Prison Phone Calls

Using Virtual Landline for prison calls

Virtual Landline offers an unlimited prison phone call service from as little as £4.50 per month by downloading our app to receive calls on your mobile, PC or laptop.

Here’s how it works:

A friend or family member in prison calls your dedicated Virtual Landline number. They speak to you via the app on your mobile phone/PC/Laptop or tablet, paying a low call rate for calls to you. 

Many families send money into prison to add to the inmate’s call credit. Using our app increases their talk time and makes your money go much further.

Virtual Landline uses your mobile data or Wi-Fi connection via the app. The service does not use your mobile minutes. You will need to ensure that you are in an area where you have a stable Wi-Fi or Mobile data connection. We strongly recommend that you have a minimum of a 4G connection.

We do recommend that you check that the prison allows calls to virtual landlines before purchasing. 0800 and 03 numbers may not be accepted as they are non-geographic and not linked to a location.

Prison phone calls: How much do they cost?

Prison phone calls needn’t be expensive with Virtual Landline. The Prison Reform Trust published that the cost of calls to landlines is at 8p while calls to mobiles at 18p. Currently, prisoners using payphones pay around 8.4p per minute to call a landline and 18.4p to call a mobile.

Phone calls from prison

The prison process for inmates to make phone calls works as follows:

• Prison staff will provide a form for the inmate to write a list of telephone numbers. For example, family, friends and a solicitor.

• Prison staff then authorise the list of phone numbers.

• Prison staff will provide a PIN number. The PIN number must be entered before every phone call.

• Calls are paid for using credit. This is where money is paid at the start and every time a call is made, the cost of the call is taken away.

How are the calls paid for?

Prisoners are required to cover the cost of their phone calls from their private cash or earnings.

We will give you a landline number, which when called, rings on your mobile. The inmate calls your Virtual Landline number, and because it is a landline number, the BT payphone inside will only charge as little as 6p per minute off peak.

The friend or family member in prison saves money by calling a landline instead of calling a mobile number, which can be as much as 18.4p per minute from a standard prison BT payphone.

Calls on the go

With Virtual Landline you don’t have to sit waiting for a call. Install the app on your mobile phone and calls to your Virtual Landline number will be received on the app. This means that no more waiting for that daily call next to a fixed landline in a fixed location.