Lifeline and Link-Up Discount Phone Services

Lifeline and Link-Up are federal programs that help income-eligible consumers afford local telephone service. The programs are administered by local telephone companies. Lifeline and Link-up will not help with long distance costs, but ask your long distance provider about possible discounts.

Lifeline provides a monthly discount on basic local telephone service for eligible consumers. The Lifeline program is available for only one phone line per eligible home.  Link-Up provides eligible consumers with discounts on connection charges for new local telephone service and may enable you to finance your portion of the connection charges interest-free for one year. The discount is available for only one telephone line per eligible home.

Consumers enrolled in one or more of the following assistance programs may qualify for Lifeline and Link-Up benefits:

A simple application is available from your local telephone company or from the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor.  Applications can be downloaded from www.openlines.in.gov . You can also call your telephone company to request an application, using the contact information on your bill or in the phone book.  When returning the completed application to your phone company, you must include documentation showing that you participate in at least one of the public assistance programs listed in the "Are you eligible?" section on this fact sheet.

Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor

Revised 3/05