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fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium Member
join:2005-07-01
Palm Springs, CA
Hitron EN2251
Nest H2D

fuziwuzi to FFH5

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to FFH5

Re: The US doesn't need to subsidize Internet for poor

said by FFH5:

The gov't already gives away phones with Internet access to the poor.

No, they don't. The Safelink phones are barebones "candybar" models, like a Motorola W175G, that has no network capabilities, only voice & text. Safelink participants can choose from 3 plans, with 60 minutes per month, 125 minutes per month (with no international calling or text available), or 225 minutes per month (with no international and no roll-over). There is no data option, since the phones are incapable of data.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

said by fuziwuzi:

said by FFH5:

The gov't already gives away phones with Internet access to the poor.

No, they don't. The Safelink phones are barebones "candybar" models, like a Motorola W175G, that has no network capabilities, only voice & text. Safelink participants can choose from 3 plans, with 60 minutes per month, 125 minutes per month (with no international calling or text available), or 225 minutes per month (with no international and no roll-over). There is no data option, since the phones are incapable of data.

Wrong. Some Safelink phones support data and data can also be used.
»www.safelinkwireless.com ··· nditions

17. DATA SERVICES.
With certain SAFELINK WIRELESS phone models, you can download ring tones, graphics, access information services such as news, weather and sports ("Information Services") and utilize multi-media messaging services ("MMS") (ringtones, graphics, Information Services and MMS are collectively referred to as "Data Services") through our Wireless Mobile Web ("WAP"). Data Services are additional Services offered by us at an additional charge in the form of a debit of minutes for Your use of such services.
Accessing and Purchasing Data Services. In order to purchase, download or access Data Services, your handset must have active service and sufficient available airtime minutes. Your handset will not let you open the WAP browser without an airtime balance of at least 10 minutes. Each time you access our Wireless WAP with your handset's browser, 0.5 units per minute will be deducted from your handset ("Access Charges"). Access Charges are deducted in full minute increments. WAP access of less than 60 seconds is rounded up to the next full minute. Access Charges begin when your handset makes a data connection. This should occur shortly after you open your browser, send or receive a multi-media message (e.g., a picture), initiate a content download, view subscribed Information Services or if WAP access is initiated for any other purpose. Access Charges end when the data connection terminates. This should occur shortly after you close your browser, successfully receive or send a multi-media message (e.g., a picture), after a successful content download or after any other closure of a WAP session. The WAP access duration and the related Access Charges are NOT determined from the exact moment you press a button on your handset to open or close the browser.
In addition to the Access Charges, there will be an additional one-time charge for any content you select to download ("Content Charge"). The Content Charges vary depending on the type of content. You will be advised of the Content Charges prior to finalizing your purchase. The Data Services you purchase and download may only be used or viewed on the handset for which they were purchased and cannot be transferred to any other device, including a new or replacement handset. Data Services are non-refundable and non-transferable.
Purchase Options for Data Services: You may purchase Data Services either through your handset's WAP browser or through the Internet (accessed with a personal computer) at www.tracfone.com
When you purchase Data Services from the Internet at www.tracfone.com, the Content Charge will be shown in both U.S. Dollars and in minutes. You will have the opportunity to select one of two payment options: (1) using a credit card to pay the purchase price shown, or (2) a direct deduction of minutes from your SAFELINK WIRELESS handset. If you buy a TracFone card the number of minutes to be charged is based on the last airtime card added to your handset. See Purchasing Data Services With Airtime Minutes below.
How to purchase from the Internet (www.tracfone.com): Go to "Downloads and More" at www.tracfone.com and enter your SAFELINK WIRELESS serial number (ESN /IMEI) and SAFELINK Wireless Number. This will take you to the Wireless Data Services content catalog where you can browse, sample and purchase ringtones and/or graphics. After you find a title and select "Buy," you will be presented with the two purchase options described above.
How to purchase through your handset's WAP browser: Select "BROWSER" on your handset then select "Start Browser" and you will be presented with a menu. When you use your handset's WAP browser to purchase Data Services, only the unit charge purchase option is available. You may not purchase Data Services through your handset using a Credit card. Note: Ringtones can only be sampled at www.tracfone.com.
Purchasing Data Services With Airtime Minutes: If you add TracFone airtime cards, the charges for Data Services purchases are determined by the last airtime card added to your handset. The chart below details the number of minutes you will be charged for each dollar you spend for the Data Services you purchase. Your phone will be assigned the appropriate dollar-to-minute conversion factor each time an airtime card is added to your handset. The charges for Data Services in U.S. Dollars and/or minutes and the dollar-to-minute conversion factor(s) are subject to change without prior notice.

silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

There was some event SafeLink related around here lately that drew massive lines of people to get the free service. Watched people pull up in their fancy cars the system allowed them to buy....

