Add Charging Plan

This page contains instructions on how to add a new charging plan to the system.

Overview

You can only add charging plans if charging is enabled on the VoipNow system. Both prepaid and postpaid charging plans can be added to the system. With each plan, options change.

To set up a charging plan, first go to the System menu on the left and click on Charging Plans. In the Charging Management page, click the Add a Charging Plan icon right under the Tools area.

Add charging plan

To add a new charging plan, follow the steps below:

Fill in the Charging Plan description.
- Name: Give it a name to identify it more easily among other plans available in the system. Select the Set as default charging plan checkbox to make it default for all the new accounts that are added to the system.
- Outgoing routing rules group: Such rule groups determine the way outgoing calls are routed. You can find more details in this section. This option is not displayed if no outgoing routing rule group has already been defined in the system. If available, VoipNow automatically selects the default group. If you choose to Allow calls to public network, use the drop-down list to select one of the groups available.
- Allow incoming calls from any network: Allows accounts to receive calls from extensions registered in the system or outside the system, regardless of their network.
- Allow calls to public network: Allows accounts to place outgoing calls to numbers outside the system, i.e. in the public network.
- Allow local calls to extensions: If enabled, account extensions are allowed to call only other extensions that belong to the same organization account.
- Allow extended local calls to extensions: If enabled, account extensions are allowed to call all the other extensions in the system, regardless of the organization they belong to.
Set the Charging Policy.

- Prepaid Charging Policy: Allows you to set charging credits. You can adjust it by adding extra credit to your account.
- PostPaid Charging Policy: Allows you to pay a monthly fee which includes a predefined number of minutes. What exceeds that limit is charged based on the fees customized in the Charging Fees section below. You can also extend the existing charging limits.

Choosing a prepaid makes it necessary to set up the initial credit as explained in the Charging Fees section below.

If you decide to go for a postpaid charging policy, you have to fill in some information as explained below.

Option	Details
Limit calls to public network to amount <value> <currency>	Assigns a money limit for the total costs of the calls placed to phone numbers outside the system. When the limit is reached, the extensions of the account can no longer make calls to external destinations. The amount set here applies to a full month and resets on the first day of the following month. If you do not want to limit the account, select the Unlimited checkbox. This option is available only if the Allow calls to public network option is enabled!
Limit calls from public network to amount <value> <currency>	Assigns a money limit for the total costs of the calls received from phone numbers outside the system. When the limit is reached, the extensions of the account can no longer receive calls from external numbers. The amount set here applies to a full month and resets on the first day of the following month. If you do not want to limit the account, select the Unlimited checkbox. This option is available only if the Allow incoming calls from any network option is enabled!
Limit calls to public network to minutes <m> in time interval <T>	Limits the number of minutes that can be used in a certain time interval for public outgoing calls. To select the time interval, use the drop-down list. To make these minutes available at any moment and without any time constraint, you can select the Anytime option even if no time intervals have been defined. Use the +/- buttons to remove/add available minutes for different time intervals. If no time intervals have been defined in the system, these buttons are not displayed. You can add as many outgoing minutes blocks as the number of the available time intervals (e.g. If there are three time intervals, then three blocks may be added, one for each time interval). The amount set here applies to a full month and resets on the first day of the following month. Available only if the Allow calls to public network option is enabled!

Charging segments

The charging segments help you define how much a user is charged in a time interval. For example, a user can be charged a particular amount for the first 60 seconds and a different amount for every 10-second interval.

Here are the options available for customization:

Option	Details
Charge outgoing calls indivisible for the first <x> seconds (applies to internal and public network calls)	You can define a time interval for which the account is charged an indivisible amount, computed as the <x> seconds set here multiplied with the fee set for the Charge outgoing calls option. If an outgoing call lasts less than <x> seconds, the account is charged the price corresponding to a <x> seconds call. Available only if the Allow calls to public network option is enabled!
After the first segment charge every <y> seconds	If a call lasts more than the indivisible interval <x> set above, the system then charges an outgoing call every <y> seconds. Available only if the Allow calls to public network option is enabled!
Charge incoming calls indivisible for the first <x> seconds (applies only to calls from public network)	You can define a time interval for which the account is charged an indivisible amount, computed as the <w> seconds set here multiplied with the fee set for the Charge incoming calls option. If an public incoming call lasts less than <w> seconds, the account is charged the price corresponding to a <w> seconds call. Available only if the Allow incoming calls from any network option is enabled!
After the first segment charge every <z> seconds	If a call lasts more than the indivisible interval <w> set above, the system then charges an incoming call every <z> seconds. Available only if the Allow incoming calls from any network option is enabled!

