A practical guide to keeping a phone number active for jail calls — compare top services, costs, and what families need to know before choosing.
Why Your Phone Number Is the Lifeline
When a loved one is incarcerated, phone calls become everything. A five-minute call can anchor someone through a hard week, confirm a court date, or simply remind them that family hasn't walked away. But those calls only land if the number on the outside is reachable — and that requires more than just paying a phone bill on time.
How the Jail Phone Industry Is Structured
A handful of large telecom companies hold contracts with county jails and state facilities across the United States. These companies install the phones, manage the call routing, handle account creation, and set the rates that incarcerated people and their families pay. The Federal Communications Commission has historically regulated these rates at the interstate level, with ongoing rule changes at the intrastate level.
When a person is booked into a facility, they are generally assigned access to the contracted phone provider for that jail. The number they dial out to — typically a family member's cell or home phone — must be registered with that provider in order for the call to complete. Some providers require the receiving family member to create an account. Others simply capture the number and bill accordingly.
Understanding which company holds the contract at a specific facility is the first step. That information is not always easy to find, and families often spend significant time searching for it before they can even start setting up their receiving account.
8 Ways Families Keep a Phone Number Active for Jail Calls
The options available depend on the facility, the contracted provider, and the family's own phone setup. Here is a breakdown of the most widely used approaches and services — what each does well, where each falls short, and what families should know before committing.
Securus Technologies
Securus Technologies is one of the two largest correctional telecom companies in the United States, holding contracts with thousands of county jails and state facilities. Their AdvancePay system allows family members to fund an account linked to their own phone number, so calls from an incarcerated person are billed against that prepaid balance rather than appearing on a standard phone bill.
Securus also offers a real-time notification feature and a mobile app for account management. For families who know their loved one is in a Securus-contracted facility, registering the receiving number through their website or app is a fairly direct process. The interface has improved in recent years, and their customer support is reachable by phone.
The primary limitation is cost transparency. Rate structures vary significantly by facility, and families sometimes discover the per-minute rate only after setting up an account. Additionally, Securus does not provide help finding which facility is holding a loved one — the family must already know that information before the service is useful.
Global Tel Link (GTL / ViaPath)
Global Tel Link, now rebranded under the ViaPath Technologies name, is the other major player in the correctional telecom space. GTL holds contracts across a large number of jurisdictions and offers several account types: a prepaid collect account, a debit account funded by the incarcerated person, and a direct bill option available in some facilities.
GTL's ConnectNetwork platform allows family members to manage phone accounts, set up video visitation, and send messages. The platform is more feature-rich than many alternatives, and their app is available on both iOS and Android. For families with a loved one in a GTL-contracted jail, their site includes a facility search tool that can confirm whether GTL is the right provider.
A real gap appears when a family member isn't sure which provider handles calls at a given facility, or when the loved one has been transferred. GTL does not offer transfer alerts or a broader county jail inmate search function, so families must research location changes independently before their registered phone number can follow the person to the new facility.
Telmate
Telmate operates in facilities where it holds contracts as an independent provider, though it has consolidated with GTL under the ViaPath umbrella in some operational contexts. Families who have used Telmate accounts in the past may already be familiar with their prepaid model, where the calling number is linked to a funded balance.
Telmate's interface has historically been rated as straightforward for basic account management. Families set up an account, fund it, and register their number — and incoming calls from the facility will draw down the balance. Some facilities also allow the incarcerated person to fund a debit account on their end, reducing the burden on the family.
The limitation worth noting is that Telmate's availability is narrower than Securus or GTL. If a loved one is transferred to a facility outside the Telmate network, the family may need to set up an entirely new account with a different provider. Families who want a single dashboard for tracking location, alerts, and phone account status across potential transfer scenarios will find that gap significant.
ICSolutions
ICSolutions is a mid-tier correctional telecom provider that holds contracts primarily in county jails across a range of states. Their model is similar to the larger providers — prepaid accounts tied to a registered receiving number — but their footprint is smaller, making them a less common first encounter for families.
One area where ICSolutions has a decent reputation is customer service responsiveness compared to the largest providers. For a family stuck on a technical issue preventing their registered number from receiving calls, having a reachable support line matters more than most people expect until they are in the middle of a call setup problem.
