entry into the federal LifeLine/LinkUp communications subsidy program. Basically, you get a shitty TracFone phone and 68 free minutes a month.
If you prefer, the feds will just subsidize your current bill (for a cell or a landline). You can find out if you qualify here.
ETA: Also beaten to the punch.
I hope I’m not the only one who saw the subject line and started singing “Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring ring OBAMAPHONE!”
Well, the title of the email I received referred to it as an “Obama phone” and it made me see red and I forgot about FactCheck. I’m in a position where I have to sometimes listen to some raving bigots who claim that everything that has gone wrong since the dawn of time has been caused by Obama.
Many thanks for the information.
Your email is a bit deceiving as are the TV ads that play all day here. You generally need to be receiving some form of government assistance to qualify and that means having assets less than $3,000. The phone offers like 300 minutes a month, which would be fine for emergency purposes for poor people. That breaks down to 10" per day and these poor folks can stop exceeding the limits any more than then can stop smoking or buying fast food on a meager income. So then they end up with a cell phone bill. That’s the plan and I bet it works.
I qualify in my state because my child has medicaid (Tenncare) according to the link, but I’m a bit nervous about applying for this online. I’d only get 68 minutes, which is around the same as my 15 dollar go phone I think. I’m not sure. I know it’s not much but I don’t usually use it by the end of the month.
What do you think? Should I be the test subject here?
It’s a bare bones phone (no camera, no touch screen etc) and about 60 minutes a month. I had troubles applying through the web site (I’ve heard that most people do). I finally received the phone a few weeks ago. I think I’ve made one call so far. I simply don’t need a cell phone that badly. I got it in case of emergency and for those dozen or so times a year I actually need a cell phone.
Can’t hurt. You can always use it in addition to your normal phone, and the minutes do roll over, apparently.