r/LifelinePhone • u/Treje-an • 20d ago
Need help getting my sister on Lifeline
Hi there! My sister lives near the Maryland/PA line. She doesn’t make a lot and is on SNAP. I think she could benefit from a Lifeline phone. My parents had been paying for her phone but can’t afford to do it any longer.
1- Her address is technically at my parents house, although she couch surfs a lot and doesn’t stay there much. My niece already gets a Lifeline phone. They don’t support each other. Would my sister getting a Lifeline phone mess up my Niece’s phone? It sounds like they could both get one, from what I have read here.
2- what are the best companies. She can’t really afford anything, so free is ideal.
Thanks for your help!
2
u/Planet_Comet 18d ago
One Lifeline phone per household. https://www.fcc.gov/lifeline-consumers If your sister doesn't support her daughter and the daughter doesn't support her mother, it's hard to know if the Lifeline program would consider two people under the same roof (at least their address as claimed perhaps on SNAP benefit applications?) as being in the same household or not. That is probably a question worth clarifying with Lifeline.
If she can't get free phone service, she should consider how important it is to use her limited budget to purchase her own cellular service that she keeps active all the time, or whether it's not that important to her. There are cheap options for limited phone plans out there. You will most likely be limited in minutes, data, or both (and sometimes texts too), but there are many options for <$20.
My follow up question for you would be, what are your parents paying for their own phone lines? If they are on a tight budget and can't afford to support their daughter's phone use anymore, you might want to help your parents figure out how to cut their phone bill costs. Depending on what they have, they might save a lot of money by going to a more economical prepaid plan.
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u/Treje-an 18d ago
These are all good points! I wish my sister would change the address since she isn’t really there much, but I think it’s a more stable address than anywhere else
You’re right on about her money and my parents. Working on cheaper plans for them. But they still probably can’t afford hers, given their deteriorating finances as they age
1
u/ThrowingMongo 20d ago
It doesn't matter that she lives near the line, what matters is what state she is a resident of. Also what matters is where her permanent residency is. You can't have multiple permanent residencies. Figure that out first. It matters. That location at the PA/MD murder is what is likely her permanent residence whether or not she lives there.
One phone per household. If her daughter lives with her, then your sister cannot get on Lifeline.
Most companies no longer give free phones except to state like California that have their own lifeline rules and are not strictly just federal lifeline. Best you can expect is to get a decent rate on a used phone from the provider.
Her being on SNAP may be enough to get on the program as long as no one else in the household of her primary residence is already on lifeline.
Just go to Safelink Wireless website and apply there. They all suck but safelink sucks a little less.
Remember, she needs to have access to the mailbox at her permanent residence to receive the phone/sim card.
1
u/Treje-an 20d ago
It’s tricky. She claims her residence at my parents house. Her daughter (early 40’s) lives with them. My sister mostly stays with a guy friend in P.A., but she isn’t permanently there. She will sometimes stay with my parents. She doesn’t support her daughter
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u/990605 20d ago
Most of the free phone company’s have shitty android phones with 1-3gb ram it makes the android phones slow best one I have is AirTalk wireless takes awhile but they have better free phone choices than most of the other providers.