ICSolutions does not provide any location-finding service, booking alerts, or court date tracking. Families who are still in the early stage of trying to figure out where a loved one is being held will need to handle that search separately before ICSolutions becomes relevant to their situation at all.
Paytel Communications
Paytel Communications is a smaller correctional telecom company with a regional footprint, primarily operating in county and municipal jails. Their prepaid calling model allows family members to set up an account and link their phone number, with calls billed against a deposited balance.
Paytel's platform tends to be used in smaller county facilities where the larger national providers have not entered. For families in those jurisdictions, Paytel may be the only option — which means understanding their specific setup process is important even if their brand is less familiar.
Because Paytel is regional, the challenge for many families is even knowing that Paytel is the contracted provider before they arrive at the right setup page. Their website is functional but not deeply resourced for families navigating a first-time incarceration situation. Guidance on how to find someone in jail or which provider handles a specific facility is not part of their service offering.
InMato LLC
InMato LLC approaches this problem from a completely different angle. Rather than being a phone service provider itself, InMato is an information, search, and referral service that helps families figure out the entire upstream situation before they try to set up a phone account. That means identifying which facility is holding a loved one, confirming which licensed provider handles phone and commissary for that facility, and delivering verified step-by-step instructions for next actions — all without touching family money at any point.
InMato Core is free for every family with no time limit, covering county jail systems across 14 states. Families can run a county jail inmate search at no cost, confirm location, and get pointed to the official contracted provider — whether that is Securus, GTL, or another vendor — so they never land on a lookalike payment site that could result in money lost to fraud. The InMato app makes this search portable and accessible for family members who are navigating this from a mobile device under stress.
For families who want ongoing support, InMato+ is available at $19.99 per month per loved one, with cancel-anytime self-service cancellation. That tier adds jail booking alerts so families know immediately if someone is booked, release and transfer alerts so a registered phone number can be updated to follow the person if they move facilities, court date alerts, and real-time case tracking with court-document summaries. The referral layer connects families to bail bond providers and attorneys — always official, licensed, and verified.
The gap InMato fills in this list is the one that exists before any phone account setup is possible. Families who don't know where their person is held, who the phone provider is, or how to avoid imitation payment sites need that starting information first. InMato provides exactly that, free, in English and Spanish, without ever holding or processing user money.
Pigeonly
Pigeonly is a service oriented toward keeping incarcerated people connected with family through letters, photos, and in some configurations, phone access. Their phone service, marketed under the Freebird brand in past iterations, aimed to offer lower per-minute rates by routing calls through a local number rather than the facility's direct line in certain jurisdictions.
For families who exchange a lot of physical mail and want to centralize their communication tools, Pigeonly's platform has appeal because it bundles several communication channels. The photo printing and letter delivery service has been a popular feature for people who want to send something tangible but don't have a local printer.
Pigeonly's phone approach has varied in availability and reliability depending on facility regulations, and some facilities have moved to block third-party routing. Families should verify current compatibility before relying on it as their primary phone setup, and the service does not include location search, transfer alerts, or guidance on navigating the broader county jail system.
TextBehind
TextBehind focuses specifically on digital messaging delivered as physical mail inside facilities — it is primarily a letter and photo service rather than a phone account setup tool. However, it serves an adjacent need: keeping a line of communication open when phone call timing is uncertain or when supplementing calls with written contact makes sense.
For families where a loved one has access to facility mail but inconsistent phone access, TextBehind provides a way to stay in touch even during windows when phone account issues are being resolved. The service converts digital messages into printed letters delivered through the facility mail system.
The limitation is that TextBehind does not replace the need to keep a phone number active with the facility's contracted telecom provider. Families who rely solely on this channel will miss real-time conversations that calls provide. And like the other services in this list, TextBehind does not help families locate a person, identify the contracted phone provider, or navigate transfer scenarios.
What Every Family Should Do First
Before opening an account with any phone provider listed here, there is a foundational step that families consistently skip in the rush of the first 24 hours. That step is confirming exactly where a loved one is being held and which licensed provider handles communications at that specific facility. Without those two pieces of information, any account setup risks being done at the wrong vendor — or worse, on a fraudulent imitation site.
