I just took a look at my January phone bill online. (Boy was that probably a big mistake.) $226.85 for twelve lousy calls in December. I hate Alabama and their stupid prison system and its stupid phone system... :(

Lys

Lys, I know the feeling!:mad:

Have you looked at the Telenet Service??

Here is a link for more info: http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4769

I know a few of our members have tried it and it has significantly lowered their phone bill!

Pamela

Hi Pamela,

I looked into Tele-Net and even got the application ($4-something per call quote which sounded like heaven) but there were several things that bothered me. One, they say on the application that if you have negative credit you will be denied (and I do) and the $39 application fee is non-refundable. I know someone else here at PTO said they had bad credit and got approved no questions asked, but who knows what might happen...

Then, I looked it all over with my boyfriend's parents as well and we were a little concerned about it because there is one signature box stating you are giving Tele-Net permission to provide all your collect calls from the prison - no problem with that. But then there's this second signature box that says you are giving Tele-Net permission to handle ALL of your local and/or long distance calling. My boyfriend's stepfather and I were REAL uncomfortable with that idea.

The other thing we were concerned about, which I believe Pam from AL brought up, was what if the DOC figures out we are using Tele-Net and decides it's a violation... and then we might wind up losing what little phone privileges we do have? I don't know, it all seemed a little too risky to me. Excellent idea but the Alabama DOC is so dead set on squeezing every penny they can out of prisoners and their families, I'm just concerned that somehow, somewhere, things would get screwed up.

I don't know, I may still check it out but we were really wary about some of those things...

Lys

I have Tele-Net ....Tony is in Oklahoma I'm in Texas. I was paying 17.50 per collect call for 15 mins.
Tele-Net is 4.00 per call with a 16 a month fee. I can handle that. My Dec/Jan bill is 78.00! Tony called every single day in Dec. :) I love Tele-Net !!
I would hand over my local to them if it was possible.
Just my 2 cents.

Lysbeth - I feel you on that! :(

Renee I am so proud of you. Your phone bill is getting smaller and smaller.


Sharon

Lysbeth, maybe I can clear up some of your concerns.

The permission you are giving Tele-Net only applies to the service you are requesting from Tele-Net. In order for Tele-Net to go to BellSouth and set up service for you, BellSouth requires that Tele-Net have your permission to set up both local and long distance service. That is what the inmate service is, it is a local line with long distance. Don't think that this has anything to do with your home service because it doesn't. Tele-Net does not touch, change or in any way interfere with your home service.

There was also some concern about Tele-net credit policies. The phone carriers that we use do check your credit. They want to feel confident that when your service is installed you will pay your bill. So when they check your credit if you have phone bills outstanding you will be declined. You will also be declined if your credit score is really, really bad. If you are hesitant to return the application because you think you may be on the border. Then call Tele-Net's office and they will check you credit by phone. You won't be out a penny.

Let me take a moment to address the growing concern, that you or the prisoner are going to be disciplined if you are caught using Tele-Net's service. I have been setting this service up for families since 1996. Over the past 7 years thousands of families have used this service without any hint of a problem. I have a notebook full of thank you letters. We have guards and even wardens who refer families to us. Some prisons have posted our flyers in the vistors room. So we are not despised by all prisons and most of our customers use the service without a problem.

When a facility learns that a prisoner is using our service and they object to it, in most cases, they just block the number. No one gets hurt or disciplined. The number just stops working. A couple of prisons have put up signs in the past threatening to discipline a prisoner if he used our service. Some customers quit but most didn't. Nothing ever happened. Every once in a while we hear of a horror story where a prisoner was severly disciplined. They say it was because of the phone use but we don't know for sure. There may have been other circumstances. I don't consider these a big problem because the numbers are so small in comparison to the number of people who have used the service.

In conclusion I want to emphasize that Tele-Net has had hundreds of cusomers in Alabama in the past without an incident occuring.

Your friend,
Richard

Richard, thanks again (as I just said in PM) for all the very good information. I'm sold, I'll give it a shot!

Wish me luck folks...

Lys
WoooHoooo You will LOVE IT I promise!! Richard and Tele-Net is saving me 100's a month. My whole bill is 170.00 BUT...Tony is caling EVERY single DAY now not ONE time a week. GOD HELP RICHARD if he shows up in Houston for our Gathering! I might have to hug him!
Good Luck hon :)

Since I had been pretty vocal in this thread about my concerns about Tele-Net, I just wanted to add a new post here to the end of thread stating that I'm a believer! Richard has kindly addressed and assuaged each and every concern I had about the system and at present, even though I have SUPER SUCKY credit I have been approved for the service and am getting the ball rolling to getting set up right now!! More detailed info can be found on that in the thread I posted last night which is here:

http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9131

But again, I just wanted to add a coda to this thread since I had been so vocal about it before. Tele-Net is a GREAT service and these folks are ALL ABOUT customer service! If you have been considering checking into Tele-Net but weren't sure about it, do yourself a favor and go ahead! They are AWESOME and if I can get approved to use the service, anyone can!!! :D

Lys