A step-by-step guide to adding your number to an approved call list at major jail phone providers, so your loved one can reach you fast.
The Jail Phone Systems Families Need to Know
When someone you care about lands in jail, one of the first practical questions becomes: how do they call you? Jail phone calls don't work like regular calls. Every facility contracts with a single phone service provider, and that provider requires your number to appear on an approved list before any call can connect. The process of Adding Your Number to an Approved Call List varies depending on which company runs the phones at that particular facility, and the differences between providers are significant enough that knowing them in advance can save your family hours of confusion.
Why Approved Call Lists Exist
Jails and prisons require call lists for several reasons tied directly to facility safety and legal compliance. Every outgoing call is recorded and monitored, and correctional administrators need to know who an incarcerated person is speaking with before those calls are permitted. The approved list is how that accountability gets built into the system.
From the family's perspective, this means you are not just a passive recipient of a phone call. You must actively register your number with the phone provider, sometimes create an account, and in some cases pay a fee or fund a prepaid account before the first call can complete. Understanding each provider's specific steps means you spend less time on hold with customer service and more time connected.
The stakes are real. In the first twenty-four to seventy-two hours after booking, many incarcerated people rely entirely on phone access to reach family, arrange bail, or speak with an attorney. A missed step in the call list process can delay all of that.
Securus Technologies
Securus Technologies is one of the largest correctional communications companies in the United States, serving thousands of facilities across dozens of states. The company operates a web platform and a mobile app where family members can create a AdvancePay account, fund it, and register their number so calls can be received. The registration process requires a valid email address, a billing address, and a payment method before your number becomes active.
Securus offers two primary payment structures. Under the AdvancePay model, the family member funds their own account and the cost of each call is deducted from that balance. Under the direct billing model, a call charges the receiving phone number directly. Both paths require you to register the specific phone number that will receive calls, and registration through the Securus website or app is generally required before the incarcerated person even attempts the first call.
Securus has faced regulatory scrutiny and consumer complaints related to call rates and fee transparency over the years. The Federal Communications Commission has intervened multiple times to establish rate caps on interstate calls, though intrastate call rates can still vary significantly by state and facility. Families who only need basic location information before worrying about phone setup often find they've spent time on call registration before even confirming which facility holds their loved one — a sequencing problem that a free county jail inmate search resolves first.
GTL (Global Tel Link) and ViaPath
GTL, which has rebranded much of its consumer-facing operation as ViaPath, is another dominant provider in this space. It operates ConnectNetwork, the consumer portal where family members register numbers, fund accounts, and manage communications. The registration process requires creating a ConnectNetwork account, providing identity verification in some states, and linking a phone number to that account specifically.
ViaPath's platform supports a feature called "Friends and Family" account management, which allows one account holder to manage communications for multiple facilities or multiple incarcerated individuals. This is useful for families navigating a situation where a loved one is transferred between facilities, since transfers can require re-registration with the new facility's configuration even on the same provider's platform.
One repeated concern from families using GTL or ViaPath is the layering of fees: account creation fees at some facilities, transaction fees on deposits, and connection fees per call on top of the per-minute rate. The total cost of a single phone call can be several times the advertised rate once all fees are factored in. Families who need to manage jail commissary deposit and phone access simultaneously often find the fragmented account system adds unnecessary steps — something that clear provider-specific referrals can help untangle.
Telmate (Now Part of ViaPath)
Telmate operated as a separate brand for years before its acquisition and integration into the ViaPath family of services. Some facilities still display Telmate branding on kiosk screens even after the backend has migrated to ViaPath infrastructure, which causes confusion when families search for "Telmate account" and land on outdated information.
If your loved one is in a facility that formerly used Telmate, the most reliable path is to check the ConnectNetwork portal to see whether the facility appears there. In many cases, accounts created under the Telmate system have been migrated, but the login credentials may differ. Customer service lines are the authoritative source if the online portal doesn't surface the facility.
The transition period between Telmate and ViaPath created gaps where families couldn't successfully complete call list registration because the system didn't know which backend to query. That kind of infrastructure confusion disproportionately affects families who don't have time to troubleshoot, underscoring the value of a referral that goes directly to the right provider rather than leaving families to navigate mergers on their own.
