Setting a Charging Plan

This page includes detailed instructions on how to manage your charging plans.

Overview

Charging plans describe how a service provider, organization or user is charged for their calls. Charging plans are very flexible since they support prepaid and postpaid calls, therefore, it is necessary to understand them very well. To read more on charging plans, read the Charging area in the VoipNow User Guide.

Access

First, access the Charging Plans link in the Navigation Area. Then, click the Add Charging Plan icon and you will be redirected to a new page where you can configure the new Charging Plan.

Screenshot: Charging Plan Input Form Example

Charging Plans

VoipNow offers two types of charging plans: prepaid and postpaid.

Prepaid

The credit is limited. Once the credit is over, the client is no longer allowed to place or receive calls.

Postpaid

The client pays a monthly fee, which includes a predefined number of minutes. The minutes exceeding the included minutes are charged according to predefined rates.

""

To allow external calls to use the Outgoing routing rules group, select a routing rule group from the drop-down list.

Charging Methods

The charging method defines how calls are charged. When choosing the appropriate charging method, you must know that they are mutually exclusive and they must be used based on the system application. There are two charging methods: fixed prices and relative to call costs.

Fixed Prices

This method charges the same price for all the calls made in the same time interval. It does not take into consideration the real cost of the calls (i.e. the price charged by the channel provider or the call destination).

Relative to Call Cost

This method calculates the call costs by using the real amount charged by the channel provider, based on call destination. It uses the following cost function:

n*call cost + adjustment

Where: n and adjustment are parameters that can be set. The call cost variable depends on the accounts's level in the system hierarchy (system administrator, service provider, organization or user):

• If the charging plan is applied to a service provider, the call cost is the amount charged by the telephony channel;
• If the charging plan is applied to an organization, the call cost is the price paid by the service provider that owns the organization account;
• If the charging plan is applied to an user, the call cost is the price paid by the organization that owns the user account.

Related Topics

• Add charging exceptions