Being new to the system we got our first telephone bill since our son has been in correctional facility. We have service thru century tel and long
distance service was T-Netix from the Kilby. There were a total of 13 calls
made durning the month of December total minutes talked 143 and cost
was $78.64. There is an operator that comes on saying you have 1 minutes left to talk. My question is how long can you talk to each other
per call. Some of our calls so we have been charged for was 16 minutes and to be honest I just don't believe we have ever talked that long. Is anyone else having problems with their phone bill being high. Just give me
some advice. God Bless All Thur All of our Trials and Tribulation and Keep
us in Your hand Dear Lord........Mother1952

T-Netix service in Alabama has always been historically high but the other phone companies that service prison systems in other states are just as bad.

Calls from Alabama prisons are always a maximum 15 minutes (it shows up as 16 depending on your home phone setup).

Out of state calls are approximately $21 + tax and in-state calls are usually around $6.75 + tax, all per 15 minute call. If you are fortunate enough to live within local collect calling service of the prison then it's usually $2 per 15 minute call.

Well I am LUCKY enough to have Global Tell Link. Ha! When my husband calls we are only allowed 10 minutes to talk. The calls are limited to $35 a day or $200 a month. Be careful not to run over or then everything has to be prepaid. Although I have Bell South and have never been late on the bill, Global Tell Link told me I would have to pre-pay because I broke the rules. So be careful not to run over or you will be punished.

There is currently a bill being proposed by a senator that would completely revamp the phone system.. The details are here:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04466:

It's about time someone stuck up for us.. those rates are nothing short of extortion!

That looks kinda awesome... I am going to have to look more into that and maybe even contact that senator! Thanks for posting this, Cember!! :thumbsup:

I would hate to see the cost of the phone bills of the ones sent to Louisiana. When they sent my son to Mississippi my phone bill went well over $300.00 for one month with all the taxes they add to it for being out of state. Something needs to be done about it. It's crooked and they are making a fortune off of a lot of us.
Not long ago the phones was down at Draper or Elmore one for about 3 days and my son would call when I accepted the phone calls you couldn't hear anything. No one informed then they was having phone problems so everyone kept calling home and was being charged. I called T-Netix and explained to them all the phone calls I accepted wasn't going through. I was told well we will investigate it. I told them there is no investigating it pick up the phone and call the prison and they will tell you their phones was down for 3 days. Do you think for one minute they give me credit for the calls? No, and I'm sure they really investigated it what a crock.
Maybe someone will finally put a stop to these crooks, wish they would make them refund money they have outright stolen from us all by disconnecting us for no reason knowing our loved ones will call back.

My understanding is if the call is under four minutes and you get cut off, if you call the T-Netix, they will give you credit for that call. And when you call, have them to check back to see if there are any other calls that are less then four minutes that you were charged.

Did someone at T-netix tell you about that, Oreilly? I've never heard anything like that, and it just surprises me because I figured they would assume something stupid like 'Well if we did that people would call over and over for 3 minute phone calls to get them for free".. lol

I've been dealing with T-Netix going on six years now and not once have I received credit for anything that I have complained to them about....not once.

T-NETIX gave me this information. There have been a few times when I have got a credit from them. This passed month they charged me when they said they would give me a credit. I called again, and they said it would be on next month's bill. We'll see. Cember, they would know if a person kept saying they were cut off when they weren't...I guess...but there have been times I have been cut off a lot in just a few short time span. Each person just needs to speak with them when they are cut off because I think it has something to do with after they check things out or something if a person will get the credit because I guess they have guidelines they are following. I don't really know. I just know it helped to call. They were helpful, nice, and when they could, they gave me credit.

I will say that when I first started calling my now hubby I would sometimes have to wait 2 + hours on hold before even being able to speak to someone.. And the last few times someone picked up almost immediately.