Yes; you can accept calls on your cell phone from an inmate but ONLY by using our prepaid service, Direct Pay.  Cellular phones are not set up to receive traditional collect calls from correctional facilities.

There are very few phone companies who accept billing from inmate telephone service providers (such as City Tele Coin).  If you have a question as to whether you are with a billable phone company, you can contact any of our representatives and they will be able to give you the status of your phone line within a few seconds.

There are several reasons you may be unable to accept collect calls from an inmate even though you are with a billable phone company.  Some of the reasons are discussed below…

• Your phone may have had a block placed on it by the phone company due to non-payment, customer request, collect call block, or new customer setup fees may still be resting on your account.  In any case, you should call your local phone company to find out how to get the block off.
• You may be blocked by us for exceeding a pre-set balance.  Any account set up to receive traditional collect calls from an inmate housed at any of our facilities is subject to the following terms and conditions:  If you exceed $50.00 worth of charges your phone number will be blocked.  You will no longer be able to receive collect calls until you have a credit with your local phone company of the amount for which you were blocked.  After you have made payment and received credit with your local phone company you will be allowed to switch to Direct Pay, at which time your account will be re-opened to inmate calls. 
• You may be blocked through our billing company for past rejected charges.  You may be asked to pay City Tele Coin directly for these charges before you can set up an account.

There are several reasons you may be unable to accept collect calls from an inmate even though you have a Direct Pay account already set up.  Some of the reasons are discussed below…

1. If your account is set up for a cellular phone, you may need to change your ringtone.  Special ringtones can cause an incoming collect call to experience a busy signal.  Therefore, as the end user, your phone will not ring when an incoming collect call is placed to it.
2. The inmate may not be letting the phone ring long enough; it takes approximately 1 minute from when the inmate places the call to when the call can be answered.

No.  Direct Pay accounts are phone number specific.  However, you may set up as many Direct Pay accounts as you like (such as your home phone, your cellular phone, and your business phone) and each number is charged accordingly.

You will be notified upon the inmate calling that your balance is insufficient.  You may contact one of our representatives at any time and have more money placed on your account.  NOTE*It is against the law for a representative to run your credit card without your approval.  You must call our office and request for more time to be added to your account in order for it to be replenished.

Yes.  As long as the inmates are all at facilities where we handle the phone service, your account is considered open to any incoming collect calls once you have set up your Direct Pay account.

We offer the following ways by which to purchase Direct Pay…

1. Credit Card – MasterCard, Visa, and Discover (the card can be a prepaid card, debit card, or gift card).  The minimum purchase for Direct Pay with a credit card is $69.85.  You may use your credit card over the phone, on-line, or at our drive up window.
2. Money Order – The minimum for a money order is $30.00.  You can mail a money order or drop it off at our drive up window.
3. Cash – We have a drive up window and the minimum purchase for cash is $30.00.  We prefer that you not send cash through the mail.

Under no circumstances will you be able to call an inmate.  Our phone systems are set up so that only outgoing calls may be placed.

At any time you may contact one of our representatives and request a block to be placed on your phone.  You may not, however, stop calls from just one facility.  Once you have placed a block on your phone, all communication from any of our facilities will be blocked.

If your phone number changes or you get another phone you may contact one of our representatives and we will be happy to transfer or split time from your old number to your new number.  You will be asked to verify all of your information when you request this type of transfer.

You can contact one of our representatives and request a refund of the leftover account balance.  You may also transfer the time to a friend if you choose.

There are several reasons why you should switch to Direct Pay.  The benefits of using Direct Pay, to name a few, are listed below…

• Direct Pay offers you full control of your communication needs, and informs you of your account balance before communication starts.
• Direct Pay is offered to our customers at a discount rate – You actually pay less with Direct Pay than you would using traditional collect call methods because we add 25% of your base purchase to your account.  In other words, if you send a money order for $30.00, your account will be credited for $31.25. 
• Direct Pay is more economical and there are no set up fees.
• Direct Pay customers are not subject to the same rules and conditions as traditional customers.  There are no spending limits and set up is complete within a matter of minutes after you call.

NOTE:  All calls between customers and City Tele Coin representatives are recorded for quality assurance. 

NOTE:  All calls placed from inmate phones are recorded.

NOTE:  City Tele Coin representatives work on commission.  Please ask to speak to your account representative each time you call.  If your account representative can not take your call, another representative can help you; however, if you want your representative to have credit for your purchase of more time, please notify whoever is helping you.