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Millions could lose cheap phone service under FCC's overhaul of Lifeline
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, appointed to the post by President Donald Trump, wants to remove a majority of wireless providers that participate in the Lifeline program in an attempt to eliminate "waste, fraud, and abuse." If such a move were made, the "chaos would be magnificent," said David Dorwart, the chairman of the National Lifeline Association (NaLA), a trade organization that represents Lifeline businesses.
Roughly 10.7 million Americans receive text, voice, and data under the program, and 70 percent would have to look for a new service provider under the proposal, according to NaLA, if an affordable option is even available. The program cost about $1.3 billion dollars in 2017, and the funding comes from the Universal Service Fund, which is collected from phone subscribers by service providers.
[...] The proposal, introduced by the commission in November of 2017, would limit the Lifeline program to providers that own their networks. This would effectively eliminate "resellers," or providers who instead lease space on a network. Such providers service more than 70 percent of Lifeline participants. The program has been criticized in the past for fraud. It has been the subject of several reports from the Government Accountability Office, which highlighted "significant risks" for abuse.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @02:31AM (3 children)
Yes it is fraud. Yes he does this sort of shit all the time. His family and friends do too. Every last one also has t-mobile or boost smartphone in addition to the 'free one'. You are being systematically ripped off. They sold this as a nice gesture to help people. I thought the same at one point. Now that I have seen the abuse first hand these programs do little more than make some people feel good without doing anything. That VZW is saying 'no no it is fine' does not surprise me one bit. They are *well* aware of the double sell going on here. You think he would get in trouble if I turned him in? HA! At best they would turn him off for a month and he would just have the thing on again somewhere else. No fines, no jail, no cops. Just a slight inconvenience for him (remember he still has the smart phone too that he bought). Plus the smart phone he bought for his girlfriend. Who also magically has 70 dollars a month to play for a smartphone plan too. Because and I quote "dat bama phone be nasty".
Another dude I know spent 3 months badgering me for my old VZ smartphone to use on AT&T (yeah I know, and I told him). He was convinced he could convert it to GSM from 3g CDMA. He was also going to convert his 'obamaphone' account into a smartphone. So I finally gave it to him to find out first hand. Could not convert it. But magically he kept the old flip phone with 700 minutes a month PLUS magically he had 80 bucks a month to get AT&T and a galaxy 7. Tell me is this someone who needs a free phone?
Those are but 3 of many many many examples out there. This program is rife with abuse. No one wants to actually do anything about it because of 'reasons'.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @03:39AM (1 child)
And you're downvoted by more fools who can't handle cognitive dissonance. But according to them, everyone else is ignorant and backwards.
Or they're just liars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 05 2018, @07:55AM
Yes fraud happens, but usually it isnt on the level you think. These anecdotes are not worthy, come back with real data.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday September 05 2018, @05:02PM
If he has two phones, is he going to make twice as many phone calls as with just one phone? Is he really going to cost more to the cellphone company?