A virtual landline for prison calls is a real UK landline number — an 01 or 02 — that rings through to the mobile you already carry. The person in prison calls the landline, so the prison charges the landline rate rather than the mobile rate. You answer on your normal phone. That is the whole mechanism.
What follows is what it does, what it does not do, and a straight answer on approval.
Why the type of number changes the price
Prison calls are charged per minute, and the rate depends on what is being rung. Since 1 April 2025, calls from prisons in England and Wales have cost 5.5p a minute to a mobile and 2.48p a minute to a landline on weekdays, falling to 3.6p and 2.2p at weekends — figures the Ministry of Justice released to Inside Time under a Freedom of Information request. The person in prison pays that from their own credit, not you. Put a landline in front of your mobile and the same credit buys roughly twice as many minutes, because the prison is now charging the landline rate for a call that still ends up on the phone in your pocket. Nothing else about the call changes: same handset, same rules, same recording.
That is the entire trick, and it is worth being clear that it is a small one.
It is worth being clear about who gains. The extra minutes belong to whoever is paying for the call, which is the person in prison. If you are paying a monthly fee for the number, the household is buying them more talking time rather than saving itself money — a good reason to do it, but a different one from the one usually advertised. How much you need to talk before the fee is covered is arithmetic, and we have set it out separately rather than quote a percentage.
What you actually get
One number, in your choice of area code, which forwards incoming calls to one UK mainland mobile. There is no app to install, no second handset, and no home landline required.
Three things about that number are true and rarely mentioned by anyone selling one.
The area code is cosmetic. The prison's charge depends on whether the number is a landline or a mobile, not on where in the country it is. A Manchester 0161 number costs the same to ring from a prison in Kent as a local one would. You pick the code because it is familiar, not because it does anything.
One number works for any prison. There is no link between the number and a particular establishment. Anyone in any prison in the UK can ring it, provided it is on their own approved list.
A transfer does not break it. Moves between prisons are common and disruptive, and most things have to be redone. The number is not one of them — it stays the same, and so does your mobile behind it.
If more than one person you know is in custody, the same number works for both. The minutes are shared rather than doubled.
The plans, and what each one includes, are on our pricing page.
What it is not
This matters more than the feature list, because a promise that turns out to be untrue costs you money you did not have to spare.
It is not private. Calls are still recorded and may be monitored, exactly as before. Interception happens inside the prison's own system, before the call reaches the public network — it never gets as far as our number.
It is not a way round approval. The number still has to go on the approved contact list through the prison's normal process.
It is not an app or an internet calling service. It is a phone number.
It only receives. You cannot ring out from it, and it does not send or receive text messages. There is no voicemail on it, no call recording for you, and no menu system.
The destination has to be a UK mainland mobile. Numbers in the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey share the +44 dialling code but are not routed by the service and are declined at sign-up. If your mobile is one of those, this will not work for you, and it is better to know now.
And it is a monthly subscription: billing runs from the day you sign up rather than a fixed date, cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for, and there is no refund of a period already started.
If that is the arrangement you are after, the plans set out what each one includes.
Will the prison accept it?
Here is the answer the rest of this market will not give you.
We cannot promise the number will be approved, and neither can anyone else. Approval is a decision for the prison, not for a supplier, and it can be refused.
More than that: HMPPS policy actively directs prisons to restrict some requests. The framework's wording is that requests to add 0800 numbers as social contacts, "and numbers linked to call diversion and re-routing services, must be restricted", because such numbers can be used to divert calls to contacts a prisoner is not supposed to reach. A landline that forwards to a mobile is a re-routing service, and that includes ours.
In practice a great many of these numbers go on without difficulty, because checking social contacts is only mandatory for particular groups of prisoners and is otherwise handled locally. But "usually fine in practice" is not the same as "permitted by policy", and you should hear that from us rather than discover it later. Any service claiming a prison cannot tell the difference, or that approval is certain, is not being straight with you.
So the honest version is short. The number has to be added to the approved contact list through the prison's normal process. The prison decides, and it can refuse. Calls are still recorded and monitored in the usual way. What changes is the rate the call is charged at — nothing else.
What to check before you sign up, with anyone
Five questions, and they apply to every provider in this market including us.
Is it a genuine geographic 01 or 02 number, rather than something in an unusual range? That is what determines which rate the prison applies.
Does the destination have to be a UK mainland mobile, and is yours one?
How many minutes are included, and what happens if you go past them?
Can you cancel without a notice period, and what happens to the part of the month you have paid for?
And how much do you actually talk? Work out a normal week and multiply it up. If the answer is modest, be sceptical of anyone telling you a monthly fee will save you money — including us.
Work out your own minutes first, then compare them against the plans.
Frequently asked questions
The questions families ask before signing up.
Do I need a new phone or an app?
No. The number forwards to the mobile you already use. There is nothing to install.
Can they ring it from any prison?
Yes, as long as the number is on their approved contact list. There is no link between the number and a specific establishment.
What happens if they are transferred?
Nothing. The number stays the same and so does your mobile behind it.
Will the prison definitely approve it?
No one can promise that. The prison decides and can refuse, and policy directs prisons to restrict requests to add numbers linked to call diversion and re-routing services.
Can I use it to call them?
No. The number only receives calls, and the prison phone system does not accept incoming calls in any case.
A forwarding number is a small, specific tool: it changes the rate a call is charged at, and it does not change the rules around the call. If that is the problem you have, it is a good fit, and if it is not, no amount of advertising will make it one.
If you want to see exactly how the number reaches your mobile, how it works walks through it step by step, and the questions families ask first covers approval, cancellation and coverage in more detail.
If it fits how much you talk, you can see the current plans here.