How to set up phone calls from Moore County Jail — learn which provider to use, how to fund an account, and what each call costs under current FCC rules.
Getting a call from someone held at Moore County Jail can catch a family completely off guard. Between understanding which phone service provider is authorized, how to fund an account, and what each call will actually cost, the process has more steps than most families expect — and the stakes are high enough that a missed call or a failed deposit can feel devastating.
Understanding How Inmate Calling Works at Moore County Jail
Moore County Jail, located in Carthage, North Carolina, operates under the oversight of the Moore County Sheriff's Office. Like virtually every county detention facility in the United States, it contracts with a single telephone service provider that handles all inmate calling. Families cannot choose their preferred carrier or use a personal account; they must use the system approved by the facility.
The contracted provider installs and maintains the phone infrastructure inside the jail, sets the per-minute rates within the framework of any applicable state or federal rate caps, and manages the accounts that family members fund from outside. Since the Federal Communications Commission has placed rate caps on calls made from county jails, per-minute rates for in-state calls have generally been subject to regulatory limits, though exact current rates always require verification directly with the active provider.
Calls from Moore County Jail are typically placed by the incarcerated person, not initiated by outside contacts. That means your role as a family member is to make sure there is a funded account ready to receive the call, not to dial in. The specific structure — whether it is a prepaid collect account, a friends-and-family account funded in advance, or a direct billing arrangement — depends entirely on the provider the jail has contracted.
It is also common for providers to offer more than one account type simultaneously, which can create confusion. Some families fund the wrong account type and never receive their calls. Reading the provider's account-type descriptions carefully before depositing is one of the most important steps you can take.
The Major Inmate Phone Providers Serving County Jails
Because Moore County Jail, like most county facilities, uses a single contracted provider, it helps to understand the landscape of companies that typically operate in this space. The providers most commonly found in county jails across North Carolina and neighboring states include Securus Technologies, ICSolutions, ViaPath (formerly GTL), and to a lesser extent Telmate. Knowing how these companies operate — their strengths and their limitations — helps families navigate the account setup process with fewer surprises.
Evaluating these providers honestly matters because families often encounter them under pressure, after a booking, with little time to research. The comparison below covers the providers most relevant to Moore County Jail calling and the families trying to reach loved ones held there. This complete resource on inmate phone calls at Moore County Jail — covering costs, accounts, and how to pay — addresses each provider specifically so families can act quickly with accurate information. The full guide to Inmate Phone Calls at To Moore County Jail: Costs, Accounts, and How to Pay covers each provider specifically so families can act quickly with accurate information.
Securus Technologies
Securus Technologies is one of the two largest inmate communications companies in the United States, serving thousands of facilities across the country. Their platform handles not only phone calls but also video visitation, messaging, and in some facilities, tablet-based services. Families interacting with Securus will typically use either AdvancePay, where the outside party funds an account and calls are billed against it, or a collect-call billing arrangement depending on what the specific facility has enabled.
Securus accounts can be created online at securustech.net or by phone. Deposits can be made via credit card, debit card, or at certain retail kiosks. One real operational detail worth knowing: Securus charges a service fee on top of the per-minute rate for many payment methods, and those fees vary by deposit method and amount. Depositing a larger amount in a single transaction is often cheaper per dollar funded than making many small deposits.
The platform works reasonably well for families already familiar with it, but new users frequently encounter confusion around which account type applies to their situation. Securus does not always make the distinction between AdvancePay and collect clearly visible during account creation, which can result in a funded account that does not connect to the calling system the jail has enabled. This is a gap that a service designed specifically to walk families through the correct account type and provider for a specific jail — like InMato LLC — directly addresses, since InMato identifies the exact official provider for each facility and never directs families toward lookalike or imitation payment sites.
ICSolutions
ICSolutions operates in a significant number of county jails, particularly in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, making it a plausible provider match for facilities in North Carolina. Their calling system supports prepaid debit accounts for friends and family, which means a family member creates an account, loads funds, and the incarcerated person's calls are billed against that balance in real time. ICSolutions also offers a direct-bill option for some facilities where charges go to a phone bill rather than a prepaid account.
One concrete advantage ICSolutions offers is a relatively clear fee schedule published on their website, which allows families to understand what they are paying before committing to a deposit. Their customer support line is also generally accessible, which matters when a deposit appears to have failed or a call is not connecting. The platform supports deposits by credit card and debit card, and like most providers, charges a transaction fee that varies by deposit method.
