Millions spent on free cell phone service

Tampa, Florida - Cell phones are everywhere and now they are for everyone.  Some commercials say you can get your free phone at SafeLink or SafeLink.com and that is just what Scott Ferguson did.

Mr. Ferguson may be homeless, but he is no longer phoneless.  Ferguson says he can now afford a phone because the government pays for it.  This is because a program by SafeLink insures that almost anyone can get a cell phone.  As the commercial explains, the government supported SafeLink program provides a free cell phone, voice mail and monthly minutes.

Besides cell phones, the program also pays for land lines as well as the monthly bill.

Florida Public Service Commissioner Matthew Carter says there is a tremendous need for a service like this.  And the state is trying to get as many low income people involved as possible.

Currently more than 618,774 Floridians participate in this program and more than 1.1 million are eligible.

Carter says a phone to a lot of people may be a add-on, but to others, a phone is a necessary service.

Ferguson is allowed 68 minutes a month, which he uses to call his doctor and his attorney because he is involved in a dispute with the Tampa Police.  Ferguson says he doesn't like the idea of only getting 68 minutes, but he appreciates the fact that he still has a phone.

Even though this service may make a difference in Ferguson's life and the hundreds of thousands of Floridian's who take advantage of it, there is no such thing as a free lunch.  You are paying for the service every time you pay your cell phone/land line bill.

It's called a Universal Service charge.  This appears on our cell phone/land line bills.  It can run as high as $1.69 per month and the Federal Government takes that fee and distributes it to the states.  Those participating states then take that money and send portions to phone companies like SafeLink.  This totals to about $10 a month for each person who signs up.

Jose Fuentes, of SafeLink, says the company then converts it to minutes, which give people 68 minutes free each month.  He also states that Florida's largest provider gives the phone for free and the minutes are covered by the taxpayers.

What's that costing you this year in Florida?  $64,794,778
What's that costing nationally this year?  $824,000,000

Many people we talked to feel like Jeff Hough.  He says it bothers him a bit and he doesn't understand why he should be paying for other people's stuff.

Mark Forney agrees, he says he doesn't like it because his phone bill and cell phone bill are too high.

Supporters of the program say that they aren't bothered by the critics in which Mr. Fuentes says you're not going to please everyone, there will always be critics, no matter how wonderful a program is.

However, no matter how wonderful some might think this program is, the millions of dollars spent on free phones disproves that old cliché that "talk is cheap."