I am a Social Security Disability welfare recipient on subsidized housing. Therefore I qualify for the government sponsored "Lifeline" free phone program. And the ONLY thing good about it is that it's FREE. The rest of it SUCKS! I have literally gone through a DOZEN phones with Assurance, which I HAVE TO accept as the ONLY provider assigned to the DC area I reside in, either because they CONTINUE to MALFUNCTION or because lately, Assurance has been sending them in a way that they are getting STOLEN ON DELIVERY!

I have had FOUR phones STOLEN already just this year BEFORE I got them when they were delivered to the residential apartment building I live in. MOST of them have been sent FedEx, which is ASSININE because the carrier DOES NOT have the mailbox key to put them in the mailbox where they will be (reasonably) secure and so MUST leave them OUTSIDE on the floor where they get STOLEN! When I called Assurance after the second phone was stolen, they told me they were changing their policy so that they would now ship ONLY USPS. That phone was stolen because apparently the mailman didn't leave it in the mailbox, so when I had to call back and reorder another one the agent told me they were going to ship it by FEDEX! After the FOURTH one was delivered and STOLEN, I received a postal message from Assurance stating that the account for the third phone was NOT canceled and the device had not only been ACTIVATED but WAS STILL IN USE!

HOW could THAT be when the ONLY WAY I could have ordered the FOURTH phone was to CANCEL the account for the PREVIOUS phone, which apparently the assurance agent I spoke to by phone DID NOT DO; which ALLOWED the THIEF TO CONTINUE USING IT!

When I responded to the email message from an Assurance "customer service" agent after I had sent a complaint about them to the FCC, I told her the entire situation and she responded that she would investigate it. When she again contacted me she said NOTHING about my request to her of CANCELING the third account so the phone would be UNusable! Therefore I had to contact NOT ONLY the FCC but the FBI as well that Assurance is ALLOWING ILLICIT USE of the phone intended FOR ME that now I as a DISABLED person have NO means to contact EMERGENCY SERVICES IF I need them! WHICH is PRECISELY the PRIMARY purpose of the phone Program for poor people!