# An Anti-Pitting: Cellphones **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 24, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266 "2009-04-24T20:46:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266/41 "2009-05-05T13:22:00Z")
I was first on scene this morning for a semi that rolled over. My patient (not hurt, but severely shook up) wanted back _INTO_ the truck to get his cell phone so he could call his missus and his boss. It was handy for me to give him mine instead to make the calls while I examined him. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266/42 "2009-05-05T15:02:15Z")
> [@dragonlady](#): > > I wonder who’s skimming the profit from the inmate phone calls. Locally, it costs almost $5 to talk for 15 minutes. Something NO payphone would have dared charge. And yes, it really does punish the families, most of whom are not well off and not involved in criminal activity. My understanding is (and this might be inaccurate) is that the State Prison System / Department of Corrections skims the profit from inmate phone calls. Why have the taxpayers bear the cost of phones when you can shove that cost on to the inmates’ families? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266/43 "2009-05-05T15:04:45Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > The US is weird. There’s still an abundant supply of pay phones here. They may not be on every corner, but you can pretty much find one when you need one. > > The metro, for example (no signal down there except in certain places). > > Actually, one thing that honks me off is that I simply can’t accept collect calls on my cell phone. I find that idiotic. The boy in Winnipeg I like has no cellphone and is rather impecunious. For a while we were stuck when he didn’t have a phone – here I was with **the cellphone of the gods** and no way to either accept or place a call to him. (bolding mine) iPhone? 🙂 You can’t accept a collect call on a cellphone? Weird. I’ve never tried that though. I’ll have to ask my friend to call me that way. There are still a fair number of payphones around here. Most of them are still Bell, too. I’ve noticed recently that one phone in each cluster has begun to sport a little keyboard for sending text messages. And I’ve used this, when my cellphone is dead. Text messages are ten cents each, at a time when local calls are fifty cents, and the first three minutes of a long-distance call to a point maybe a hundred kilometres away is $3.95. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266/44 "2009-05-05T15:21:53Z")
> [@LucyInDisguise](#): > > 6 calls = 49 minutes total talk time - Billed @ $14.41/min = $706.09\*… > > \*_Does Not_ include taxes :eek: :eek: That is seriously wrong. Who let it happen? ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266/45 "2009-05-06T16:01:49Z")
> [@Tamex](#): > > I know. Seemed like someone felt the families had to be punished along with the prisoners. That never seemed fair to me. Well…it IS a captive audience… ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266/46 "2009-05-06T17:01:46Z")
I can kind of understand why you would charge the calls high in the prison…you don’t want the inmates making too many calls or spending all their time on the phone, I guess. It is supposed to be prison. I actually just came in here to pitch the TracFone…it’s great for people like me who hate to put monthly money into it. You buy minutes and it gives you a year before you have to buy more. Then whaever minutes you have, you use as you go. It’s just a pre-paid cellphone and I like it a lot…no contract or anything. ---
**Author:** ![LucyInDisguise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucyindisguise/32/18064_2.png) [@LucyInDisguise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LucyInDisguise)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266/47 "2009-05-07T01:53:23Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > :eek: :eek: That is seriously wrong. Who let it happen? His sister. (My Wife …) To be fair, though, we had to do it in order to get him out. His pubic defender didn’t seem all that interested in getting him out. (And no, that’s not a typo.) 'Nuther high recommendation for the Tracphone. It’s all my wife and both of my daughters and their hubbys have used lo the many years. Lucy ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266/48 "2009-05-07T02:41:36Z")
> [@LucyInDisguise](#): > > His sister. (My Wife …) To be fair, though, we had to do it in order to get him out… Sorry. I meant, who was responsible for the collect-call contract who chose such not-good terms? $ 14+/minute with no limit? You can apparently call Antarctica via satellite from the United States for [twenty times less per minute](https://secure.idphonecard.com/phone_cards/united_states/phone_card_antarctica.html). ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266/49 "2009-05-07T07:49:42Z")
I remember back when I was a rowdy teen shorting out the qwest payphones with a paperclip to get free calls. I’d pick up the reciever, put the paperclip on the screw on the middle of the phone, put the other end into the center hole of the handset, dial the number, and as soon as it started ringing take the paperclip out. It worked pretty well. Since you can’t make collect calls to cellphones in jail (Don’t ask me how I know, just trust me you can’t) I wonder what will happen when the last of the residential landlines disappears. I’m sure the jail system will figure out how to let inmates buy severely overpriced TracPhone minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266/50 "2009-05-07T14:48:09Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Sorry. I meant, who was responsible for the collect-call contract who chose such not-good terms? $ 14+/minute with no limit? You can apparently call Antarctica via satellite from the United States for [twenty times less per minute](https://secure.idphonecard.com/phone_cards/united_states/phone_card_antarctica.html). I imagine the high cost is deliberate, as the prison gets a fairly large cut. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-anti-pitting-cellphones/494266.md?page=2)