Penpal Asking For My Phone Number

I think a lot of overseas folk take out Skype numbers local to their loved ones prisons. From there, I have no clue, but I know some people here will chime in.

If you are uncomfortable talking on the phone at this point, try to nicely put it off. :)

 

Yeah, I use Skype. 

You pick a local number local to them so it won’t  cost as much as an international call. As long as you have the Skype app on your phone, it works the same as a regular phone call. 

The only thing I’ll mention is with Skype the keypad on your phone won’t work. You have to use the keypad within Skype or say the number to accept the call. 

I’ve been using it for a few months now and never had any problems.

Why would you be worried about your PP using your number for sinister reasons? You mean like selling it to someone else? I agree with IL, if you’re not quite comfortable with the idea yet, just leave it until you are :)

They get charged for their part of the call and you get charged for yours.... If you set up a skype number you will also need a billing account because skype doesn't accept billing so you will also have to set your number up with GTL... the corrections phone company... Once you've done that provided you've got a local number, they can call you at the cost of a local call.

I don’t get charged for anything. I just pay for the Skype number. 

Firstly, It really depends on the state that your pp is in. There are a couple of different phone companies. As far as my number, I have a local Phoenix, Az number through a company called Localphone. I'm not sure if this is availiable in Austrailia but it costs me 75p per month and each 15min call costs me about 24p.

The cost of the phone call on their end really depends on where they are. Ohio is super cheap and super easy. Arizona is over double the price and a nightmare for anyone overseas and the waiting time to get on their list is about 2/3 months as where Ohio is just instant. They're the only 2 states I've had any experience with

Oh, Ohio is GTL and so easy to put money on to. Arizona is IC Solutions and you need someone in the USA to fund it for you OR you put money on their books and they pay for the call

You are right, it depends on the state they're in or Fed...

Thanks for all your replies - they are much appreciated and helped me better understand how the whole phone call thing works for prisons and those of us abroad etc.

It all seems a bit complicated for me at the moment, so think I'll wait until I have developed a stronger connection to this particular penpal.

Since posting, she has explained "i can text ur phone for free, thats why i need ur number" - anyone know what that is about? Haha I'm quite content with Corrlinks messaging for now, with the occasional snail mail letter to look forward to, I struggle to see why we need to change Haha Anyways - thanks to you all once again!

I’d perhaps ask what she means by being able to text for free. That doesn’t sound right. 

I think she's dying to hear your Aussie accent.

Yeah, pretty much, my MWI said to me my accent was sooo thick the first time we talked she couldn't get over it. I'm gonna give you a tip. If you ever find yourself in the United States don't lose sighht of your accent. American women love them.

This American chick likes Mexican accents 

You can send text messages using Corrlinks at some facilities, but there is an even better option. You can download the Corrlinks app and it looks like the messages app on your phone and it beeps when you get a new mesage. Its pretty cool actually, it makes it feel like your using messages (if you're used to using an iphone)

lol your funny il_ppp

I’ve got my first class in the next 7-10 days.... everyone pray he still has his Mexican accent!! LOL (it’s fine if he doesn’t, I’ll still be very very fond of him)

call**** not class (I’m back in school mode lol)

 

Its so cool when you finally get to talk to them, just think about what you want to say because you've got about 15minutes and you can waste that saying pretty much nothing.  You'll get a call on your phone saying this is a call from (XXX) at (XXX facility) press 5 to accept or 7 to decline. Just don't press 7 because you'll end up blocking them from calling you until you unblock the number again. Throughout the call it will say about every 5 minutes this is a call from (xxx facility) by the time it says it about the third time you've got about a minute left it will beep twice and then hang up on you. Then you'll have to wait at least an hour for them to call you back for them to go to the back of the queue before they can call you again.

The same applies if you miss the call so my best piece of advice is to watch your phone like a hawk because if you miss the call you might not get a call back on the same day or again for a couple of days.

I’d say “texting for free” means illegal cellphone!? But that’s just an assumption.

Ohio doing the “This call is from a blah, blah, blah” every so often. So annoying! Arizona you don’t get disturbed during the call except to tell you that you have one minute left. 

A is Mexican but very much has an American accent. I didn’t realise that Mexican accents do it for me until recently though! Haha. 

Have you seen this IL_PPP!? I’m not sure if this guy is Mexican but for some strange reason his voice does things to me! https://youtu.be/BDA7ycz7gJE

I have an extremely think English accent apparently. They seem to think it has magical powers whenever I speak to a C.O 

*thick English accent.

