Editorial & fact-checking policy
How the pages on this site are researched, written, checked, and corrected.
Why this page exists
This is a site about a government benefit, read by people who are often under real financial pressure. Getting a fact wrong here doesn’t cost someone a bad dinner recommendation. It can cost them weeks, or a phone they needed for a job search. So the rules we work by are written down, in public, and you can hold us to them.
1. Who writes this site
Every page on freegovernmentiphones.org is written by Arthur Patch, who founded the site. There are no ghostwriters, no unattributed contributors, and no purchased content.
If that ever changes, every writer will have a named author page with a real biography, and their byline will appear on their own work. We will not publish under a generic “Editorial Team” or “Staff Writer” byline.
We do not publish AI-generated content as if a person wrote it. Drafting tools may be used the way a spellchecker is used, but every factual claim, source, and first-hand account on this site is checked and stands behind a named human being.
2. Where our facts come from
Primary sources only, for program facts
Every factual claim about the Lifeline program — eligibility, income limits, benefit amounts, application steps, rules — is sourced to the agency that runs or governs the program:
| Source | What we use it for |
|---|---|
| FCC (fcc.gov) | Program rules, consumer guidance, rule changes |
| USAC (usac.org) | Administration, verification, income guidelines, provider rules |
| National Verifier (nv.fcc.gov/lifeline) | The actual application process |
| Lifeline Support (lifelinesupport.org) | Consumer-facing program information and support contacts |
| HHS (aspe.hhs.gov) | Federal poverty guidelines, which set the income thresholds |
| Federal Register | Rule changes and annual updates |
| State PUC / state Lifeline offices | State-specific rules and additional state benefits |
We never cite another blog, affiliate site, or content farm as the source of a program fact. Not once, not for convenience. Almost every error in this niche spreads by sites copying each other, and the only way not to join that chain is to refuse to link into it.
Provider claims are labeled as provider claims
Information about what a carrier offers — device models, data allowances, coverage — comes from the provider’s own published pages or from contacting them directly. That is not the same standard as a government source, and we mark it accordingly, with the date it was checked and where it came from.
When a provider claim conflicts with what applicants actually report, we say so.
First-hand experience is labeled as first-hand experience
Where a page draws on Art’s own applications or the applications he’s helped with, it says so explicitly and specifically — “when we called this provider in July 2026, the representative said…” — never as a vague implication of expertise.
We do not invent first-hand experience. If a page is researched from documented sources rather than done personally, it doesn’t claim otherwise.
3. Dating and verification
4. Accuracy commitments
We will not describe a dead program as live. The Affordable Connectivity Program stopped paying benefits on June 1, 2024. Any page here that mentions it says so plainly. This is the single most common error in this niche and we treat it as disqualifying.
We will not promise a specific device. Device availability changes by provider, by state, and by month. We publish what providers currently list, dated, and we say clearly that it is not a guarantee.
We will not overstate what the benefit is worth. Lifeline is $9.25 a month, $34.25 on qualifying Tribal lands. It is genuinely useful and it is genuinely modest. Both of those things go on the page.
We publish the bad news. Denial rates, waiting times, phones that are refurbished rather than new, states where no iPhone is available — these stay in. A guide with no downsides in it isn’t a guide.
We state uncertainty as uncertainty. If we don’t know, or sources disagree, the page says that instead of picking whichever answer is tidier.
5. Corrections
When we get something wrong, we fix it and we say so.
Reader-reported errors are welcome and taken seriously. Send them through the contact page.
6. Independence and money
freegovernmentiphones.org is supported by display advertising. That is the whole business model.
7. What we will not do
8. Reader privacy in our editorial work
If a reader writes to us about their application, that message is theirs. We do not publish reader correspondence, quote it, or use a reader’s situation as an example without their explicit permission — and even then, without identifying details.
Full details are on the privacy policy page.
9. Holding us to this
If you think a page here breaks any rule on this page, tell us through the contact page and reference this policy. We’ll respond, and if you’re right, the fix goes in the correction log where everyone can see it.
This policy was last reviewed on the date shown at the top of this page. Material changes to it will be noted in the correction log.