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Camelia97

Hey, here's my problem

Me and my pen pal wanted to have a phone call for so long and we had to wait 1 month for my number to get approved on his phone list. Finally, yesterday when he was able to call for the first time I accidently hung up twice before we even got in contact and I feel terrible about that.

I've sent a jpay letter to apologize and I don't think he will get mad but I'm afraid that he won't be able to call again , my phone number is still approved ? I don't know , since the American system is so different from the one here !


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IL_PPP

Ya'll need to get pals in Illinois - phone rates are a cent a minute :)

 
FrankieBones

Texas is really strict and yet? They don't pay a cent to the inmates working for them... This really makes me hate Texas for more reasons other than just plain old Southern baptist justice... which is fucked up enough as it is... Did I say I hate Texas? Because I hate Texas... But 6cents is good. My MWI pays .15cents a minute and then I pay for my local number which handles the billing side of things also and then forwards the call to my phone.

 
PDS

I’m not sure about other states but in TDCJ(Texas) inmates generally are unable to call when they’re working. Texas is really strict but I’m very thankful that the cost of phone calls went dow to .06 cents per minute.

 
IL_PPP

Does anyone know if they can call during their work hours? (Ie; if they work in the kitchen)

 
Camelia97

Alright I get it, yeah I hope he will soon

Thanks for your answers 

 
FrankieBones

They can try, but it doesn't mean its going to be the case. Factor in some extra time in case they get held up.

 
IL_PPP

So is it realistic of me to say “call me on this date at this time” and then he’ll call? Because I’ve got our first one set up for mid January at 9.30p lol

 
BabyBlueEyes

What Frankie said. Enjoy the calls when they come in but don’t get too hung up about the frequency of them. Anything can cause a delay, I’m sure he’ll call when he can :) 

 
FrankieBones

It's not really the case... the lines to access one of the handful of phones for something like 800 other inmates on the same block are long. You can't really expect regularity. Lockdowns also happen from time to time. Some are just procedural... Others are because people are scheming or have brought in contraband. You just have to deal with it.

 
Camelia97

I wanted to thanks everyone who have answered this topid, and yeah I finally got a phone call from him ! But the now I'm worrid , he was supposed to call again on Tuesday and he didn't . I don't know if it's because of the prison like a Lockdown or something like that ? 

 
FrankieBones

I woke up at 5:00am one day to American number, I was half asleep and I grabbed my phone, thinking it was my mwi. Luckily it wasn't. The problem is sometims is that there is a lot of spam calls in America, and sometimes its just some random marketing call or scammer. Thankfully it hasn't happened again since. But when you're half asleep you might accidently press some other button than 5 which is something I joke about with them all the time... Last time I did I said something like:

"Thank god I didn't pres 7"

They said:

"Yeah because if you pressed 7 you'd probably never speak to me again."

It's not really so bad, you can get yourself unblocked but its a huge pain in the ass with some facilities.

 
MichaelWStabosz

I hate it when I miss a call from a pen pal.  I always want to talk to them.  For obvious reasons, you cannot call them back.  It's so frustrating.  You just have to hope they call again.

 

I have never accidentally blocked a call from any of them, but it is a persistent fear.

 
FrankieBones

I have a US phone account with https://inmatefone.com/ that handles my side of the bill and lets me use my own phone, this works for federal prisons but it may not work in the state where your inmate is located.

 
Tilia

Thanx, I will look into it. I've got a US phone number already.

 
FrankieBones

If its a collect call you pay the whole cost. You will need to have a phone account that can accept charges whether that is in the United States or in your own country. You cannot use a phone number that is prepaid without using a service such as http://www.gtl.net/in-telephone-service/ first.

 
Tilia

Thanks everyone. I thought they don't have to pay anything themselves, if it's a collect call? I know my pp does not have ANY funds and he can still call his friend in the US if she puts money on her phone, that is. So maybe I don't understand something here...

 
FrankieBones

The other thing. Unless its a collect call that $1 a minute is coming out of their funds and after 15minutes thats $15. You know, that's a lot of money. $15 can buy them a new pair of pants and then something else like a bottle of shampoo and so on, real things that they need. Even $2 is six packs of ramen noodles. You be the judge. They can cal you or go without eating for 3 days straight sometimes having to eat chow food. So if they ask you for some funds for a phone call its not so much to ask.

 
Tiffcollins

It’s very expensive for them to call your actual mobile number. I downloaded an app called hushed. Like most things it’s not free. I had to pay $4.99 for 30 days of international calls, plus have to buy credits which is actually reasonably priced and it only costs a couple dollars for the inmate to call. Where as if they call your actual number it’s $1 a minute 

 
Camelia97

Thanks for your answers I feel reassured !

@Tilia I'm from France and yes it's better to have an american phone number like this it would be a lot cheaper for your PP to call you , I bought mine on skype  

 
FrankieBones

You will have to read the rules for the facility your calling. Some allow international calls, some don't. The ones that do are generally very expensive. $1 a minute instead of 0.15cents a minute as one example. Some facilities don't allow a call forwarding service like Google voice. Some don't... There are companiees that also offer a dedicated phone number in the United States if you need that.

It's a lot about reading the specific rules for the facility you are calling.

 
Tilia

Hi Camelia, where are you from? I'm asking because I'd really like to talk to my pp in Cali one of these days, but I'm from Europe so I have no idea how I could make this happen... I would probably have to get a US phone number somehow, am I right?

 
FrankieBones

You should get a call something along the lines of "this is call from xyz... Press 5 to accept the call or press 7 to decline." As long as you didn't presss 7 you should be fine. If you pressed 7 you need to ring the prison/jail directly and get them to unblock your number.

 
CLW

Argh! That's frustrating, but don't worry, your number is still approved. He can try to call you again, and I think he will : )