The Offer
- T-Mobile has launched ‘Project 10Million’ that aims to provide internet access to eligible families that have a student enrolled in the National School Lunch program. If approved eligible families receive 100GB of mobile data a year for free for five years and a free mobile hot spot (plus you can purchase devices at a ‘low cost’).
The Fine Print
- Must provide the following:
- Proof of enrollment in the National School Lunch Program dated within the last 12 months,
- Your student’s school district and ID number, and
- Basic contact information (name, address, etc.).
Our Verdict
Very cool program. Access to the internet is so vital these days and anything that makes that easier is a real positive in my eyes. 100GB is probably on a lower side, but fingers crossed T-Mobile considers upping that limit as the years progress.
Hat tip to Dans Deals
PCsForPeople’s low-cost wifi hotspots and unlimited, uncapped data plan for low income households is a better deal for qualified households in Sprint Mobile service areas.
What are the costs for the “low cost devices”? https://www.t-mobile.com/brand/project-10-million
While it maybe a compassionate thing for low income families it sounds like a joke when it is only around 8GB data a day . With many online learning for hours whole day 8GB will be finished in 2 hours. I think T-Mobile should cancel this program or provide at least 20 GB of data. Comcast and RCN provide similar free internet called internet essentials with 25mbps speed with no data cap!
It’s more like an investment disguised as Charity. T-Mobile knows a lot of people in this program will become T-Mobile lifers when they grow up, get good jobs, etc.
The company didn’t need to do this. Sure they may have mixed motives but can we all not get behind helping families in need?
It’s not 8GB a day but 8GB a month.
I like the idea behind this, but 100GB/yr (8.5GB/mo) isn’t a lot. Hope they tell the kids and families to use this for school work only.
Just signed up for our kids. Pretty simple process. I had to use a different email from my normal T-Mobile login (account currently inactive).
Uploaded the Reduced Lunch verification letter and that was about it.
The email says service is valid for 5 years. Mobile wifi device is Alcatel Linkzone 2 (in North Carolina FYI).
Seems to me there should be some means testing involved. If someone has a net-worth of over $2M, why in the world should other T-Mobile users subsidize him? Or perhaps it’s tax payers who subsidize him if T-Mobile takes a tax deduction for this “charity.”
The means testing is the school lunch program, bud
Not really. Clearly, qualification for free/reduced lunch is based on income, not assets. Someone who comments here has a retire-early blog where he lists his assets of over $2M and describes all the freebies his family gets due to “low income.” (He lives off blog income, dividends from his millions in the bank and government subsidies.) I don’t want to subsidize a multi-millionaire’s free internet, health insurance and other goodies. Do you?
You’re not subsidizing anything. If you don’t like T-Mobile offering this freebie there is absolutely nothing stopping you from changing providers. These types of things can be much more effective forms of advertising for companies such as T-Mobile than running traditional ads.
Take it down a peg with the war on poor people, Jamie. They’re literally offering charity to help poor kids learn and you’re attacking them? It might be time to take a long, terrible look in the mirror and figure out why you’re such a POS.
Funny nobody asked for means testing when T-mobile gave people free phone lines.
What do you think the National School Lunch program is? You have to have a very low income to qualify. Also, T-Mo is a corp, not gov.
How long until we hear stories of them blowing through the cap in a week or less streaming videos or playing games?
My kids won’t be eligible, but this is the kind of program I prefer to see powerful corporations do, much more so than giving a $2 cup of coffee back to customers every other week.
Nothing is for free. Who is going to pay for it?
It’s an investment in T-mobile long term customers. A lot of people stick to one carrier or bank for life. Same applies here.
T-Mo and their customers
The same people who pay for literally all of the bonuses and other benefits we all get from this site, except this this time, *gasp* it’s intended to benefit the verifiably poor. The vitriol for the downtrodden here and in society in general is a travesty, y’all should be ashamed.
Yes, Danno. I can’t get over how many angry comments there are on a website dedicated to taking advantage of corporate promotions.
T mobile is going to pay for it with their profits… Did you forget that private companies have corporate philanthropy programs? And T-mobile being able to brag about this program also is a part of their marketing & advertising strategy? (Comcast has been offering a similar internet access program for years) .
You’d think it would be non-controversial to provide a service to poor kids who qualify for the subsidized lunch program. The palatable disgust from so many commenters is telling.