Topic 'Re: Free lunches?' in forum '' - dslreports.com

Re: Free lunches?

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:20:04 EDT

anon posted : its just a quick of determining if a family is a low income family. If they are, the government gives the free lunch at school. So if the get free lunch, Comcast just saved a bunch of time, instead of trying to calculate who is a "low income family."

Re: Free lunches?

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:07:02 EDT

anon posted : What the heck does getting free lunches at school have to do with anything?

The program is geared toward low income families w/ school age children who need Internet for school

News Flash!

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:07:59 EDT

thomasr posted : First off, Netzero requires the use of a land-line telephone which in many areas is now $45-$55 dollars including taxes monthly. Also, dial-up Internet was dead by 2002... it simply is not fast enough for anything anymore.

Seond, the United Nations has proposed since 2003 that the Internet (broadband) be a basic human right. Let's face it, the Internet is here to stay, so who has the right to deny anyone who wants access simply because they can not afford to pay full prices which are blown out of proportion for it? Estonia, France, Greece, Finland and Spain already make sure their citizens can get a connection to the Internet if they desire...as a basic human right... so why can't others understand this and follow suit? Only countries that are eat up with capitalism and greed seem to object when it comes to basic human rights - they will gladly watch people go hungry or go without other basic necessities; and then tell you that you can do better than the poverty that you have been forced into with no fault of your own.

Now, I do not deny that there are a great many people who are on welfare and such that should not be...this is more a fault of our government not wanting to fully investigate these recipients backgrounds and such before cutting a check... You can not fix lazy - as it seems to be a problem in many government agencies across the USA. These workers are set for life, no matter what/how they do their jobs! Once you have cleaned out the slackers from all levels of government, then you can clean out the welfare roles of all recipients who are not worthy and sue them for reimbursements! It would be great if this were a reality, but until then - one could only wish! It is the governments job to help those who are truly in need, but it is not their job to hand out checks to all that apply!!!

Re: Free lunches?

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:33:24 EDT

Oh_No posted :

said by computerpimp:

said by Oh_No:

Especially when the not having service for 90 days rules out anyone who recently lost their job and had to put their kids on welfare lunch and had to just cancel cable and internet...

That is what I have been thinking all along. Where is someone going to come up with $10 a month plus fees, and $150 (another $12.50/mo). That's money that if stretched wisely could go towards something important like feeding your child for a while. When money starts getting scarce needs come first before Internet.

A local K-12 district had computer labs at the schools and would take time and rotate kids through for "digital literacy". It seems like a much better investment of $150 to have the computers at the educational institution whether it is a lab, classroom, library, or mobile cart instead of one person gets the laptop and uses it. And if there is a power outage, there are books that can be taught from.
When the schools replaced older computers they often would refurb the surplus, old ones and give them to families the school knew couldn't afford one. If the people wanted Internet there was always Netzero if available.

Netzero is more expensive since you need a phone line and many people do not get landlines anymore.

I disagree with your statements. Everyone needs internet at home especially for kids in school. If you are looking for a job you need a computer and internet. No one takes paper resumes and applications anymore, it is all online.
Teachers use email to communicate with parents way more frequently than in the past. Parents use the internet to read assignments to make sure their kid is not lying when they say they have no homework and to check grades live.
If you are poor you probably do not have time to or money to cart your kids around everywhere. The internet is cheaper.
There are teachers that require internet for their class just like they require certain textbooks.

In our society we have a standard of living that separates us from 3rd world countries.
This is:
Electricity
Clean water from a tap (except down south, lol)
Housing with minimum code requirements
Public Schools (everyone goes to school)
Mail
Internet/Phone/Communications
Police/Fire
Roads/Interstates/Stoplights/stop signs
Garbage collection
Free OTA TV (with news)
Free Radio
Parks
GPS
Access to safe to eat food
etc...

If you start taking these minimums away our standard of living in the US will go down.

There are way more wasteful things to take away from welfare recipients than internet.
Things like:
Buying junk food/candy with welfare cards
Shopping at expensive stores like Walgreens for food with welfare cards
Refusing to look for jobs outside the local area that would require them to move. (people must move to where the jobs are)
Not declaring father at birth so the mother can get welfare why living unmarried with the biological father.
Buying cable or satellite TV (it is a joke when you see a sat dish on section 8 housing)
More than 1 cell phone
Buying cigarette
Doing drugs (all welfare recipients should be drug tested)

Re: Free lunches?

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:45:48 EDT

computerpimp posted :

said by Oh_No:

Especially when the not having service for 90 days rules out anyone who recently lost their job and had to put their kids on welfare lunch and had to just cancel cable and internet...

Re: Free lunches?

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:29:30 EDT

pfsmith posted :

said by cork1958:

What the heck does getting free lunches at school have to do with anything?

Sheesh! Some of these companies sure can come up with some stupid rules/stipulations!! :o :p

It's a way of piggy-backing on the governments already in-place screening process. Why create your own process if one already exists?

But, what about people without kids? Or, who homeschool?

Re: Free lunches?

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:14:59 EDT

Oh_No posted : Especially when the not having service for 90 days rules out anyone who recently lost their job and had to put their kids on welfare lunch and had to just cancel cable and internet.
They are punishing comcast customers only with the 90 days.
Those with DSL and satellite TV can who just lost their jobs and put their kids on welfare lunch can sign up right away from $10 internet from comcast.

Re: Free lunches?

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:11:56 EDT

cdru posted : Too qualify for the free lunch program, you need to be making < 130% of federal poverty levels, based a sliding scale based on where you live and frequency of pay. It's not tied to free lunches, it's just used as a "poverty indicator".

It's not uncommon to use school lunches, social security, TANF, Head Start, etc eligibility to determine if they can get "lifeline" type service. Here's AT&T's brochure for lifeline service in Michigan that lists the qualifying programs.

Re: Free lunches?

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:10:21 EDT

Linklist posted :

said by cork1958:

What the heck does getting free lunches at school have to do with anything?

Sheesh! Some of these companies sure can come up with some stupid rules/stipulations!! :o :p

The idea is to help the kiddies learn by not being shutoff from the Internet. It is a good PR move to help get merger approval.
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Re: Free lunches?

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:02:11 EDT

Snakeoil posted : I think the idea is that if you are on the free lunch program, then that is a good indicator of you being poor/on social assistance programs [pc version of welfare].
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Free lunches?

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 08:54:27 EDT

cork1958 posted : What the heck does getting free lunches at school have to do with anything?

Sheesh! Some of these companies sure can come up with some stupid rules/stipulations!! :o :p
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