There are three ways phone calls work from a county jail, and understanding the difference between them matters because the cost varies dramatically depending on which option you use.
The first is the inmate paying from their own account. If money has been deposited onto their books, the cost of each call gets deducted directly from their trust account when they dial. This is the standard setup and the one most families use once they have funded the account.
The second is collect calls. The inmate dials out collect and you accept the charges on your end. This is the most expensive option available. Collect call rates from county jails can run significantly higher than prepaid rates, sometimes dramatically so. If you are accepting collect calls regularly, you are paying the maximum rate the carrier charges.
The third option is AdvancePay, where someone on the outside deposits money directly with the phone carrier rather than onto the inmate's books. That money is used to fund calls to a specific number. This is where the pricing gets interesting and where InmateAid makes a real difference. Some prepaid call packages run fifteen to twenty dollars for a fifteen minute call. InmateAid can get that same call down to three dollars or less depending on the facility, purely by identifying the right number to use within the carrier's rate structure.
Before spending money on any of these options, email aid@inmateaid.com with the name of the facility and your current phone number. InmateAid will give you an honest estimate of what calls currently cost and what they would cost with an InmateAid number before you commit to anything. That free estimate is worth getting before you set anything up.