Prison Call vs Phone Savy?Which Service Is the Best for You?

If you're trying to keep call costs down while staying in touch with a loved one in prison, you've almost certainly come across two names: Prison Call and Phone Savy. Both offer the same core idea, a virtual UK landline number that forwards calls from the prison phone to your mobile, so your loved one pays the cheaper landline rate instead of the expensive mobile tariff.

But beyond that shared principle, the two services differ in meaningful ways.This guide gives you a genuinely honest comparison. We've looked at the pricing, plans, fair usage limits, setup experience, support, and what real customers say so you can make the right choice without wading through marketing copy from either side.

How Both Services Work

Before comparing them, it's worth being clear on what both services actually do, because the mechanism is identical. When a prisoner calls a UK mobile number directly from a prison phone, they are charged the HMP mobile rate, currently 5.50p per minute on weekdays and 3.60p per minute at weekends. Those rates apply until May 2027 following a 20% reduction agreed by the Ministry of Justice in April 2025.

When a prisoner calls a standard UK landline instead, they pay considerably less, 2.48p per minute on weekdays and 2.20p per minute at weekends. That's roughly half the cost of a weekday mobile call. Neither Prison Call nor Phone Savy changes the rate the prisoner pays, that's set nationally by HMPPS. What they do is give you a real UK landline number (such as an 0121 or 0161 area code number) that diverts straight to your mobile. You answer as normal. Your loved one pays landline rates. No app required, no special equipment needed on either end.

Side By Side Comparison

For most families, cost is the single most important factor. Calling a mobile number from prison can cost up to 25p per minute, which means even short calls can become expensive. Prison Call typically offers rates from as little as 3p per minute, with no hidden connection charges. The savings can be substantial, especially if your loved one calls regularly. Over the course of a year, this can amount to over £100 in savings, which can make a huge difference to a family budget.

Phone Savy’s rates are generally higher, often starting around 5–7p per minute, and some users have reported additional service or top-up fees. While this is still cheaper than calling a mobile directly, the overall cost can be less predictable. For families trying to budget carefully, transparent pricing can make life a lot easier. This is one of the reasons many customers prefer the simplicity of Prison Call.

Pricing in Detail

Prison Call is priced at £19.99 per month for its core plan, which includes unlimited incoming minutes subject to a fair usage policy of 3,300 minutes. To put that in context, 3,300 minutes is roughly 55 hours of talk time. The company states that 95% of customers use less than this each month, so in practice it functions as a genuinely unlimited plan for almost everyone. If you do exceed the allowance, additional minutes are charged at 8p per minute, a publicly stated rate that lets you budget if needed. Prison Call also offers a Saver plan at £24.99 per month and a Family plan at £39.99 per month that diverts to three separate mobiles simultaneously, designed for families where multiple people want to receive calls from the same prisoner.Phone Savy's single core plan is priced at £24.99 per month. It also operates under a fair usage policy, though the specific minute cap is not as prominently advertised. The service is run by Freedom Telephony Limited and has been operating for several years under multiple brand names including PhoneSavvy.uk and Cheap-Prison-Calls.co.uk. For families who need a single number and want a reliable service with a strong support reputation, it is a legitimate option  just at a higher base monthly price than Prison Call's entry tier.

The £5 per month difference between Prison Call's entry plan (£19.99) and Phone Savy's plan (£24.99) amounts to £60 over a year. Over a typical sentence of two or three years, that gap is meaningful. But pricing is only part of the picture.

Setup and Getting Started

The setup process for both services is similar. You sign up online, pay your first month, and receive a local UK landline number — typically within minutes for Prison Call, and within around two hours for Phone Savy according to their website. Once you have the number, you pass it to your loved one in prison, who submits it through their prison's PIN phone administration process. This approval typically takes a few days and is handled by prison staff, so neither service can speed up that part of the process. Once approved, your loved one dials the number from the prison phone and the call forwards directly to your mobile.

Neither service requires any app, special phone, or technical configuration. You can receive calls whether you're at home, in the car, or abroad in most cases. If you change your mobile number at any point, both services allow you to update the forwarding number without issuing a new landline number to the prisoner — meaning you don't have to restart the PIN approval process.

