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Telephone calls from jails to cell phones

Heartbrokenparent
Heartbrokenparent
Can anyone enlighten me on the calls from jail? I now know that Verizon does not take collect calls and so my son got through to speak with me on my mother's home phone and he gave me a number for this company Global something. I set up the account with $25.00 only leaving me $18.05 on my account and I thought oh well, it is what it is. Anyway, my son tried calling my cell phone today and it was the company machine stating that my cellular carrier does not take collect calls and I need to set up my account. Ugggh! I set up my account yesterday and I don't understand what is happening. Does it take a couple of days before this works on my cell phone? I thought it would override the collect call stuff with my cellular company. Please explain if I need to do something else. I wanted to be able to get calls from him at anytime he needed me, of course, within reason because I will be paying more phone charges and won't be able to send him the money he needs while he is in there.

Heartbrokenparent
LillyMom
LillyMom
Here in CT we have Securus. It can take 24 hours for the acct to "set up". After that we've never had any problem w/ our Verizon cells. On the other hand, I've given up on DIL's Vonage home phone!
Peekachu
Peekachu
Yeah, we have Global Tel Link. Its not cheap, but he calls my cell phone. There is a set-up for cell and a set-up for landline. I had to call them to clarify that. The website is not so good.
ThoughtAsWeak
ThoughtAsWeak
It may take a couple of days after you post the money, but after that you will be able to accept calls on your Verizon phone. I do every time.
Heartbrokenparent
Heartbrokenparent
Yes there website really sucks!

Thanks for your answers.
bambosnipes
bambosnipes
I have that service too. If you can get a Google voice account and western union him money for phone time. That's what I have been doing. Google voice is only 38¢ a minute so it goes a long way.
westies
westies
Hello Heartbroken,
I'm a heartbroken Mom too. My son just entered his third year in prison and has about six years to go. We're out here in California. I have a cell phone through straight talk. Global Tel Link is the only company contracted with the Dept. of Corrections but I am able to bypass some of the charges by using a company called Cheap Jail Calls. Go online to Cheap Jail Calls.com for more info and customer service They will assign you a phone number for you to give your son. He will call that number and it will go through to your cell number. When you pick up the call, the operator will announce, "This is Global Tel Link with a prepaid call from, and your son will say his name. At this point the operator will give you the option to accept the call or not. GTL is not too keen about losing money this way but Cheap Jail Calls will instruct you on that. I hope you are able to work out the phone situation for you and your son. Blessings to you and your Family-Westies.
Heartbrokenparent
Heartbrokenparent
Wonderful! Thanks so much!
bambosnipes
bambosnipes
Cheap jail calls sounds exactly like Google voice. Same kind of service.
Heartbrokenparent
Heartbrokenparent
Well they charged me $6.95 right off the bat! I am so grateful for this site because I am learning so many helpful things. Thanks everyone!
tsmom2012
tsmom2012
Another phone company to try is Conscallhome.com. They are pretty inexpensive too and they give you another for your inmate to call and it can connect onto a cell or landline. I have 300 minutes a month trough this and if there are minutes not used they roll over to the next month. We pay the connect fee of .96 through Global tel link and my month fee for the minutes. I got a 6 month plan and it averages to be about $15 a month for the 300 minutes. Not bad compared to $5 per call each time my husband calls me. Hope this helps, I have Verizon and was able to accept collect calls from husband in jail until I was able to set up another way for him to call.
Heartbrokenparent
Heartbrokenparent
So this is through Global tel too? Good to know. Because going through Global tel itself is $2.96, I think just for them to connect a call as well as the $6.95 charge to get you started with minutes. I will look into this, thanks!
Heartbrokenparent
Heartbrokenparent
Westies,

I looked up cheapjailcalls.com and I have a question. When I was reading about setting up the account, they have that I would have to contact someone about my account with them. I am a little confused. I know that I would have to give my son a new number to call my cell but who do I need to contact, Global?

Heartbrokenparent