Lifeline: SUPPORT for AFFORDABLE Communications
If you are a low-income member and need help paying for phone service or broadband internet service, you may be eligible to participate in the government Lifeline Assistance program.
Lifeline reduces what you pay for residential landline telephone service or residential broadband internet service per month. You may qualify to receive Lifeline if your household income is at or below 135% of the Federal poverty guidelines or you receive any of the following benefits:
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- Medicaid
- Federal Public Housing Assistance (FPHA)
- Veterans Pension and Survivors Benefit Programs
- Survivors of Domestic Violence through the Safe Connections Act (SCA)
For program enrollment you can apply online by using the consumer portal on Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC) National Verifier website. You may also apply in paper form by completing an application and mailing it to the USAC Lifeline Center. Lifeline assistance is limited to one per household and available on one service only per household, whether landline voice, mobile voice, fixed broadband, or mobile broadband.
Pursuant to federal law, any consumer who willfully makes false statements in order to obtain Lifeline benefits can be punished by fine or imprisonment or can be barred from the program.
