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Must read Terms of Service & Privacy Policy and be at least 18

Must read Terms of Service & Privacy Policy and be at least 18

 
z3ro

Hello all, i have a question about the California womans phone system, how exactly does the phone system work? I am currently located in Canada, and my PP is in California, USA, how would they go about making this long distance call to me? Is this considered an international call? And is international calls allowed in their facility's?

Thank you in advance:thx:

 
jasonmaria

Oh boy. This is a real complicated issue. Every state uses a different phone provider and has different rules for the different types of prisons.

When an inmate makes a local call: YES there is a charge at his end because the only way for him to make any call at all, local or otherwise, it to get through the prison phone system. He may have a pre-paid card or account that allows him to do that but he or someone had to pay for that card or account. In other words, no, he cannot pick up the phone, just dial, and have it be totally free.

What you do on your end can cut down drastically on the fees but there is no free calling. This was not understood by me or my pp at all when we first started doing this and it took a lot of research for me to figure it out. Keep in mind things like this: the prison phone provider sets it's own rules as to what "local" means. In Nevada, it means 10 mile vicinity of the prison only. Everything else is long distance. (never mind that the prison is out in the middle of the Mohave desert where no one lives but okay, that's how they make their money as you can see.)

If you want to go deep and far, I suggest looking up the phone threads on PTO... like a thousand pages of phone issues, solutions and opinions on there.

I agree with your views............

 
tamikagolson

Smiley what you fail to realize Skype DOES charge you more. Guess if you was so happy with it you would not even be looking at any other jail call service
Im happy with Cold Crib Because I have used Skype and they charge $18 on TOP of the monthly charge and they charge for the forwarded calls So it may be good for you since your NOT in the USA so YES Cold Crib Communications is best for us on the states side

 
smiley

I just checked out Cold Crib and it is the SAME as Skype and many other companies offering the SAME SERVICE from what i can see at a higher price.

The Company states it is not doing anything against prison policy, but IT IS without question. Not matter what way you wrap it you are still call forwarding when you have a local number to the prison. Say you live in California and the inmate is in New York, you get a local number to them (New York) and you have it FORWARD either to your home or mobile/cell number in California. You still VIOLATE DOC terms and conditions on phone use, unless policies have recently changed and i am unaware, or i am miss understanding what i am reading?????

I have been using Syke for more than 7 years now most days with NO problems, including today and have friends who have used it much more than myself. I do not use my computer to connect these calls. So while this might be a solid business and above board, from all i have read it does not offer you anything more than others companies do at this time, excepting the info i found had it at a higher price.

If anything it seems their charges and refunds are for want of better words lacking.

I am in no way trying to bag the company, because i know no one that uses it and the testimonies as you would hope on the site supporting it are great. The layout is well set out, easy to maneuver and read. I am not saying this company is not legit, nor am i saying it does not do what it says it does as far as deliver a service or connection goes, but to say it is cheaper than what is out their is INCORRECT and those who say it is are not aware of other products on the market, plain and simple.

I pay around $36, for 3 months with Skype, unlimited calls, unlimited minutes and i am out of country. Which roughly equates to $12 a month. You do the math. Their site say's $15 activation fee, plus $51 for 3 months, unlimited monthly minutes.

Cold Crib Communications - Plans & Pricing

Sorry if anyone is offended by my honesty and post.

 
tamikagolson

First of all MagicJack and Skype does not work for long as sooner or later the jails phone provider will find out because they do periodical checks to see if it is a computer number and you dont want to get caught using it as they consider it fraud being you have a USA number and your actually in Canada. I use a service call Cold Crib and they handle all of this as their numbers are undetectable to the jails phone system since it is a outside line. Also if your inmate is in a Federal prison This knocks the phone calls down to 6 cents a minute.

 
swessie

Ok... I have experience with this, but as stated earlier, it all depends on the state the inmate is in and what company the facility uses. I do two things. First of all I called the penitentiary to determine who the phone provider was. I then contacted this provider and they informed me as to the type of calls that are permitted from that institution, which was prepaid collect. I set up an account there, and put funds on that account. Even with the prepaid collect, the cost of calls are still ridiculous. So then, I found cheapjailcalls and what they did, was to set up a phone line in the vicinity of the penitentiary, so everytime he calls me, it is the cost of a 'local' call. The call is then diverted to my home in Australia. This works very well. I am moving back to Canada in January. Our number will still stay the same, cheapjailcalls will then just divert the calls to my new number in Canada. I suggest making contact with a company such as cjc or the like, (plenty of them on the internet) and they will tell you everything you need to do.

 
gooddog

Oh boy. This is a real complicated issue. Every state uses a different phone provider and has different rules for the different types of prisons.

When an inmate makes a local call: YES there is a charge at his end because the only way for him to make any call at all, local or otherwise, it to get through the prison phone system. He may have a pre-paid card or account that allows him to do that but he or someone had to pay for that card or account. In other words, no, he cannot pick up the phone, just dial, and have it be totally free.

What you do on your end can cut down drastically on the fees but there is no free calling. This was not understood by me or my pp at all when we first started doing this and it took a lot of research for me to figure it out. Keep in mind things like this: the prison phone provider sets it's own rules as to what "local" means. In Nevada, it means 10 mile vicinity of the prison only. Everything else is long distance. (never mind that the prison is out in the middle of the Mohave desert where no one lives but okay, that's how they make their money as you can see.)

If you want to go deep and far, I suggest looking up the phone threads on PTO... like a thousand pages of phone issues, solutions and opinions on there.

 
z3ro

Okay, i been reading around the Forums, and it seem there is a big difference between Federal and State Prisons when it comes to calling, i notice that there is a lot of loop holes into saving yourself potentially thousands of dollars in phones bills. I hear a lot of people using Skype and getting a local number to the prison that their PP is in, but i think there is even a better solution for everyone on this forum to get a local number to your PP and not have to forward any numbers, there is actually an awesome phone system called magicJack , its been a big thing here in Canada and its unlimited calling for $19.95 per year, i think a lot of you people that are looking for a solution this would be an excellent solution to get calls from you PP at anytime, it even has a bunch of other perks like call forwarding, voicemail, caller ID all included for FREE.

So just one last question for everyone, when the inmate makes local calls is there a charge on their end? or is it free for them to make local calls? I know in Canada if its long distance or local calling they HAVE to make collect calls. So i just want to clarify the process.