What Phone Savy Does Well

It's worth being direct about this: Phone Savy has an impressive Trustpilot presence. With 190 verified reviews at 4.9 stars as of January 2026, the pattern of feedback is consistently positive. Customers frequently highlight specific named members of the support team by name, praising fast callbacks and proactive help during setup. The ability to call a dedicated phone number (0161 706 0656) during the week is something that genuinely matters to families in stressful circumstances, and Phone Savy offers this. For anyone who places high value on being able to speak to a person on the phone if something goes wrong, Phone Savy's telephone support channel is a genuine differentiator.

The service has also been operating for a number of years across multiple brand names, giving it an established track record in the market. For families who are cautious about trying a newer service, that longevity provides some reassurance.

What Prison Call Does Well

Prison Call's clearest advantage is price. At £19.99 per month with a clearly stated 3,300-minute fair usage cap and a publicly advertised overflow rate, it offers the most transparent and lowest-cost entry point in the market. The plan structure is also more flexible: the choice between three tiers means you can start on the Essential plan and upgrade if your needs grow, rather than immediately committing to a higher monthly spend.

The Family plan at £39.99 per month, which diverts calls to three separate mobiles is a genuinely useful option that has no direct equivalent in Phone Savy's advertised plans. For families where a partner, parent, and sibling all want to receive calls from the same prisoner, paying a single subscription rather than three is an obvious saving.

Prison Call also offers a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, meaning if the service doesn't meet your expectations after signup, you can get your money back. This reduces the risk of trying the service for the first time — something that matters when families are already under financial pressure.

How Well They Work Across UK Prisons

Every prison has its own policies, but both Prison Call and Phone Savy are designed to work within the existing prison phone system. Prison Call has been tried and tested in a wide range of facilities, which gives many users confidence in its reliability. Once the number is added to the prisoner’s list, calls are made at the lower landline rate, helping them get more value from their phone credit.

Phone Savy is also widely accepted, but again, user feedback points to occasional inconsistencies. Even a small difference in reliability can have a big impact when communication options are already limited.

Why Cheaper Calls Really Matter

Lowering the cost of prison calls isn’t just about saving a few pounds. Regular, affordable contact can make a genuine difference to people’s lives. For prisoners, staying in touch with family can help reduce isolation, support mental health, and maintain family bonds. For families, it means being able to talk without worrying about cost, keeping relationships strong through a difficult time.

By reducing call costs from around 25p per minute to just a few pence, services like Prison Call give families the chance to speak more often and for longer. Over weeks and months, that can make a huge difference.

Making the Right Choice

Both Prison Call and Phone Savy aim to make prison calls more affordable, and both can help reduce costs compared to calling a mobile directly. However, the difference lies in the details. Prison Call offers lower call rates, faster setup, more transparent pricing, and stronger customer support. Phone Savy provides a similar service, but some users experience more issues with pricing clarity and reliability.

For most families who want something straightforward, transparent, and dependable, Prison Call comes out as the stronger option.

Getting Started with Prison Call

If you decide to use Prison Call, getting started is simple. You can sign up online in just a few minutes, choose your number, top up your account, and get everything ready for your loved one to call. Once they add the number to their PIN, they can start calling at landline rates instead of expensive mobile prices. Many families are able to make their first call on the same day they sign up. The process is quick, simple, and designed to remove stress rather than add to it.

Real Customer Experiences

The best way to understand how these services compare is to look at what real people say. Prison Call customers often mention how easy it is to sign up, how much money they’ve saved, and how reliable the service has been over time. Many families note that being able to talk to their loved one more often has had a real, positive impact.

Phone Savy customers have more mixed experiences. Some are happy with the savings they’ve made, while others mention issues with top-ups, unexpected costs, or communication delays. It’s not that the service doesn’t work — it’s that the overall experience can vary more from person to person.

Choosing between Prison Call and Phone Savy ultimately depends on what matters most to you. If you want the lowest possible call rates, fast setup, no hidden charges and reliable customer service, then Prison Call is likely to be the better fit. If you’re already using another service, it’s worth comparing the real per-minute costs and overall experience to make sure you’re getting the best value.

For families, affordable communication isn’t a luxury — it’s essential. It helps maintain relationships, support rehabilitation, and bring comfort during challenging times. That’s why choosing a service that works consistently and clearly matters so much.