What Is the Assurance Wireless Lifeline Program
Lifeline program is a federal government initiative to provide poor households with subsidized communication plans and free government phones. The government came up with the free service when they realized that some people struggled to access communication services.
Various communication companies work with the government to offer Lifeline services, Assurance Wireless being one of them. Today, I will mainly dwell on the Assurance Wireless Lifeline program.
What is Assurance Wireless Lifeline Program?
The Assurance Wireless Lifeline Program is part of the government Lifeline aid service that consists of a free Assurance Wireless phone plus 250 free monthly voice call minutes and 250 free texts.
Only a single person in every qualifying household can apply for the Lifeline program. The service is not transferable to someone else either.
How to qualify for Assurance Wireless Lifeline Program
To get the free Lifeline services, you must meet the requirements set by the government. They include the following.
1. Have a total household income of below or 135%.
2. Participate in any of the government aid programs such as;
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
- Tribal Head Start
- Supplemental Security Income
- Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance
- Federal Public Housing Assistance
- Tribally Administered Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
- Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, or
- Veterans and Survivors Pension Benefit
How to apply for the Assurance Wireless Lifeline Program
You can easily apply for the lifeline program by visiting the Assurance Lifeline page and submitting the required details. You can also call Assurance Wireless Customer Care at 1–888–898–4888.
Moreover, you can speak to a representative in your neighborhood who will help you apply for the service. However, beware of fraudsters who ask for money as the application is free.
Once you apply, you should continually recertify every year and complete the verification process to verify that you still qualify for the Lifeline assistance. If you do not do that, you may lose your account to someone else.
What if I do not qualify for the Lifeline program?
Suppose you do not qualify for the Assurance Wireless program. In that case, you can opt for the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) and see if you can qualify to get an Assurance Wireless free tablet.
The EBB program is a temporary government program that aims to cushion people affected by Covid’19 to the extent of losing their jobs to get relief to buy broadband plans.
The EBB program provides eligible household discounts of up to $50 every month towards the broadband service and up to $75 every month for households within the qualifying Tribal lands.
Once you qualify, you can receive up to $100 to purchase a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer from the participating providers. You must contribute more than $10 and, at most, $50 toward the purchase price.
Remember that even if you are a lifeline beneficiary, you can still apply for the EBB program. You will continue with your Lifeline program together with the EBB program and once the EBB comes to an end.
Assurance Wireless has cheap plans as well, and if you do not qualify for either Lifeline or EBB, you can get the $30 unlimited talk, text, and web plan to sort yourself out.
Bottom line
Lifeline Program is a federal aid initiative that provides poor households with free phones and subsidized communication plans. There are various ways you can qualify for the service, but one significant way is to have a total income of below or at 135%.
Assurance Wireless allows you to apply online or call customer care. If you do not qualify for the program, you can opt for the cheap plans by the company.
