The phone service at a particular correctional center is set up through bid process. Whichever company has the contract for all of the inmate outbound calls is doing the business without any competition. Therefore, you have to use them to receive any calls. The choice is whether you pay them for a long distance call (to your number) or a local call (to a number that we get for you). If you are already local, we cannot save you money unless the carrier is SecurusTech, NCIC or CityTeleCoin.
If you have us get you a new phone line matching the rate center of town where the jail is, it will be set up to forward to your current number. Nothing will change on your end. You will need to register this number with the carrier (just like you would your current number without our service). If your inmate can buy calling cards from the commissary, you will not need to go online and set this up, they can dial the local number direct with the card. InmateAid takes care of the long distance portion of the call.
In general, their price for an long distance call ranges from $4-15 per call. With the local number, they usually charge less than $1.65 per call - flat rate. The difference in two call prices is why people use the service, the savings from InmateAid pays for itself in 3-6 calls.
Send us your telephone number and the facility name - we will give you an honest estimate before you sign-up
https://www.inmateaid.com/ask-the-inmate/how-does-the-discount-phone-service-work-7439#answer
Accepted Answer Date Created: March 24,2016