If you get free phone or internet in California, watch out for this snag

Researchers have found that salespeople offering free phone service through the California LifeLine Program often leave consumers in the dark about the trade-offs that come with it. In particular, each household can have only one account subsidized by LifeLine, and they can have only one supported by the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the federal program which enables lower-income people to get free or deeply discounted broadband service. Free mobile phone service can be funded by either LifeLine or ACP, so you have to be careful to understand which one’s at issue if you sign up. According to a study of the LifeLine program by Cal State Sacramento, “street teams” of salespeople account for about 70 percent of the customers signed up for wireless LifeLine service. These groups may pitch LifeLine’s free phone service door to door, but more typically operate out of informal pop-up shops near government offices or high-traffic urban areas, often in lower-income neighborhoods. The study found “highly prevalent” reports of salespeople “not fully disclosing program requirements to customers that resulted in positive outcomes for Street Team members and negative impacts to customers.” For example, the study said, street teams may not tell customers about the “one household rule,” so they could later lose their service because someone else in their household already had LifeLine. Despite the street teams’ tactics, there remains a yawning gap between the number of Californians eligible for LifeLife subsidies and the number who use them. According to the study, only 30 percent of eligible Californians have LifeLine service.