Do I qualify?
Free phone without a permanent address: how Lifeline handles it
Independent site, not the FCC, USAC or a phone company. Lifeline applications are made only on the official National Verifier or through your state.
No income or a benefit is enough: the checker confirms it, and the page explains what to write in the address field.
Your income qualifies
$9.25 off per month
| 2026 income limit, 1 person | $21,546 |
| Your income is under it by | $21,546 |
| Share of the poverty guideline | 0% |
| Discount over a year | $111 |
| Where to apply | National Verifier (USAC) |
- Income route: proof of a full year of income, or 3 consecutive months of pay stubs.
- One Lifeline per household (48 states, DC and territories table). How to apply
Everything you enter stays in this browser: nothing is sent or stored. This is an estimate from the published rules; the decision is made by the National Verifier or your state.
Having no permanent home does not exclude anyone from Lifeline. The federal application form must ask whether your residential address is permanent or temporary, under 47 CFR 54.410, so a shelter, a relative’s home where you are staying or another temporary address can be given, along with a separate billing address if you get mail elsewhere. Eligibility is the same as for everyone: a benefit such as SNAP, Medicaid or SSI, or gross income at or below $21,546 a year for one person in 2026, which a person with no income meets. The FCC treats residents of group living facilities as separate households, so several shelter residents can each have Lifeline at one address. Two steps need care: the Postal Service address check, which may not find a shelter or an informal address and has its own fixes, and keeping the address up to date, since the rules ask you to report a move within 30 days.
Free Lifeline service: days without use
Status
Active
| Days left to use it | 25 |
| Rule | 30 days, then 15 days of notice |
| What counts as use | a call, a text, data, or answering the company |
Applies only to service with no monthly fee; a paid plan is not cut for non-use.
Rules and figures read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
What to write in the address fields
Under 47 CFR 54.410, every Lifeline application asks for your full residential address, whether it is permanent or temporary, and your billing address if it differs. In practice:
- Residential address: where you actually stay, a shelter, transitional housing, or a friend’s or relative’s home. Tick “temporary” if you do not expect to stay.
- Billing address: where mail reaches you, such as a shelter mail service or a relative’s address. Notices, including the yearly recertification, go there or by email.
The residential address is the one the one-per-household check runs on; the billing address only has to reach you.
When the address cannot be found
The National Verifier checks addresses against the Postal Service. A shelter, a camp or an address without a standard number may fail that check. USAC’s list of error fixes gives several ways through it. Online, the application asks you to drop a pin on a map at the place where you live. By mail, you can send a printed map with a pin, any map with your location circled, or even a hand-drawn map naming the nearest crossroads or mile markers, landmarks and distances. A letter from a government agency or a confirmation from the local post office that the address takes deliveries also works.
Proving eligibility without paperwork at hand
If you receive SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, Federal Public Housing Assistance or a Veterans Pension, choose that benefit on the application: in many states the National Verifier confirms Medicaid and housing assistance automatically, and the checker above shows the answer. If you qualify on income, which with no income is certain, you need a document: a benefit statement, a notice of participation in General Assistance, or another official document that states income. Identity documents follow the same rule as for anyone else: an unexpired ID showing your date of birth and, if asked, a document with the last four digits of your Social Security number.
An example from start to finish
Take a man of fifty staying at a shelter in Seattle, with no income and enrolled in Medicaid. On the application he gives the shelter as a temporary residential address and his sister’s house as the billing address. Medicaid is among the programs the National Verifier checks automatically in Washington, so the eligibility answer can come at once. The shelter address triggers a duplicate address error, because other residents already have Lifeline there; he completes the household worksheet, which shows he shares no income or expenses with them. He then chooses a company listed for the shelter’s ZIP code and receives a discount of up to $9.25 a month, which on many plans means paying nothing.
Keeping the phone working
A free Lifeline plan must be used at least once every 30 days: a call, a text, data use or answering a call counts. After 30 days without use, the company sends a notice and ends the service if you do not use it within 15 days. If your phone is lost or broken, contact the company before the period runs out. The tool below counts your days.
Free Lifeline service: days without use
Status
Active
| Days left to use it | 25 |
| Rule | 30 days, then 15 days of notice |
| What counts as use | a call, a text, data, or answering the company |
Applies only to service with no monthly fee; a paid plan is not cut for non-use.
Two more obligations matter on the move. Report a new address within 30 days, and answer the yearly recertification within 60 days if it comes, which is easier if your billing address or email reliably reaches you. If an application stops on a shared or unknown address, the page on refused applications and the household worksheet page give the next steps.