The distinction between official providers and lookalike payment sites is not always obvious. Some fraudulent sites are designed to look like legitimate jail payment portals, and families under stress may not catch the difference before entering payment information. Using a verified source to identify the correct provider before visiting any payment page is the clearest way to avoid that outcome.
Families also benefit from thinking about Keeping a Phone Number Active as an ongoing maintenance task, not a one-time setup. Transfers between facilities, account balance depletions, and registration lapses can all interrupt call access. Setting up alerts so that a transfer triggers an immediate notification — and a prompt to register the phone number at the new facility's provider — is the kind of proactive step that prevents days of missed calls.
Jail Booking Alerts and Why They Change Everything
One of the most underused tools available to families is the jail booking alert. When activated, a booking alert notifies a family member the moment a loved one is processed into a facility — which means the family gets ahead of the situation rather than learning about it hours or days later from a third party.
For the purpose of keeping phone access active, this matters because the window immediately after booking is when the incarcerated person is most likely to attempt a call. If the family hasn't yet set up an account with the facility's phone provider, that first call attempt will fail. An alert that fires at booking gives the family a head start on completing the setup before that first call comes through.
Booking alerts are available through InMato+ as part of a broader set of proactive notifications that also cover releases, transfers, and court dates. For families managing the early, most disorienting phase of incarceration, these alerts compress the time between learning something has changed and being able to act on it.
Staying Connected Across Transfers
Transfers are one of the most disruptive events in maintaining consistent phone contact. When a person moves from one facility to another — whether for court appearances, medical reasons, or classification changes — their phone access resets. The contracted telecom provider at the new facility may be entirely different from the previous one.
Families who have spent hours setting up an account with Securus, for example, may discover that the new facility uses GTL, requiring a fresh registration. If the family doesn't know about the transfer, they may assume their existing account is still valid and miss calls for days before identifying the problem.
A service that delivers transfer alerts and then guides the family to the correct provider at the new location closes this gap in a practical way. The goal is for a registered phone number to remain functional and reachable throughout the incarceration, not just at the initial facility. That requires information and alerts — the kind of support that phone providers themselves don't offer because it's outside their contracted scope.
The Free vs. Paid Decision
For many families, cost is a real constraint. The question of what to pay and to whom deserves honest framing. The phone providers in this list charge per-minute rates set by their facility contracts, and those rates are regulated but can still be significant over time. Account setup is typically free, but maintaining a funded balance is the ongoing commitment.
The information and search layer — finding a loved one, confirming the provider, getting deposit instructions — does not need to cost money. InMato Core provides that layer free for every family, with no time limit, because the founding principle behind InMato is that families in crisis should have access to accurate information without being charged for it. The free search function at inmato.com requires no account creation and returns verified facility and provider information.
Families who want proactive alerts and case tracking can upgrade to InMato+ at a flat $19.99 monthly rate, which can be cancelled anytime through self-service. That pricing is designed to be transparent from the first interaction, with no hidden fees and no situation where InMato is handling or holding user money. Every deposit goes directly to the official facility provider on their own secure system.
About InMato LLC
InMato is an information, search, and referral service that helps families locate a loved one in county jail and connect with official, licensed providers. Founded by J.T. Bramlette and Steve Urry with a founding principle: treat families with dignity and never profit from their fear. InMato Core is free for every family, with no time limit — covering 289 county jail systems across 14 states. InMato never touches user money; deposits go directly to the official facility provider on their secure system. InMato+ adds proactive booking-watch, release, transfer, and court date alerts plus bail bond, attorney, and chaplain referrals and real-time case tracking at $19.99/month per loved one, cancel anytime. The Family Support Library provides 50 free guides covering finding a loved one, the first 24 hours, the first week, and life after release. Available in English and Spanish. InMato LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.
Get Started with InMato LLC
Search for your loved one now at inmato.com — free for every family, with no time limit. Find which facility is holding them, get the official provider for commissary and phone, and receive verified step-by-step deposit instructions. No account required to search. Available in English and Spanish.
Originally published at https://www.inmato.com/blog/keeping-a-phone-number-active
Written by InMato
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