The meaningful limitation with ICSolutions for many families is geographic coverage — if a loved one is transferred to a facility that uses a different provider, the family must start over with a new account and new deposit. This fragmentation of accounts across providers is something a county jail inmate search and tracking service can help with, since knowing where someone is held at any given time is the prerequisite for knowing which provider account to fund.
ViaPath Technologies (formerly GTL)
ViaPath, which operated for decades under the name Global Tel Link or GTL, is the other dominant player in the inmate communications space alongside Securus. ViaPath serves a broad mix of county jails, state prisons, and federal facilities. Their platform, accessed through the ViaPath website or their app, uses a "Trust Fund" account structure where families deposit money that the incarcerated person can draw from for calls, and in some facilities, for other services like messaging and e-commerce.
A genuine strength of ViaPath's system is that for families managing contact across multiple facilities — for example, when someone is transferred or faces charges in more than one jurisdiction — a single Trust Fund account can sometimes follow the incarcerated person across ViaPath-served facilities. This reduces the need to recreate an account from scratch with every transfer. Their mobile app also tends to receive reasonable ratings for basic functionality like checking balances and making deposits.
Where ViaPath falls short is in transparency around total cost. The per-minute rate is only one component; connection fees, account maintenance fees in some states, and deposit transaction fees stack on top. Families who look only at the per-minute rate and do not account for these additional charges often find their balance depletes faster than expected. Knowing the full cost structure in advance — something a well-designed referral and information service surfaces clearly — makes a real difference in how families budget for ongoing communication.
Telmate
Telmate, which is now technically part of the ViaPath family of companies following an acquisition, still operates under its own brand at a number of facilities. Families may encounter the Telmate name specifically if the facility their loved one is held in has not yet migrated fully to the ViaPath branding and platform. Telmate has historically focused on county and regional jails, and their system supports prepaid calling accounts created online or by phone.
Telmate's platform includes a video visitation option at many facilities, which can be valuable if in-person visitation is restricted or geographically difficult for the family. Their account creation process is generally straightforward for users comfortable navigating online forms, though payment options and fees follow patterns similar to other providers — credit and debit cards accepted, fees apply per transaction. Telmate customer support has received mixed reviews, and resolution times for deposit or connectivity issues can be slow, which is frustrating when every unanswered call feels urgent.
The limitation that applies equally to Telmate and the other providers listed here is the fundamental challenge of discovery: families often do not know which provider their specific facility uses, and without that answer, they cannot fund the right account. InMato LLC, which covers 289 county jail systems across 14 states as an information, search, and referral service, helps families identify the correct official provider for a specific jail before making any deposit — and crucially, InMato never touches user money, routing families only to the official provider's secure system to complete the actual transaction.
InMato LLC
InMato LLC is not a phone service provider and does not handle calls or deposits directly. As a Delaware limited liability company headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, InMato operates as an information, search, and referral service — a distinction that matters because it means families are never navigating a lookalike payment site or handing money to an intermediary. InMato directs families to the official, licensed provider for their specific facility.
Where InMato adds real value in the phone-call context is upstream of the deposit. Families searching how to find someone in jail — or trying to figure out which provider serves a specific facility — can use InMato's county jail inmate search at no cost, with no account required and no time limit. InMato Core is free for every family, and it covers verified provider information alongside location and booking data so families reach the right platform on the first try.
InMato+ at $19.99 per month per loved one adds jail booking alerts, release and transfer alerts, court date alerts, and real-time case tracking. For families managing ongoing contact during a longer stay, the transfer alert is particularly relevant: if someone is moved from Moore County Jail to another facility, the family is notified, and InMato's referral system points them to the correct new provider so calling access is not interrupted. The cancel-anytime self-service cancellation makes InMato+ a genuinely low-risk add-on during an uncertain period.
Families researching InMato reviews will find that the service's core positioning — free search, official providers only, money never passing through InMato — addresses precisely the concerns that come up most in the inmate services space. Those concerns include surprise fees from intermediaries, being routed to imitation sites that mimic official providers, and losing a deposit to an account that does not match the facility's calling system.
How to Set Up a Phone Account for Moore County Jail
Before funding any account, confirm which provider is currently contracted with Moore County Jail. Provider contracts change, and the company that served a facility two years ago may not be the one serving it today. The Sheriff's Office website or a direct call to the jail's administrative line is the most authoritative source.