No edit button anymore either!?

My MWI seems to think my Australian accent has magical powers also... I'm totally OK with this... Except she says I'm from Hogwarts... I'm Australian, not English but hey whatever...

I'm Greek-French but have always enjoyed British accents : it's music to my ears. So much so that the other day, after watching a documentary about US prisons in which people had really strong Southern accents (not a big fan, sorry !), I had to go "rinse" my ears by watching British TV programmes :)

hell, i'm american and i can't stand southern-american accents either. yuck

You don’t need a phone number for CorrLinks though. The app works with your email. Unless of course it’s changes. Illegal phone was my first thought too Spriggs.

We don’t have the annoying voiceover in our calls which is great! He also tries to do my Scottish accent and sounds Australian which is always amusing! I love his accent. 

There's two ways to use Corrlinks, it used to be that you could set it up with your phone number and get text messages. The better way now is to download the app which feels like your texting. Maybe that's what they were talking about... on the other hand maybe they do have an illegal phone stashed away somewhere. In which case you should avoid talking that way because when they do find it (and they will) you will be banned from ever talking to that person again.

Damn, so many hilarious and enlightening replies in one thread.  2019 is going well! Haha

@BabyBlueEyes and @Spriggs - an illegal phone was my first thought too.  Text me for free? It just didn't sound legit or fit within anything I currently knew about those incarcerated.  She has just recently been to the SHU - for reasons I'm yet to know, and while there, also got in trouble for "fishing" too.  So I don't even know what to think Haha

 

@Northernyank - you made me laugh, thank you! I'm curious about accents in general, so knowing what she sounds like also intrigues me. 

 

@FrankieBones - thanks for explaining the whole phone call thing in depth for me.  If it's something I get round to doing at some point with my penpals, then at least I know what to expect now! :)

@IL_PPP I'm guessing from your username your from Illinois and have a standard American accent like most people in the United States so you could probably tell the diference.

@GalapagosDiver Its realy not that different. Your PenPal might say Australian phones ring differntly my MWI did that the first time she called me.

Franks, I'm in VA right outside of DC. We don't really have accents here (not as pronounced as say, a Boston or New York or Chicago accent or a deep southern one). My most favorite pal is in prison in Illinois :)

I've always thought that if I had to have an American accent a New England type accent would be cool. You know, Boston or New York so I could sound like a 1930s mobster from New York, or like Christopher Walken.  That's my most favorite American accent. My MWI is from Iowa so her accent is the same as yours.

Noooooooooo Boston is the worst >.< (no offense to any Bostonians here)

Noooooooooo Boston is the worst >.< (no offense to any Bostonians here)

@FrankieBones - calls are not that different? Well I don't typically have an interruption every 5 minutes to my usual calls, saying it's a prison facility Haha Think I'm more keen on experiencing a video visit as that sounds like fun! :)

Well, some s have that annoying thing where it plays "this is a call from blah blah blah" every 5 minutes or so, its annoying, other states don't. Other than that there aren't really that many huge differences.

Spriggs...I got a skype number..I think Phoenix too..As he is in Florence...I was hoping that if B can call me..I could jpay him money to buy a phone card and he could just dial that number

Hey now, I have a New England accent. 

Can you say New Jersey :P lol... Serious... Maybe its all the mob movies I watched growing up that made me like it.

I'm in Autralia too.

My PP that i talk with is in NJ State. after looking around I decided on getting a skype number for the trenton area to make calls the cost of a local call for them. so it does cost me a line rental fee. They use GTL and I'm meant to be able to provide money so he can also call but it seems broken and I havent had time to fix it yet. So atm he pays for all the calls. and heed what BabyBlueEyes says about the keypad, i freaked so much the first time it didnt even occour to me i would need to go into the app to use the keypad, thankfully he called back.

One of his mates has a wife that lives here and she uses a service that gives you a local number but forwards it to your landline. This was a cheaper option if you have a lanline. if you are interested i can find out what the service is called.

I use inmate fone which gives me a Minnesota number that is in the same area as the prison I call to. It drops the cost from $1.00 a minute all the way down to 0.15cents for them and its reasonably cheap for us also I think a 15minute call to Australia adds up to about $3.50 which isn't too bad and its forwarded straight to my Vodafone account.

@galapagosdiver Just out of curiosity, how long have you been writing this person that you are not yet comfortable with them?