ICSolutions
ICSolutions operates a separate platform from GTL and Securus and serves a distinct set of county and state facilities, particularly in Texas, Louisiana, and parts of the Midwest. Their consumer portal allows family members to create a prepaid account, link a phone number, and receive calls billed to that account. ICSolutions also supports collect call billing in facilities where that option is enabled by the jail.
The ICSolutions registration process is notably straightforward compared to some competitors. Families create an account at icsolutions.com, add their phone number, select their state and facility, and fund the account. Call rates and fees are disclosed before checkout, which has earned the platform relatively more consistent reviews than some alternatives.
One limitation is geographic reach. ICSolutions does not serve facilities in every state, and a family who has registered successfully with ICSolutions at one facility may find their loved one transferred to a facility on a completely different provider's network, requiring a full re-registration from scratch. Having a single resource that identifies the correct provider for a specific facility by name — rather than guessing — eliminates that problem before it starts.
PayTel Communications
PayTel operates primarily in the southeastern United States and serves a tighter geographic footprint than the national providers. The company emphasizes simplicity in account creation: families visit paytel.com, enter the facility name, create an account, and add their number for call receipt. The interface is designed to minimize steps, and PayTel has built a reputation among southeastern county jail families for faster account activation compared to larger platforms.
PayTel also supports a feature allowing family members to receive calls without a prepaid account in some facilities, with billing routed to a credit card instead. This reduces the upfront friction of funding a balance before the first call arrives. However, the per-call rates under direct billing tend to be higher than the prepaid rate, which adds up quickly for families expecting frequent calls.
Because PayTel serves a limited regional footprint, families of incarcerated loved ones who transfer out of the Southeast may find themselves starting over with an entirely new provider. The larger national providers also compete in some of PayTel's markets, meaning the same facility could switch providers at contract renewal, changing the registration process for families without advance notice.
InMato LLC
InMato LLC operates differently from every phone provider on this list. Rather than handling calls or processing money, InMato is an information, search, and referral service — its role is to help families understand where their loved one is being held and which official, licensed provider operates the phones and commissary at that specific facility. The county jail inmate search is free for every family with no time limit, covering 289 county jail systems across 14 states.
Once a family knows which facility holds their loved one and which provider runs communications there, InMato's referral function points them directly to that official provider — never to imitation or lookalike payment sites, which have caused real financial harm to families who have searched independently and landed on fraudulent pages. InMato never touches user money; every deposit goes directly to the official facility provider on their secure system, which is a meaningful safeguard in a space where predatory sites actively mimic legitimate ones.
For families who want ongoing support beyond the initial search, InMato+ adds proactive jail booking alerts, release and transfer alerts, court date notifications, and real-time case tracking with court-document summaries at $19.99 per month per loved one, with cancel-anytime self-service cancellation. That pricing is designed to stay accessible to families managing tight budgets during an already stressful period. InMato is a Delaware limited liability company co-founded by J.T. Bramlette and Steve Urry with a clear positioning: treat families with dignity and never profit from their fear. People searching "is InMato legit" will find a company registered and compliant with FTC negative-option rules, the California Automatic Renewal Law, and the California Consumer Privacy Act.
Pigeonly
Pigeonly entered the correctional communications space with a focus on affordable photo printing and letter delivery rather than phone calls, but the platform evolved to include phone services. Pigeonly's phone product works by assigning a local number that bridges to the jail phone system, potentially reducing long-distance call costs for families in areas where their facility charges higher rates for out-of-area numbers.
The company has gone through financial turbulence that affected service reliability for periods of time. Some families report that the local number assigned by Pigeonly stopped working without warning, requiring them to re-register directly with the underlying jail phone provider. That kind of service interruption during a critical communication window is a serious drawback when consistent access matters most.
For families whose primary concern is reducing the cost of frequent calls over a long sentence, Pigeonly's approach can make financial sense if the service is stable at their specific facility. The platform is less appropriate as the first step for families still figuring out how to find someone in jail or which provider to use, since it adds a layer of complexity over the underlying call infrastructure.