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

said by silbaco:

There was some event SafeLink related around here lately that drew massive lines of people to get the free service. Watched people pull up in their fancy cars the system allowed them to buy....

Same here, you drive by any low income housing property and you see luxury convertibles (BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc) in showroom condition parked outside. It seems that they cannot afford market rents but they can afford luxury cars.

Meanwhile, I drive a 12 year old car that I just put over $2000 into to put back on the road after spending 6 months taking the bus. It needed a complete exhaust system and new tires to get a sticker, then I had to replace an O2 sensor (at a cost of $200) and I just sunk another $350 into it to replace a belt and the tensioner pully.

It would be kind of nice if I could afford a brand new Ford Fiesta.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt to FFH5

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to FFH5
But the subsidy is exactly the same of no connection access fees and no USF , around $9a month for a landline, similar for a cellphone paid as a rebate.
If you use more minutes or data the subscriber pays the balance Plus all state and local taxes on the full amount.
The phones really aren't free, just cheap if you only use them as a lifeline, their rates are quite expensive for extended use.
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

1 recommendation

biochemistry to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy
Better to drive the car you earned. I would feel like a piece of crap driving a Ford Fiesta that I was only able to afford through defrauding the government. It's too bad there's no more shame in society
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy
Most of those cars come JDB, and AutoMax/CarMax. You pay weekly payments to keep the car "running". Also its called child support payments that most would get and gov't support in terms of cash assistance that is set aside for families already.

But the phones? Those are not given away by the gov't, each and every phone customer pays for those phones under USF. Which the cell phone plan was put into place under Bush. The LifeLine system has been in place for DECADES!

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy to biochemistry

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to biochemistry
said by biochemistry:

Better to drive the car you earned. I would feel like a piece of crap driving a Ford Fiesta that I was only able to afford through defrauding the government. It's too bad there's no more shame in society

And a Ford Fiesta is considered an "economy" car. When my car was out of service, I had to rent cars to go to my grandmother's house in Maine (because public transit in Biddeford is absolutely useless), and I would book economy cars through Avis and they gave me a Ford Fiesta once and that thing was tiny. I am 5' 5" and my mother is 5'1" and that thing was ok to drive but my poor mother had no legroom in the back seat.

If I were to buy a brand new car on the taxpayers dime, I would buy an economy car, not a luxury convertible.

As for me, I am biased towards domestic cars and I've owned cars from all of the big three (first vehicle was GMC, second was a Mercury, and I currently drive a Dodge). I've had the best luck with the Mercury (made by Ford) in terms of reliability.

fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium Member
join:2005-07-01
Palm Springs, CA
Hitron EN2251
Nest H2D

fuziwuzi to FFH5

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to FFH5
said by FFH5:

said by fuziwuzi:

said by FFH5:

The gov't already gives away phones with Internet access to the poor.

No, they don't. The Safelink phones are barebones "candybar" models, like a Motorola W175G, that has no network capabilities, only voice & text. Safelink participants can choose from 3 plans, with 60 minutes per month, 125 minutes per month (with no international calling or text available), or 225 minutes per month (with no international and no roll-over). There is no data option, since the phones are incapable of data.

Wrong. Some Safelink phones support data and data can also be used.
»www.safelinkwireless.com ··· nditions

But, the data services are extra cost to the user, they are NOT provided by the government program. The government program only pays for voice/text minutes, not data. And again, while one of these candybar phones MIGHT have WAP ability, have you ever used a WAP browser on an old cellphone?

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy to TBBroadband

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to TBBroadband
said by TBBroadband:

Most of those cars come JDB, and AutoMax/CarMax. You pay weekly payments to keep the car "running". Also its called child support payments that most would get and gov't support in terms of cash assistance that is set aside for families already.

But the phones? Those are not given away by the gov't, each and every phone customer pays for those phones under USF. Which the cell phone plan was put into place under Bush. The LifeLine system has been in place for DECADES!

In my opinion, if they want to give out free phones, they should be landlines only. I grew up in the '90s and we survived with a landline and by throwing 35 cents into payphones.

fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium Member
join:2005-07-01
Palm Springs, CA
Hitron EN2251
Nest H2D

fuziwuzi to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy
said by IowaCowboy:

Same here, you drive by any low income housing property and you see luxury convertibles (BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, etc) in showroom condition parked outside. It seems that they cannot afford market rents but they can afford luxury cars.

Like clockwork, one can always count on the anecdotal tales of luxury cars, steak & lobster dinners, and iPhones for every welfare recipient.

Daveintuk
@comcast.net

Daveintuk

Anon

I can tell you that this is not a tale.

As someone that works in the utility industry and visits quite a few home's a month, these individuals do have these type of cars. They also have 63" LCD tv's, xbox's, ps3's, and home audio systems that make a technogeek drool.

