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Independent guide — not the government, not a Lifeline provider

Cliq Mobile — independent Lifeline resource guide

Editorial standards

How we decide what to publish, how we rank, and how we keep things honest — written for the readers who trust us with decisions about their household phone service.

Who our readers are

Most of our readers are on a tight budget. Many are retired, on disability, or working jobs that don't pay enough. A real phone, with a real plan, matters more to them than to the average tech reviewer. We write with that in mind.

How we rank providers

Our rankings weigh five things:

  1. Coverage. How many states the provider serves, and the underlying cellular network (T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T).
  2. Plan quality. Talk/text allowance, data amount, whether 5G is available, BYOD support.
  3. Device options. Whether a free phone is included, whether you can bring your own, hardware quality.
  4. Customer feedback. Public reviews, complaint patterns across the Better Business Bureau and consumer sites.
  5. Application experience. How easy enrollment is, how long approval takes, how clearly the provider explains the process.

Commissions do not change ranking order. Our single best-performing commercial arrangement is not our #1 pick in every category, and our #1 overall pick is not necessarily our highest-paying partner.

What we won't do

  • No manipulative CTAs. No "Act Now!" countdown timers, fake scarcity, or manufactured urgency. Lifeline is a permanent federal program — it's not going to expire tomorrow.
  • No implied government endorsement. We are not the FCC, USAC, or a Lifeline provider. We won't style our site to look like a .gov page, and we won't use federal agency logos.
  • No phone number capture. We don't collect phone numbers for marketing callbacks. Federal TCPA rules make that risky, and honestly our readers don't need more robocalls.
  • No speculation about legal cases. If a provider has been in the news for fraud or investigation, we'll state publicly documented facts — nothing more.
  • No recommending providers we have concerns about. Some providers we won't rank, period. We won't name them here, but trust that our rankings reflect what we'd tell a friend.

How we keep content fresh

  • Major pages (rankings, state pages, Q Link help) are reviewed quarterly and refreshed whenever a provider makes material plan changes.
  • The "Last updated" date at the top of every page is real. We don't bump dates without actually reviewing.
  • When a provider becomes unavailable (the way Q Link did), we update the article to factually reflect the change and redirect readers to alternatives.

Corrections policy

If we get something wrong — a provider's plan, an eligibility rule, a state-specific fact — we'll correct it and note the correction at the top of the article. Readers can flag corrections by emailing [email protected] or using our contact form.

Plain language commitment

We aim to write at a 7th-grade reading level. No jargon. No telecom acronyms without explanation. No legalese. When we can't avoid technical terms (like "ETC" or "GSM unlocked"), we define them in the sentence where they appear.

Who's responsible

Editorial decisions at Cliq Mobile are the responsibility of Cliq Communications LLC. Commercial decisions (affiliate partnerships, shop operations) are kept operationally separate from editorial rankings. Same small team, firm wall.