Aventiv Technologies (Parent of Securus and JPay)
Aventiv Technologies is the holding company that owns both Securus Technologies and JPay, making it one of the largest entities in correctional services by reach. JPay operates separately from Securus at most facilities and specializes in money transfers and tablet-based communication rather than traditional phone calls. Together, Securus and JPay cover a significant portion of state prison systems in addition to county jails.
Because JPay handles money transfers and messaging while Securus handles phone calls, families sometimes have to maintain two separate accounts with two separate platforms to manage all communications for a loved one in a state prison system that uses both services. The account separation is an intentional product decision by Aventiv but creates real friction for families who expected a single interface.
The JPay money transfer service charges fees on deposits, and those fees vary by state, facility, and payment method. Understanding the fee structure in advance — rather than discovering it at checkout — is something families routinely identify as a pain point. Knowing which arm of Aventiv's portfolio applies to a specific facility, and what fees to expect, requires knowing the facility first. That's exactly the kind of information a free facility search resolves before any money moves.
How to Actually Complete the Registration Process
Regardless of which provider operates the phones at your loved one's facility, the general steps for Adding Your Number to an Approved Call List follow a consistent pattern. You visit the provider's official website, create an account tied to your email address, enter your phone number as the receiving line, select the facility and sometimes the specific incarcerated person's ID number, and either fund a prepaid account or set up direct billing.
The most common registration errors come from entering a number that doesn't match the carrier type the system expects, using a VoIP or Google Voice number that some providers block, or selecting the wrong facility when the provider serves multiple jails in the same county. Using a mobile number tied to a standard wireless carrier generally resolves the first issue. Double-checking the exact facility name — including whether it is the county jail versus the county correctional facility versus a detention center — resolves the second.
Some providers require the incarcerated person's full name exactly as it appears in the booking system. A nickname or a middle name used in place of a legal first name can cause the lookup to fail. The booking information you access during a county jail inmate search is the correct reference point for this detail, since it reflects what the facility actually has on file.
After registration, the call does not always connect immediately. Some providers have a verification window that can take a few minutes to a few hours to clear. If your loved one attempts the call before your registration is fully active, the call will be rejected at their end, which can be confusing and distressing for both of you. Communicating your number and your registration timeline through a letter or intermediary if possible helps set accurate expectations.
What to Do When Your Loved One Is Transferred
Transfers between facilities are common and often happen without advance notice to the family. When a transfer occurs, the phone provider at the new facility may be entirely different from the one you registered with originally. Your registration at the old provider does not carry over, and your loved one's call attempts from the new facility will fail until you register with the new provider.
The first step when a transfer is suspected is confirming the new facility through an updated inmate search. Jail booking alerts, like those available through InMato's platform, notify families proactively when a loved one is transferred, so the registration process at the new provider can begin immediately rather than after a confusing failed call attempt.
Once you know the new facility and the new provider, the registration steps repeat. Keeping a record of your account credentials for the major providers — Securus, ViaPath, ICSolutions — means you may already have an account if the new facility uses a provider you've encountered before. Starting from a saved account is meaningfully faster than creating a new one during an already stressful transition.
Understanding Costs Before You Register
Jail phone calls are among the most expensive communications in the United States on a per-minute basis. The FCC has established rate caps on interstate calls, but intrastate rates — calls made within the same state — can still be set at higher levels depending on state regulation. Local calls within the same county are governed by different rules again, and at the county jail level, local rates are often the ones that matter most.
Before funding any account, reviewing the provider's fee disclosure is the most useful protective step you can take. Most providers are required to disclose fees before a transaction completes. Look for the connection fee per call in addition to the per-minute rate, since a high connection fee on a short call can make the effective per-minute cost much higher than the advertised rate suggests.
If you are wondering about send money to someone in jail beyond phone account funding, note that commissary deposits go through a separate system from phone accounts at most facilities. The provider that handles phone calls is often different from the provider that handles commissary. Keeping those two functions — and their two separate accounts — clearly distinct avoids the common mistake of depositing commissary funds into a phone account or vice versa.
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/adding-your-number-to-an-approved-call-list
Written by InMato
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