Poor in Colorado may get free phones

denver post ^ | 7/15/09 | David Migoya

[Nachum]

Thousands of low-income Coloradans reliant on public assistance could get a free cellphone under a plan before the state Public Utilities Commission.

If approved, the plan by TracFone Wireless in Miami would make Colorado the 17th state it has settled into with free cell service for the indigent, a form of wireless welfare that proponents say taps into one of the last untapped markets for the telecom technology.

"Our hope is to have it up and running by September," said Jose Fuentes, TracFone's director of government relations. "Historically, it's a very underutilized service, and we'd like that to change."

[Nachum]

We have lost our collective minds...

[allmost]

Can I have free cellphone? Or do I need to commit a crime first?

[DoughtyOne]

Simply amazing...  what else can you say.


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[americanophile]

Just phones? You should see the kids playing with the electric wheelchairs they got as toys, for free, from Medicare.

[Star Traveler]

I’m not sure, but I think that all states have a $1 or $2 a month phone for people with low incomes. At least I’ve heard about them for a long time... Since everyone is switching over to cell phones, it seems that this is the same thing.

[DoughtyOne]

Let me guess, ACORN is the carrier. The phones start up with a message on the screen that says, “Provided by ACORN, Whose your Sugar Daddy baby?”

[DoughtyOne]

Ooops...

Let me guess, ACORN is the carrier. The phones start up with a message on the screen that says, “Provided by ACORN, Who’s your Sugar Daddy baby?”

[max americana]

Cell phones for the poor is a great idea. Because calling up the welfare office is easier than lining up in front of it...

[dancusa]

I still don't have a cell phone. Last week my car broke down on a deserted road on a dairy farm at midnight on the way home from work. I waited 2 hours before a good samaritan stopped and offered me a ride home. He did not have a cell phone either. He was on his way from home from work too. He had a badge from a hospital job. We have to pay our bills and both have incomes that gets us by, but don't have the spare cash to pay for cell phones.

[KitJ]

Does anyone have that picture of Michelle serving food at the soup kitchen while one of the customers is taking a picture of her on their Blackberry?

(”Free food? Let me text all my friends and they’ll meet me here...”)

[Scotswife]

hubby and I were discussing tonight how we’re going to manage to get our hands on some of that sweet bailout cash.

First - we’ll have to change our voter registration to a “D”.

trade in the SUV for a Volvo and put some hopeychangey stickers on it.

maybe apply for a job w/ the census and get some under the table action from ACORN?

[CommieCutter]

that proponents say taps into one of the last untapped markets for the telecom technology.

---

That’s so funny. This “market” was untapped because one side did not have the means to pay for it.

[bgill]

Mine is getting old and I need to upgrade, can I have a free one too?!?

[beaversmom]

I just have a cheapy, pay as you go Tracfone. I think you can get the phone with some minutes and airtime on it for $30 dollars or less. ‘m not one of these that has mine glued to my ear—just for emergencies mainly.

[TheThinker]

Wow, I just saw two kids riding around in a parking lot in electric wheelchairs just tonight. Pathetic.

[americanophile]

Your tax dollars at work!

[lmr]

It’s good to know the crack-heads will be able to call their dealer from WHEREVER THEY ARE AT when the welfare check & food stamps arrive on their government EBT cards.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Just wait until they also figure out that those people can't or wont be able or care to recharge them. Imagine a whole slew of new federal regs to deal with that. Plus Obama will name a Phone Czar to run the whole mess.

[Kirkwood]

[Brad's Gramma]

You Know The Drill
Click the Pic

Do Not Resist!

Donate To FR!

Now!

You Know The Drill
Click the Pic

Do Not Resist!

Donate To FR!

Now!

[myknowledge]

Maybe the poor Coloradans can select a cell phone of their choice from the Motorola company.

[chuckles]

My mother in law fell and was never able to walk again and applied for an electric wheelchair. They said she already had one for 5 years. Somebody had stolen her SS# and applied. She told them to track them down and prosecute and they said "Too much trouble". She said "well gimme my chair cause I've proven I didn't order the chair". They said "we can't, you already have one".

I hope cancer treatment goes better than this under Obama Care.

[americanophile]

It’s beyond belief isn’t it? The graft, the outright theft, the criminal mismanagement. Our government is destroying us.

[OrangeHoof]

I sometimes wonder why I bother working for a living. Free housing. Free food. Now free phones. It sure does pay to be poor...

[Mark]

Don’t complain! It’s written in the Constitution!...............Somewhere.......I think...Maybe not. We need a wise Latina women to decide.

[ltc8k6]

There’s already a federal free cell phone program that we are all paying for.

https://www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/home.aspx

[scott7278]

The phone obviously bothers me, but so does the menu announcement on the wall. Be happy with whatever they have. I guess the “hungry” won’t wait in line if they don’t have what they like?

[scott7278]

I had a “poor” person pull up to the pharmacy window in an SUV to get his medicine. He was livid when his 12 medications rang up to the whopping total of $12.

He didn’t like it when I told him that he ought to be thankful that he didn’t have to pay the full cost of just over $6500 (not a typo). I honestly wanted to pull that good-for-nothing jerk out of that vehicle and teach him real pain and suffering.

[scott7278]

I think what really set me off was thinking about how much that same medicine would have cost me, even with a copay.

To think that a bum has more disposable income than a hardworking producer in society just frosts me.

[Colorado Cowgirl]

I’m suppose to let her play with my food, I don’t think so. What does she know about Italian food?

[KitJ]

Yup. That’s the one I was talking about.

Its hard to know where to start with that one.

FReegards!

Kit!

[metmom]

That Secret Service agent in the background looks,like he wants to break someone’s head.

[Karma Police]

Having worked with some homeless in the midwest, often the only thing between them being able to find employment and get off the street is having state-issued photo ID (which is often stolen, or sometimes confiscated by the cops) and cell phones. Without a way to communicate with potential employers regarding job interviews, and work scehdules, its hard to even get a job at mcdonald’s.

That being said, the government shouldn’t be doing this. Private civilian charities should be. The kind of charities that middle class conservatives could start if they weren’t taxed to death by the government.

[Paytriot]

You are on to something there. That is using the Cloward-Piven strategy (their strategy of overwhelming the system) against them.

[Hot Tabasco]

Free phones and free monthly minutes for the poor are already being advertised on television here in Michigan.......

[Scotswife]

what if we gave them what they wanted? What if everyone became a democrat?

[AppyPappy]

Free is relative. In most states, they get a “pay as you go” phone. They use up the minutes in a few days and have to buy more.

Why is this good for us?

Welfare mommas go through cell phone numbers like water. They get a plan, refuse to make the payments and lose the plan. Then they get another plan. This soaks up phone numbers. The “pay as you go” lets them keep the same number and forces them to pay for the minutes they use.

[AppyPappy]

“but don’t have the spare cash to pay for cell phones”

I paid $100 for my phone. That was a phone, service for over a year and 950 minutes. Any minutes I buy after that are doubled. I did this in Febuary and I have 750 minutes left to use until May.