Are certain number being blocked from all prison made calls?

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Nov 05, 2009 Posts: 1

I am looking for an affordable way to stay in contact with a prison contact and the rates are killing me. Is there a way to use Vonage to save money on the calls?

Posts: 656 · Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:51 pm Post subject:

The answer is no to both questions. Vonage does not block any incoming calls and no you cannot use Vonage for this purpose. Vonage's carriers for one does not accept 3rd party billing since they are reselling the numbers to Vonage and Vonage uses them for their own customers which his why collect calls do not work. There would be no way for the CLEC Vonage is using to bill for the call unless they billed Vonage and Vonage will not accept 3rd party charges.

As for the services used from prisons, there is an account that must be accessed by the prisoner which then places a phone call to the receiving end being Vonage in this case. I assume that there is something in the Call Party Category of the SS7 signaling that makes this different from a normal call and somewhere along the lines between Vonage's CLEC carrier or into Vonage's Gateway, this call is not routed properly or rejected due to the nature of the Calling Party Category. This is not by intention but for the most part these calls do not usually complete.

Posts: 183 · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 11:52 am Post subject:

dytos... I have no experience on the subject but what if you added an 800 number to your home phone? Instead of dialing collect from prison, the individual would just dial the 800# and the charge would come back but I would have to guess the 800# charge would be a heck of a lot cheaper than a collect call. Hrm... Maybe that won't work. I just found https://forums.vonage.com/archive/index.php/t-496.html however you might want to look at that link for the website listed. Maybe they can help you out.

ksig

Posts: 435 · Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:25 pm Post subject:

The prison system receives a "rebate" on each collect call made. This is one reason why you cannot have the caller call you without making the call as "collect".

Remember, if you wish to speak, you must pay. Think of the "less" fortunate that cannot afford in some cases a $5 for three minute call.