The phone service at all the prisons, jails and detention centers are set up through bid process. The winner of the contract is the ONLY provider for that facility making them a monopoly - Telmate in this case. Therefore you have to use them to receive calls. The choice is whether you pay them for a long distance call or a local call (to a number we get for you). Here is how it works... We get you a local line matching the rate center of the institution. Your inmate dials this local number and it will ring on your current phone. **You will need to register the local number with the prison phone service** (just like you would your long distance number without our service) who will charge you only for the local call. The difference in two call prices is why people use the service. If your inmate can buy calling cards from the commissary, you will not need to go online and set this up, they can dial the local number direct with the card.