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Lifeline (FCC Program)
Lifeline is the Federal Communications Commission's program, established in 1985, intended to make communications services more affordable for low-income consumers. Lifeline provides subscribers a discount on monthly telephone service purchased from participating providers in the marketplace. Subscribers can also purchase discounted broadband internet from participating providers. The Lifeline program is funded by telephone fees as part of the Universal Service Fund. Overview Main program Lifeline provides a discount on monthly service of $9.25 per month for eligible low-income subscribers. Subscribers may receive a Lifeline discount on either a wireline or a wireless service, but may not receive a discount on both services at the same time. Lifeline also supports broadband and broadband-voice bundles. FCC rules prohibit more than one Lifeline service per household. Residents of Native American Indian and Alaska Native tribal communities may qualify for enhanced Lifeline assist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access, fair competition, radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security. The FCC was established pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934 to replace the radio regulation functions of the previous Federal Radio Commission. The FCC took over wire communication regulation from the Interstate Commerce Commission. The FCC's mandated jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of the United States. The FCC also provides varied degrees of cooperation, oversight, and leadership for similar communications bodies in other countries in North America. The FCC is funded entirely by regulatory fees. It has an estimated fiscal-2022 budg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Service Fund
The Universal Service Fund (USF) is a system of telecommunications subsidies and fees managed by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to promote universal access to telecommunications services in the United States. The FCC established the fund in 1997 in compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Originally designed to subsidize telephone service, since 2011 the fund has expanded its goals to supporting broadband universal service. The Universal Service Fund's budget ranges from $5–8 billion per year depending on the needs of the telecommunications providers. These needs include the cost to maintain the hardware needed for their services and the services themselves. In 2022 disbursements totaled $7.4 billion, split across the USF's four main programs: $2.1 billion for the E-rate program, $4.2 billion for the high-cost program, $0.6 billion for the Lifeline program, and $0.5 billion for the rural health care program. Unlike many government program ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poverty In The United States
In the United States, poverty has both social and political implications. Based on Measuring poverty, poverty measures used by the Census Bureau (which exclude non-cash factors such as food stamps or medical care or public housing), America had 37 million people defined as living in poverty in 2023; this is 11 percent of the population. Some of the many causes include income, inequality, inflation, unemployment, debt traps and poor education.Western, B. & Pettit, B., (2010)Incarceration and social inequality.Daedalus, 139(3), 8-19 The majority of adults living in poverty are employed and have at least a high school education. Although the US is a relatively wealthy country by international standards, it has a persistently high poverty rate compared to other developed countries due in part to a less generous welfare system. Efforts to alleviate poverty include New Deal-era legislation during the Great Depression, to the national war on poverty in the 1960s and poverty alleviat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assurance Wireless
Assurance Wireless USA, L.P. is a telephone service subsidized by the federal Lifeline Assistance program, a government benefit program supported by the federal Universal Service Fund. The service provides to low-income eligible people a free phone, free monthly data, unlimited texting, and free monthly minutes. Assurance Wireless users do not receive a bill, are not required to sign a contract, and do not pay activation fees or recurring fees. Founded in 2009, Assurance Wireless has used the T-Mobile network for coverage since 2020. According to Hotspot Setup, "the two largest providers of free mobile phones are Safelink Wireless and Assurance Wireless, which are available in more states than other providers." Assurance Wireless users may bring their own unlocked device – they are not required to use an Assurance issued wireless phone. If a $59.99 replacement phone is purchased from Assurance, the user will have a limited choice of model. Eligibility By meeting certain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TracFone Wireless
TracFone Wireless, Inc. (TFWI) is an American wireless prepaid service provider. It is a mobile virtual network operator offering Prepaid mobile phone, prepaid and no-contract services on the Verizon (mobile network), Verizon network under multiple brands, including: TracFone, Straight Talk Wireless, Total Wireless, Simple Mobile, SafeLink Wireless, and Walmart Family Mobile in partnership with Walmart. In 2021, Verizon acquired TracFone Wireless from América Móvil in a transaction valued at around $6.9 billion. TracFone's portfolio of brands were integrated into the Verizon wireless business. History TracFone Wireless was established in 1996 as Topp Telecom Inc., a prepaid mobile phone company, in Miami, Florida. It was founded by David Topp and F.J. Pollak. Pollak acted as the CEO of Tracfone until his death in 2016. In February 1999, Topp received a major infusion of capital from Telmex, Mexico's largest telephone company. Telmex paid $57.5 million for a 55 percent cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presidency Of Barack Obama
