Telephone and Internet: How to Maximize Verizon's Lifeline

Aspects on Need addressed: Residential, Financial

My son's new subsidized apartment was ready two weeks ago, so we ordered telephone services from Verizon. One service is basic voice service. The other service is DSL high-speed internet service.

When ordering phone services, the first consideration was to qualify the voice phone line for the Verizon Communications Lifeline subsidy, as is possible for lines of disabled customers. This subsidy helps to reduce the cost of phone service to a cap of $14 per month, saving a disabled customer a few dollars each month. To qualify, the phone service must be only Verizon's most basic service. That service permits no long distance calling, indeed no regional calling. Calls are permitted only in the most local area.

But the plan's limitation to the most basic service immediately created a problem. A call from my son's land line, for instance, to his mother's cell phone albeit in the same town cannot be completed. Somehow that kind of call doesn't qualify as a local call. The issue has probably something to do with Verizon's internal difficulties. The regular landline service and the Verizon wireless service (to which his mother's cell phone is connected) operate very seperately. The two units do not mesh well, as I know from my own experiences as a customer of both.

So, while the Lifeline subsidy is needed and much appreicated, the plan that it requires doesn't permit a critical aspect of connectivity for a psychiatrically disabled customer.

Our second consideration when ordering service is to gain access to the Internet. My disabled son makes extensive use of the internet to research his medications, to read about developments in the care of schizophrenia, and to entertain himself. He is also considering to enroll in an online university to complete his studies. But DSL internet service is not part of Verizon's most basic voice service. Lines thus being billed for DSL service do not qualify for the Verizon Communications Lifeline subsidy.

There is a way around this problem. It requires a small adjustment in the way DSL service is billed to the consumer. By having DSL billed seperately to a customer's credit card (and not billed to the voice line's phone bill itself), the presence of DSL service does not jeopardize the Lifeline subsidy. To achieve this seperation requires an arrangement with the Verizon Internet Billing Department. It can change the billing location from the phone bill to a credit card and thus preserve the subsidy. But this approach requires the disabled customer to have a credit card in the first place.

How does someone on SSI and SSD, Medicare, Medicaid and foodstamps get a credit card? What credit card company will qualify a candidate who can maintain no more than $2000 of personal assets?

In my son's case, I agreed to be a co-owner of the credit card, leveraging my personal credit to his benefit. I did this so that he could establish in time his own credit history. This would be important later should he ever need to borrow money to buy a house or car, or for any other so-called normal purpose. Having a credit card proved helping in this case as well. By charging his DSL service to the credit card, he will be able to maintain the Verizon Lifeline subsidy on his basic phone service. But not every psychiatrically disabled customer will be able to find this out or manage this administrative adjustment without help.

Such again are some of the challenges of The System.