I always wonder what is so wrong with the system that home's like my wife's and mine are typical middle income but can't justify getting all this new stuff unless the old breaks.

So yeah, they're not tales. They're facts.

fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium Member
join:2005-07-01
Palm Springs, CA

fuziwuzi

Premium Member

Yes, the vast majority of welfare recipients are driving a Lexus, eating steak & lobster every night, and have mega systems installed in their homes. It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt

Premium Member

There are a few such cases.
But some the public assistance laws don't count certain types of assets on purpose, ie in the recent downturn many people lost jobs and may have owned all or part (with a bank)of a nice car and a nice house, but they could get food stamps is a temporary bridge so you could already own or be given a nice car and live in "the projects", also you don't own those homes so when you get a few buck under the table or otherwise you might buy or trade for car parts or a big tv. in reality even if they have a fancy looking car and live there you probably can't afford to fill the tank or go out to eat.

joetaxpayer
I'M Here Till Thursday
join:2001-09-07
Sudbury, MA
552.8 23.8

joetaxpayer to Daveintuk

Member

to Daveintuk
said by Daveintuk :

As someone that works in the utility industry and visits quite a few home's a month, these individuals do have these type of cars. They also have 63" LCD tv's, xbox's, ps3's, and home audio systems that make a technogeek drool.

I'd imagine these folk were employed and even if living beyond their means, made these purchases while working. 63"? You walk around with a tape measure?

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt

Premium Member

said by joetaxpayer:

I'd imagine these folk were employed and even if living beyond their means, made these purchases while working.

And that's probably the biggest weakness of all the programs.
people end up in those places for all sorts of reasons, accident, durgs, illness lack of skills, mental problems, etc.
but a fair number are second generation and never developed the skills/desire to move out and up. too often the "training" offered is more as punishment/make work, and not true assistance, as a learning opportunity.
It would be well worth spending MORE per person NOW if it could inspire at least some to work there way out.
It's like inner city kids who have never been to a farm, if you don't know what's out there or that you can have/work for it too, the concept is a strange as living on the moon.
The war on poverty has left some victims trapped in the refuge camps.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy
Pay Phones are dead in the US. And as long as the USF funds those cell phones, then they will keep going out.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

1 recommendation

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

said by TBBroadband:

Pay Phones are dead in the US. And as long as the USF funds those cell phones, then they will keep going out.

Like I said, if they want to give out free phones, they should only give out free landlines. Or they could give out free cellular home phones (Verizon Wireless home phone connect).
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2 to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy
Stand by... there's MILLIONS of dollars stuffed in the new Immigration Reform bill for cars for certain groups of people.. Yes, the government IS getting in the business of handing out cars... WHAT THE HELL!
fiberguy2

fiberguy2 to fuziwuzi

Premium Member

to fuziwuzi
I'm sure you're an authority on this topic, right?

... I can tell you, as many others in here can, that MANY of these welfare recipients, entitlement takers, section 8 living people live a pretty nice life.. a life that's FAR better than the hard working people that enter their homes to serve THEM.

Sorry.. think again.. since you're not a social worker, you don't have access to raw data, or any thing else, you can only assume like most of us.. however, there are some of us that see it first hand. Yea.. they get a pretty damn good life.
fiberguy2

fiberguy2 to joetaxpayer

Premium Member

to joetaxpayer
Seriously? A tape measure? ... some people know what they're talking about and know what to size a damn TV with out a tape measure.

Also.. let me toss this out there. People that file for bankruptcy.. they have to actually give up property over and above a certain amount of exempted property. In some states is better than others. Florida,... they let you have about $1,000 in personal property.. California, much more.. Hmmm.. wonder where the states are coming from.

Dude.. there are just people out there that game this system.. and what's worse, today, more and more people are being coached on HOW to work the system, and SOME of those coaches work for the very agencies that hand out "the money that the REST of us work for".. that line sounds familiar doesn't it? .. I think the liberals LOVED to toss that line out in the face of American's..
Expand your moderator at work

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt to IowaCowboy

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to IowaCowboy

Re: The US doesn't need to subsidize Internet for poor

said by IowaCowboy:

said by TBBroadband:

Pay Phones are dead in the US. And as long as the USF funds those cell phones, then they will keep going out.

Like I said, if they want to give out free phones, they should only give out free landlines. Or they could give out free cellular home phones (Verizon Wireless home phone connect).

Landlines don't work for the homeless or those so transient as to have no permanent/regular address, ALL of who are faced with violent or medical emergencies far more often then most of us all comfy at home. It is not only a lifeline, but maybe the only reliable point of contact for both assistance, family, medical and potential employers offering the next step toward independence, something everyone should hope for and help with.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband

Member

Thats my point!
Expand your moderator at work