Off Jail Calls
Activation
Your Inmate
What do I need to know about using Prisoner Connect with federal prisons?
Use Prisoner Connect and get the same calls for only $18 per month. That is a savings of 80%! Most Federal inmates pay for phone calls from their commissary accounts. Money is transferred to a phone payment account, which uses those funds to pay for all calls.
Prisoner Connect guarantees the number we give you will qualify as a local call to the chosen facility. Using one of our numbers will allow your inmate to call home for only 6 cents a minute! This translates to DIRECT savings and allows more time for those important calls home! Signing up for a Federal BOP Local Number is very easy. Most prison numbers are in stock for issue during checkout and will be active at the completion of the checkout process.
What do I need to know about using Prisoner Connect with State prisons?
State, County, and City prisons almost all work with collect calls or pre-paid phone accounts with the facility's phone providers. The way this works is, the inmate must call collect at a very high fee, sometimes as high as $8.00 a minute, or whomever they are calling will contact the phone company the prison has a contract with and set up a pre-paid contract so the inmate can call home. The phone companies have a monopoly on these calls. They can charge extremely high fees for long distance calls and inmates, their friends, and their families are forced to pay them. Once you determine that your specific facility allows pre paid accounts you can start saving money with an Prisoner Connect Local Number. Our calling plans work in addition to the pre-paid account with the facility's mandated phone provider, allowing you to pay local call rates instead of the outrageous long distance call rates.
VERY IMPORTANT!!!!
GO TO OUR F.A.Q. PAGE HERE
PrisonerConnect.com provides Telephone Freedom for those behind the wall. We help your friend or loved one by eliminating the price gouging long distance fees MOST prison facilities apply to their phone system.
Fact: Most facilities charge .50 cents for a normal 15 minute local call. However, when the call is long distance / out of state the rate by the minutevaries dramatically. We have seen fees from .30cents A MINUTE! to over $2.00 A MINUTE!
The savings are quite easy to see under the above facility constraints.
How does PrisonerConnect.com works?
1. We provide the inmate with their own personal LOCAL number that is linked to your Landline or Mobile phone number.
2. They then add (the local number we provided) to their (authorized calling list) at the facility they are in. This is the same process they took when adding your number they currently call you on.
*NOTE some facilities do not require an (authorized calling list) they are free to call wherever they like... if this is the case for the facility your loved one is at then their will not be a need for step #2
THAT'S IT! they can then place their call to you, the rest is handled by our professional telecommunications staff.
There are NO special codes the inmate has to dial in... NO beeps when the call is linked. As far as the facility is concerned it is no different than 100's of phone numbers they authorize in their system on a daily basis.
Go Ahead try us and watch the savings! PrisonerConnect.com
Why do I need to set up a pre-paid collect call account?
Federal, State and local Prison collect calls can only be directly accepted on a per-call basis when your phone company has a billing arrangement with the collect call provider. To be able to accept collect calls using this service, you need to be able to set up a pre-paid account with the collect call provider, or the inmate must have a pre-paid calling card, or the inmate must have a debit calling account.
Who is the collect call provider?
Each state institution has a contract with a collect call provider. Usually all state institutions within a state have the same provider. You can call the institution to find out who the collect call provider is for that particular institution.
All Federal Prisons, with the exception of private Federal Prisons, use Value Added Communications (VAC). Private federal prisons may use a different provider.
How are collect call rates determined:
In most instances, the collect call rates are determined by distance and by the time of day. The further away your phone number's origination is from the institution, the more the call will cost. If the number being called is a local number or a number close in distance to the institution, the rates will be considerably less in most instances.
Time of day usually makes a difference. During the day is the most expensive. Rates drop after 5:00 p.m. and drop again after 9:00 p.m.
A few states have flat rate calling, no matter where you live within the state. If this is true for the state the prison is located and you live in the same state, this service will not save you any money.
How do I know how much a call will cost?
Contact the collect call provider for the institution. Ask the rate for your current phone number. Then ask the rate for a local number. If they need a phone number to check the rates, use the area code and exchange (first 6 numbers) of the phone number to the institution. Compare the two rates to determine approximately how much you will save by having a local phone number to accept the collect calls.
How do I set up a pre-paid collect call account?
Contact the collect call provider for the institution. When you set up the pre-paid account, you have to use the new local phone number, not your home phone or cell phone. If you have more than one phone number where you want to accept collect calls, you will need to set up a pre-paid account for each phone number.
What information will the collect call provider need?
The name and billing address for the phone service, credit card and pre-paid account must all match.
Your name
Your phone number (the new local number)
Your phone company (phone provider name)
Your billing address (The phone number's address is your residence address.)
Your credit card number and billing address.When setting up your pre-paid collect call account, DO NOT indicate that you will be call-forwarding the number to your home phone or linking the number to your home phone.