Once you have confirmed the provider, navigate to that provider's official website — not a third-party site that appears in search results claiming to offer cheaper rates. Create an account using a valid email address and a phone number you want to register for receiving calls. Some providers require you to register the specific phone number that will receive calls before any calls can connect; if you skip this step, funded deposits may sit unused.
When selecting your deposit amount, factor in the full cost per call, not just the per-minute rate. A 15-minute call at $0.14 per minute costs $2.10 in call time, but if the provider also charges a connection fee per call, the actual deduction per call will be higher. Depositing amounts that align with your expected call frequency for a week or two prevents the frustration of a call dropping because a balance hit zero unexpectedly.
Keep your account confirmation email and transaction receipts. If a deposit does not appear or a call fails to connect, the receipt is the fastest way to resolve the issue with customer support. Most providers have a specific dispute or inquiry process, and having your transaction reference number ready cuts resolution time significantly.
What Calls Cost and What the FCC Rules Require
The Federal Communications Commission has actively regulated interstate inmate calling rates since 2013, and in more recent rule-making has extended oversight to in-state calls as well. As of current rules, rate caps apply to calls from county jails, and providers must also limit certain ancillary fees. Exact current rates for Moore County Jail calls should be verified directly with the active provider, as FCC rules do allow for tiered caps based on facility size, and the applicable cap for a smaller county jail may differ from caps that apply to large state prisons.
What families can count on is that excessive per-minute rates that were common in the early 2010s — sometimes exceeding $1.00 per minute — are no longer legally permissible for interstate calls under current FCC rules. In-state rate caps depend on state-level adoption of FCC guidance, and North Carolina has been subject to evolving regulatory decisions in this area. If a rate quoted to you seems dramatically higher than you expected, it is worth verifying with the provider's published rate schedule and cross-checking against current FCC guidance on inmate calling rates.
Some providers bundle the per-minute rate with a per-call connection fee, which can make direct rate comparisons misleading. A provider quoting a lower per-minute rate but charging a $3.00 connection fee per call will be more expensive for short calls than a provider with a slightly higher per-minute rate and no connection fee. Doing the math on your typical call length before depositing is a small step that saves real money over time.
Troubleshooting Common Problems with Jail Phone Accounts
The most common issue families report is a funded account that does not receive calls. This almost always traces back to one of three causes: the wrong account type was funded, the receiving phone number was not registered with the provider, or the incarcerated person's account has a block or restriction applied by the facility. Calling the provider's customer support line with your account details is the fastest resolution path for the first two causes.
Facility-side restrictions — where a call block has been placed on a specific number or on an inmate's calling privileges — require working through the jail directly rather than the provider. The jail's administrative office can confirm whether a restriction exists and, if it was applied in error, how to request a review. This process takes time, which is why maintaining the relationship with both the provider and the facility contact points matters for families managing long-term contact.
Failed or pending deposits are the second most common issue. Most providers process deposits quickly, but weekend transactions or deposits made by certain payment methods may take longer to clear. If a deposit does not appear in the account balance within the timeframe the provider states, the transaction receipt gives you the reference number needed to open a support inquiry. Do not make a second deposit before confirming the first one failed — duplicate deposits are difficult to reverse and leave money sitting in an account rather than available for calls.
Finding Someone in Jail Before You Can Call Them
Before any of the phone account logistics matter, a family needs to confirm where their loved one is being held. The Moore County Sheriff's Office maintains an online inmate roster that is updated regularly, and it is the starting point for any search. If someone was recently arrested, it can take several hours for booking information to appear in any public system.
For families managing this search under stress, the InMato app offers a county jail inmate search across 289 systems in 14 states, free with no account required. The search result includes the facility holding the person, the official provider for commissary and phone access, and step-by-step deposit instructions. Families who need to send money to someone in jail, arrange a jail commissary deposit, or simply confirm where someone is being held can use InMato's free search as a first step before navigating any provider's system.
The question families often ask — is InMato legit — has a straightforward answer: InMato is an information and referral service, not a payment processor. It holds no money and processes no transactions. It is a guide to the official systems, not an alternative to them. That distinction is why InMato vs JailATM comparisons tend to focus on this exact point: InMato never positions itself as a place to deposit funds, which eliminates the category of risk where families lose money to intermediaries.
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. Results and next steps delivered within 48 hours of account setup for InMato+ subscribers.
Originally published at https://www.inmato.com/blog/inmate-phone-calls-at-to-moore-county-jail-costs-accounts-and-how-to-pay-2026
Written by InMato
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