Free Prepaid Wireless Phones

by Ethan
(Los Angeles)

Are free prepaid wireless phones, or wireless phones in general, a basic human right? This is a very interesting topic! Personally, I think it's a stretch.


I agree with the side who questions the use of government funds (i.e. our money!) to pay for people to have wireless phones. Yes, wireless phones (prepaid or postpaid) are extremely convenient, can can even save lives, but I question whether it's a basic human right. Especially when you consider that you've got people with no homes, sick, and cannot put food on the table. Is having access to a cell phone really going to change their quality of life?


I also wonder why that money doesn't go towards offering more food stamps, more or better education for children, access to health care or medicine, etc.


I think it's a great argument to say that prepaid wireless providers (or any wireless provider for that matter) should offer this service as a way of giving back to the community. Rather than receive government funding, provide wireless carriers offering this service a tax benefit for doing so, but do we really need to spend our taxpayer money?


I'd be interested too see data that shows that having access to wireless service improves people's quality of life and happiness that makes this type of program worthwhile. There simply seems to be so many other critical social needs to consider, no?