Upcoming Dates

06/10
2026
June 2026 Monthly Webinar
07/08
2026
July 2026 Monthly Webinar

See full calendar

Resources

How It Works

Lifeline is a federal program that offers a monthly benefit of up to $9.25 towards phone or internet services for eligible subscribers (up to $34.25 for those living on Tribal lands).

Eligible Consumers

A consumer can qualify for the Lifeline benefit if their income is 135% or less than the federal poverty guidelines, or if they participate in SNAP, Medicaid, or other federal programs. See the full list of qualifying factors.

Eligible Services

Lifeline subscribers can apply their benefit to home or mobile phone service or to high-speed broadband.

The Process

These steps will help service providers navigate the process to join Lifeline as an eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC).

1

Become an ETC

2

Create a Compliance Plan

3

Obtain a Study Area Code

4

Obtain a 498 ID

Get Started

Announcements

Ad-Hoc System Maintenance

May 22, 2026

USAC will perform an ad-hoc system maintenance on Tuesday, May 26, from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET.

The production environments of the following systems are impacted:

  • National Verifier Portal
  • National Verifier Carrier API  
...

Read More
May Monthly System Maintenance

May 20, 2026

USAC will perform scheduled monthly system maintenance on Friday, May 22, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m....

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Lifeline Newsletter – April 2026

Apr 30, 2026

  • Improved Consumer Experience on LifelineSupport.org
  • FCC Form...

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Relief to Lifeline Participants Affected by Sinlaku Weather Events

Apr 28, 2026

On April 23, 2026, the Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an...

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LCS System Notice – Resolved

Apr 23, 2026

USAC is aware that the rate field in the claims input template was not pre-populating in the...

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Read more announcements