How eligibility, amounts and company lists are worked out

Every page and every tool reads three data files: one of rules, limits and amounts, read on the sources below on October 27, 2026; one of approved companies by state and ZIP code; one of subscribers by state. No figure is typed into a page: when a source changes, the file changes and every page follows. Automated tests check the engine against figures read by hand in the official tables.

1. Eligibility

The checker applies 47 CFR 54.409. A household qualifies when one member receives SNAP, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, Federal Public Housing Assistance or a Veterans or Survivors Pension, or when its gross income is at or below 135% of the federal poverty guidelines. On Tribal lands, Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal TANF, Head Start (income-qualified households) and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations also count. One benefit is allowed per household, as defined in 47 CFR 54.400.

• Income limits: the USAC table of 135% of the 2026 HHS poverty guidelines, with separate columns for Alaska and Hawaii. DC and the territories use the 48-state column. For households above eight people, the extra amount per person from the same table is added.
• The result says “at or below” on the limit itself: a household exactly at the limit qualifies.
• California runs its own LifeLine program with its own income table, read on the California Public Utilities Commission fact sheet; the checker shows both answers for California.
• Texas and Oregon run their own application instead of the National Verifier. The Texas form applies the same 135% test, as shown on an archived copy of the Texas Lifeline application site, captured on September 30, 2026, because the live site refuses automated reading.

2. Amounts

Under 47 CFR 54.403 the federal support is $9.25 a month for a service that meets the broadband minimum standard and $5.25 for a voice-only service, kept through November 30, 2027 by the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau order of July 2026. On Tribal lands, $25 more, up to $34.25. The minimum service standards come from the USAC page and the FCC public notice that keeps them until December 1, 2027.

3. Approved companies

The company finder and the state tables read the USAC open data set Lifeline Companies Near Me, a public domain US government work: 770,144 rows read on October 27, 2026, grouped by state and company. A company is listed in a ZIP code when USAC lists it there; it may not serve every address of that ZIP code. Companies are sorted by the number of ZIP codes listed, then by name. No company is ranked by its offer, recommended or linked.

4. Subscribers

The counts by state come from the USAC data set Lifeline Disbursements: the number of subscribers claimed by companies for the support month of June 2026, read on October 27, 2026. Companies may revise their claims for months afterwards, so these figures are the latest complete month, not a final count.

5. Dates

The recertification calendar adds a year to the enrollment date, then the 60-day answer window that opens with USAC’s notice and the 5 business days before de-enrollment, from the USAC recertification page and 47 CFR 54.405. Business days skip weekends but not federal holidays, so a holiday can add a day. The non-usage counter applies the 30-day rule and the 15-day notice of 47 CFR 54.407.

6. What the site does not do

• It does not decide eligibility: only the National Verifier, or the state in Oregon and Texas, does.
• It does not compare plan prices or phones: companies change them often and no official source publishes them.
• It does not keep anything you type: the tools run in your browser.

7. Updates

A script (scripts/update-data.py) re-reads both USAC data sets and stops with an error when the company list has changed, until a person has read the change. The update is run by hand for now; it becomes automatic, through a monthly scheduled workflow, once the site is online. Limits and amounts are re-read by hand when HHS, USAC or the FCC publish new figures.

Method version of October 27, 2026. A figure that looks wrong: contact.