One of the incredible inventions in the human race is the internet. The internet is the source of information, a decentralized knowledge influenced by the communities, and used by a big population worldwide. Internet connectivity impacts humans in community development, economy, and many others in almost every country.
Some governments view internet connectivity as one of the needs of their citizen, and through the connectivity, the citizen can access some essential government services. Since all classes of people do not afford internet connectivity, the government has to come in and solve the problem.
Free government internet has developed with lifeline program to partner with the internet service provider to ensure there is a free internet where the citizens can get the connectivity. The connectivity works almost the same as the paid plans; however, it may differ in some features. Free government internet has played other valuable functions like creating job opportunities and bridging the poor and the rich.
Government Internet Assistance Program
The federal government uses its resources and has partnered with the internet services provider in establishing the lifetime program for low-income people. The government pays a certain percentage of money for the services you can enjoy on the program.
However, if the services provided in the package are not enough for you, then you can buy other discounted packages within the program. Note that the services you can get here are very cheap and specifically for low-income people who cannot afford the paid internet packages.
Does Really Government Offer free Internet
The government has a particular program whereby you can get assistance to get free internet. However, the program is not for all the citizens but the low-income ones. They target the family that cannot afford telecommunication and ensure they are connected.
To be clear in this program, you will get the cheapest plan and the lifetime discount that covers your phone bill and internet service cost. The government in this program has partnered with the service providers that offers a discount of $9.25 or less.
However, other internet providers offer free packages that you can also benefit from. The free plan is entire on the telephone providers, but for the internet, it varies. In most states, a provider has free internet services, free text, and minutes.
You can access the free internet through your phone deals data; however, if you want to use it with your laptop or pc, you can create a hotspot and enjoy the internet services.
Note that getting a provider partnered with the government program and offers free internet is scarce, but you cannot miss the lifetime discount deals.
Therefore to answer the question, if the government provides free internet, then the answer would be a NO. It is available in highly discounted lifetime packages for low-income citizens. But not all low-income families can get these packages unless they meet the lifeline assistance program’s requirements.
How To Get Free Government Internet
You have to follow a specific procedure to get the free government internet. If you want to enroll yourself in this program, then the process is easy. Note that you can get free internet through the wireless provider, but the internet might not have high speed.
Here are the steps to get the free internet from government;
Lifeline Eligibility
Step one is to check if you can enroll in the lifetime program. Here one should come from a low-income household. You can determine your eligibility based on the federal guideline on poverty should be 135% or below.
How to Apply for Low-income free Internet
If you have passed the eligibility criteria, you can enroll in the program and access the services. However, the process of enrolling and applying may vary from one state to the other, and in other parts, it differs from city to city. One of the most used ways is applying online via the lifeline program website or through the internet provider website.
You can also request the service via email, where a customer service personnel will return to you and inform you if the application passes through or not. They can also take you through the process of enrolling yourself.
Where to Apply for the Free Government Internet
1. Application via the National lifeline verifier
You can make the application via this lifeline link. Apart from the website, you can make an application through email. Or you can fill out the application print it out and send it to the lifeline center.
2. Application via the internet provider
There are many service providers in this program, and you can visit FCC website to get the list of all the providers that are in this program, and you can choose the one you want. If you have gotten the provider, you can click the apply button, where you will be redirected to the provider’s official website to finish the application.
3. Government Internet Service Providers
If you have come directly to this section, then know that there is no government service provider, but the ones that you see in this program are the one that offers a discount of $9.25 monthly, and others offer free packages.
You can also work with the provider who is currently not in the program as long as they meet the requirement to offer the discounted packages to the low-income citizen.
Other providers offer a package called NetZero where you have 10 hours of free internet in mothy others have a package like FreedomPop where they offer 1 G.B. free data that you can enjoy in a month. The most way to get free government internet services is through discounted plans.
4. Government internet and Phones
Telecommunication companies in the lifetime program provide government-free phones. The providers do this to get many clients to utilize their products. Other carriers provide an impressive amount to their phones in the program, so it is significantly cheaper to buy the phone than other stores.
Some carriers offer free government phones with good deals like 3GB per month. You might not use a free government internet program to steam videos or games, but it will cover your basic need like emailing and browsing.
5. Free government internet and laptops
Free laptops from the government are very rare; it is not offered in the program; however, there are other non-profit-organization that can offer your free laptop if you qualify based on their criteria. With these organizations, you can get a free laptop and a free internet package.
Is It Possible to Get WiFi Without Internet Service Provider
Yes. There are many options that you can use. For example, you can get the free government internet through your phone and then create a hotspot where you can connect different devices. Here are other valid options that you can use to get Wi-Fi without any service provider;
- Wi-Fi USB
- Public Wi-Fi
- Tethering
- Use phone directly
Benefits of The Government Lifeline Internet
The benefits of free government internet are not limited to your household work, school, education, and other tasks. The program assists low-income or moderate-income families or children to have internet connectivity that will help them accomplish a task that requires internet connectivity.
Some of the major benefits include;
- Access to information, Students require to access the internet to do their research, and here they will need to be connected to the internet. Also, other people can use the internet to access helpful information like job opportunities, what is happening worldwide, and many others.
- Family friends can get connected through the internet.
- Low-income people can access the government resources and services through the connection, for example connecting to an app to alert the government about emergencies like fire outbreaks and many others.
- During the Corona pandemic, low-income people have helped connect with their coworkers and accomplish the work at home.
- It has reduced the monthly costs that this group could spend on the internet services because they can use the saved money to pay for their other bills.
Summary
For the past decades, there has been a rapid growth of the internet. With the internet connection, many people can connect and share posts, stories, emails, and many others. Since the invention of the internet, everything is only possible with it.
Nowadays, you cannot accomplish some tasks without the internet. As such, the federal government views internet connection as a basic need for their citizen. To ensure that everyone is connected, the government introduced the free government internet for low-income people.
