Tracfone, the popular prepaid phone service provider, will be offering its SafeLink Wireless service for free to 1.5 million low income families. The offer includes ”a free cell phone, mobile access to emergency services, and free airtime minutes for up to one year.”
The families will receive 68 minutes per month and when they are done with those minutes they can buy more. This is a government supported plan and could be a good idea. I don’t know anything about the tax implications, but it seems like a pretty nice thing Tracfone is doing here. The pay as you go wireless provider has already done this in Florida and Georgia. It will be interesting watch and see how it turns out. Maybe there will be a few success stories about individuals really being helped out by this. It’s hard to think about life without a cell phone because most of us take it for granted that we will always have one in our pockets or purses.
This service could help out people who do not have access to a phone who may be having a harder time gaining access to public phones. When was the last time you saw a phone booth? They seem to be going the way of the dodo.
Read more about Tracfone prepaid. Source.
Related posts:
Last night I went out w/ a friend whose mom received a tracfone for free as part of this program. however she wsn’t sure why her mom received it or from whom. Safelink sounds like an awesome program, perhaps tracfone should follow up with the clients they serve (the 1.5 mil) with a letter or email reminding them who the phone came from. Qudos to tracfone!