Lifeline Telephone Assistance Program
If you are a customer of one of the companies listed below, you may be eligible to participate in the Lifeline Telephone Assistance Program which provides assistance through a monthly reduction on your residential telephone bill if you are a qualifying customer.
Participating Telephone Companies:
Bretton Woods Telephone Company
Dixville Telephone Company
Dunbarton Telephone Company
FairPoint Communications
Granite State Telephone Company
Northland Telephone Company
TDS Telecom (includes Hollis Telephone Company, Kearsage Telephone Company, Merrimack County Telephone Company, Union Telephone Company and Wilton Telephone Company)
To qualify for the Lifeline Telephone Assistance program, you must be participating in Medicaid, Food Stamps, Supplemental Security Income or Federal Public Housing or receiving a benefit under either the Federal Veterans Affairs Veterans’ Pension or Survivors’ Pension. You may also be eligible if your household income is at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. To apply, contact your local telephone company. Please be aware that federal law prohibits eligible consumers from receiving more than one Lifeline discount per household.
The information below explains what the discount is, what it applies to, and how it works.
- If you qualify for Lifeline and have a land line phone, you can receive a discount of $9.25 per month.
- Not all wireless phone providers participate in the federal Lifeline program. If you qualify for Lifeline and only have a wireless phone, please contact your wireless provider to see if the Lifeline program is available to you.
- Eligibility for the Lifeline program is re-certified annually.
- As of December 2, 2016, you can choose to receive the $9.25 per month discount on broadband service (Note 1) rather than phone service. Requirements for mobile broadband speed are 3G with a 500 Mbps per month usage allowance. For fixed broadband, you could receive a speed 10/1 (Note 2) with a usage allowance of 150 GB (Note 3). Please check with the broadband provider(s) serving your area to see if it offers an eligible broadband product.
The Lifeline Telephone Assistance program is a federally funded program. More information about this program is available through the FCC at (http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/lifeline-public-service-announcements-psas) and the Universal Service Administrative Company at (https://www.lifelinesupport.org).
Beginning December 2, 2016, the Federal Veterans Pension or Survivors Pension is a qualifying program for the Lifeline benefit. While some states offer a veterans pension, only the Federal Veterans Pension (and Federal Survivors Pension) qualifies customers for the Lifeline benefit.
________________
Notes:
(1) The term broadband commonly refers to high-speed Internet access that is always on and faster than the traditional dial-up access. Broadband includes several high-speed transmission technologies such as: digital subscriber line (DSL), cable modem, fiber, wireless, satellite, and broadband over powerline.
(2) “10/1” is defined per the FCC is a minimum speed of at least 10 Mbps for download speed and 1 Mbps for upload speed.
(3) Customers of fixed broadband providers that do not offer a product meeting the minimum service standards to a particular customer’s residence may receive the $9.25 benefit if that customer purchases a fixed broadband offering that meets or exceeds 4 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload.