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2012 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee Mitt Romney, to win re-election. Alongside Obama's presidency, the Democratic Party also held their majorities in the House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate under Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid during the 111th U.S. Congress. Obama is the first African American president, the first multiracial president, the first non-white president, and the first president born in Hawaii. Obama was succeeded by Republican Donald Trump, who won the 2016 presidential election against Obama's preferred successor, Hillary Clinton. Historians and political scientists rank him among the upper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose government is Tribal sovereignty in the United States, autonomous, subject to regulations passed by the United States Congress and administered by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, and not to the state governments of the United States, U.S. state government in which it is located. Some of the country's 574 List of Native American Tribal Entities, federally recognized tribes govern more than one of the 326 List of Indian reservations in the United States, Indian reservations in the United States, while some share reservations, and others have no reservation at all. Historical piecemeal land allocations under the Dawes Act facilitated sales to non–Native Americans, resulting in some reservations becoming severely fragmented, with pie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emergency Broadband Benefit
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, is a $2.2trillion Stimulus (economics), economic stimulus bill passed by the 116th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020, in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The spending primarily includes $300billion in one-time cash payments to individual people who submit a tax return in America (with most single adults receiving $1,200 and families with children receiving more), $260billion in increased unemployment benefits, the creation of the Paycheck Protection Program that provides forgivable loans to small businesses with an initial $350billion in funding (later increased to $669billion by subsequent legislation), $500billion in loans for corporations, and $339.8 billion to state and local governments. The original CARES Act proposal included $500billion in direct payments to Americans, $208billion i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Affordable Connectivity Program
The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) was a United States government-sponsored program that provided internet access to low-income households. Several companies signed on to participate in the program, including Verizon Communications, Frontier Communications, T-Mobile, Spectrum, Cox, AT&T, Xfinity, Optimum and Comcast. The program was administered by the Federal Communications Commission. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided $14.2 billion in funding for $30 subsidies for those with low incomes, and $75 subsidies on tribal lands. As of June 2024, the program has ended. History 2020 Passed December 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 directed the FCC to create a new "Emergency Broadband Benefit program" (EBB) with the aim to help Americans with broadband connectivity in response to the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic. $3.2 billion was appropriated for the EBB program. 2021 In 2021, the US Congress passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FCC Lifeline Reform Plan
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access, fair competition, radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security. The FCC was established pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934 to replace the radio regulation functions of the previous Federal Radio Commission. The FCC took over wire communication regulation from the Interstate Commerce Commission. The FCC's mandated jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of the United States. The FCC also provides varied degrees of cooperation, oversight, and leadership for similar communications bodies in other countries in North America. The FCC is funded entirely by regulatory fees. It has an estimated fiscal-2022 budget of $3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medicaid
Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also have wide latitude in determining eligibility and benefits, but the federal government sets baseline standards for state Medicaid programs and provides a significant portion of their funding. States are not required to participate in the program, although all have since 1982. Medicaid was established in 1965, part of the Great Society set of programs during Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Administration, and was significantly expanded by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was passed in 2010. In most states, any member of a household with income up to 138% of the federal Poverty line in the United States#Measures of poverty, poverty line qualifies for Medicaid coverage under the provisions of the ACA. A 201 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves. These are the most widely used computer networks, used globally in small office/home office, home and small office networks to link devices and to provide Internet access with wireless routers and wireless access points in public places such as coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, libraries, and airports. ''Wi-Fi'' is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance, which restricts the use of the term "''Wi-Fi Certified''" to products that successfully complete Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations, interoperability certification testing. Non-compliant hardware is simply referred to as WLAN, and it may or may not work with "''Wi-Fi Certified''" devices. the Wi-Fi Alliance consisted of more than 800 companies from ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
