Free Cell Phone Service - Discover your options!
Are
you looking for free cell phone service? Well, look no
further, because there are options available for income eligible
households to get a free prepaid cell phone including free minutes!
Although I describe on the Subsidies
page the fact that prepaid wireless providers don't offer free phones
(as postpaid/contract carriers/plans do), there is an exception.
There are government sponsored programs that have partnered
with select prepaid carriers to help subsidize the
cost of phones and service, enabling access to free phones and service
for qualified individuals.
The whole idea
of these programs is based on the belief that cell phone service should
be accessible to everyone. Most of us take cell phone service
for granted. Even though I can remember when I was the only
one amongst my friends and family who started using my cell phone as my
primary phone (i.e. not just for emergencies), these days it's common
practice. In fact, people expect their friends and family to
be accessible via cell phone. I guess it can be compared to
having access to TV; it's just something everyone is expected to have.
Is a cell phone a basic
human
right?
There are, however, two schools of
thought. On the one hand, it seems reasonable to argue that a
cell phone is a requirement these days for safety purposes, and that
having one is a fundamental right. It also helps people to
keep in touch with loved ones while away from home. That way
we know where our loved ones are in case of an emergency, or
simply to make life that much more convenient for planning and
scheduling our hectic lives. It's amazing the peace of mind
we get from being able to call and say "I'm on my way," or "I'm running
late," etc. And even more so when it comes to getting help
when we run into trouble. This seems to make sense, but there
is another school of thought....
The other
mentality is that although cell phones are useful, convenient, and can
even save lives in an emergency, should having one really be considered
a "right?" If someone is struggling financially to keep a
roof over their head, or to get food on the table, should the
government really be concerned about getting people access to cell
phones? Wouldn't that money be better spent on housing the
homeless, feeding the hungry, etc.? Particularly in tough
economic times when there is less money available for government
assistance programs to take care of basic needs, education for
children, etc., is it responsible for the government to be spending
money on free cell phone service?
Learn more and/or share
your
thoughts!
I'm actually intentionally not sharing
my personal point of view here ;-). I simply want to provide
visitors to this page the different viewpoints, in order to stimulate
thought and discussion around this topic. You can click on
the images below to jump over to pages that go over the available
programs offering free cell phone service, or you can scroll down to
share your thoughts/opinions as to whether or not having access to a
cell phone should be a fundamental human right....or not!
Is having a cell phone a basic human right?
Do you think that having access to a cell phone should be considered a basic human right that governments should pay for?
What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to read what other visitors to the site think!
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