This company deliberately fools people into thinking they are dealing with Global Tel Link, whose actual website for some reason is connectnetwork.com - this is confusing as multiple other companies have websites that are closer to the legitimate companies name ie websites that contain global tel or GTL - these are not the companies that facilitate custody phone calls, however. I am a teacher in a county jail, and yesterday I set up a system so my students would be able to call my google number collect. Normally, my students don't call my phone, but during COVID-19 I am unable to meet with them in person, so other methods of communication must be available. But I am new to the process of setting up my phone and adding money for calls from custody. Well, I signed up for Global Tel, thinking it was Global Tel Link, as it is the first result in my search for Global Tel Link, and the name is "Global Tel". So I'm charged $50 and receive and email that gives me a new number that will redirect to my google number, and told to have inmates call that jail number, which still needs to be registered with Global Tel Link. Out of confusion, I call the jail facility, then I call the company (Global Tel... still not Global Tel Link) it takes forever, and after speaking with them, I still am not understanding that Global Tel is not Global Tel Link. I wind up redirected to Global Tel Link's phone number, and while on hold with Global Tel Link (the real company) I finally realize that I had paid for a service I did not want to deliberately sign up for. Once I finally figured it out, Global Tel was closed. So I called back the next day and was told I would get a refund minus a $15 fee, as per their terms and service. OK, this is a deliberate way to fool people who are trying to get in touch with friends, family and loved ones who are incarcerated. The $15 fee is annoying to me, and I am frustrated I did not notice I was fooled so the fee is frustrating. But for some folks, $15 is more than an annoyance, and money that people might waste on something other than connecting with their loved ones, which is already expensive. I see people reviewing Global Tel on Global Tel Link's Yelp page (the company who actually services custody calls) - that is how confusing this whole set up is!!! This is dishonest and intentionally misleading, in a system that is confusing and inaccessible to families in the first place. read more

I think Global Tel deliberately has the almost exact name as Global Tel Link, which is an existing service, that has been reliable and honest in the past, and I must have gotten confused and somehow created an account with them when I thought I was adding money to my existing account. They charged me for an amount I had no idea what until I saw my bank statement. Then, they would not answer the phone, and when they finally did after 2 days, informed me I would be charged a third of what I didn't know I was paying to begin with to cancel. Their recording says you can cancel online, but after hours, I found no way to cancel. I am very unhappy with my interactions with this company, and hope no one else is deceived like I was. I also hope they will be held accountable for their deceptive practices. read more