For a 67 seconds outgoing call, if the cost is computed every 5 seconds after the first indivisible interval, the account is charged as follows:

60 * 0.02 = 1.2 for the indivisible interval.
The cost for every 5 seconds over the indivisible interval is 5 * 0.02 = 0.1. In other words, the account is charged with 0.1 at every 5 seconds.
This interval is indivisible as well.
For the remaining 7 seconds, the account is charged with 0.1 + 0.1 = 0.2.

The total cost is: 1.2 + 0.2 = 1.4

For a 40 seconds outgoing call, if the indivisible time interval is set to 60 seconds and the Charge outgoing calls fee is 0.02/second, the account is charged 60 * 0.02 = 1.2 and NOT 40 * 0.02 = 0.8

Charging fees

Charging fees help you define how much a user is charged when a call is made or received.

If the charging plan has the charging policy set to prepaid you must first set up the initial available credit:

Option	Details
Initial credit available for outgoing calls <value> <currency>	The credit given on account creation to be used only for outgoing calls, both local and external. If you do not want to limit the account, select the Unlimited checkbox. If you want to modify an account's constraints, you can either add/remove charging credits or change its charging plan with one that meets your new requirements.
Initial credit available for incoming calls <value> <currency>	The credit given on account creation to be used only for incoming calls, received both from destinations inside and outside the system. If you do not want to limit the account, select the Unlimited checkbox. If you want to modify an account's constraints, you can either add/remove charging credits or change its charging plan with one that meets your new requirements.

The other options are common to both prepaid and postpaid charging plans and depend on the charging method you choose:

Fixed prices

Implies that the same price applies for all 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

Calculates call costs by using the real amount charged by the channel provider, based on call destination.

Option	Details
Minimum price per outgoing call <amount> <currency>	This helps set a minimum price for all outgoing calls that are charged no matter the length of the call. At the end of each outgoing call, the cost is computed according to the rules set up in the charging plan. If the total amount is smaller than the minimum fee defined here, the user account is charged this value and not the call cost. Example: If the total call cost is `0.46 USD` and the Minimum price outgoing per call is set to `0.6 USD`, then VoipNow charges the user `0.6 USD`.
Charge incoming calls <amount> <currency>/second	Fill in the fee applied per second to all the incoming calls received from outside the system. Available only if the Allow incoming calls [ ] from any network option is enabled.
Charge outgoing calls <amount> <currency>/second in time interval - <time_interval> (destination is in public network)	Fill in the fee applied per second to all calls made to destinations outside the system within a certain time interval. From the <time_interval> drop-down list select the time interval(s) to which this charge applies. Select the `Anytime` option to set this cost for all the external outgoing calls, without any time constraint. Use the +/- buttons to remove/add available minutes for different time intervals. When no time intervals are defined, these buttons are grayed out. Available only if the Allow calls to public network option is enabled.
Charge local calls to extensions <amount> <currency>/second (destination is owned by the same organization like caller)	Fill in the fee charged per second for calls made to extensions under the same organization account. Default cost is free of charge. Available only if the Allow local calls to extensions owned by the same organization like caller option is enabled
Charge extended local calls to extensions <amount> <currency>/second (destination is owned by other organizations in the infrastructure)	Fill in the fee charged per second for calls made to extensions that do not belong to the same organization. Available only if the Allow extended local calls to extensions owned by other organizations in the infrastructure option is enabled

Option	Details
Minimum price per outgoing call <amount> <currency>	Available only if the Allow calls to public network option is enabled.
Charge incoming calls <factor> x call cost + <adjustment> <currency>/second (coming from public network)	Available only if the Allow incoming calls [ ] from any network option is enabled.
Charge outgoing calls <factor> x call cost + <adjustment> <currency>/second (destination is in public network)	Available only if the Allow calls to public network option is enabled.
Charge local calls to extensions <factor> x call cost + <adjustment> <currency>/second (destination is owned by the same organization like caller)	Available only if the Allow local calls to extensions option is enabled.
Charge extended local calls to extensions <factor> x call cost + <adjustment> <currency>/second (destination is owned by other organizations in the infrastructure)	Available only if the Allow extended local calls to extensions option is enabled.

Using relative costs, the amount charged is calculated using the real amount charged by the channel provider, based on call destination. The cost is calculated using the following cost function:

factor*call cost + adjustment

Where:

factor and adjustment are parameters that can be set.

The call cost variable depends on the user's level in the system hierarchy:

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 a user, the call cost is the price paid by the organization that owns the user account.

The currency used by the charging plans is the same as the one used by the system and is set as described here.

Customize sounds

You need to customize the sound played to the account when its outgoing calls cannot be initiated as a result of lack of funds. The Play custom sound file when outgoing access is blocked field requires that you select the folder and the sound file to be played to the account when its external calls are blocked due to charging constraints.

Click the icon to view the available sound files or manually fill in the file location. A popup window listing all the sounds matching the name specified in the text box will be displayed. You can read more about the Sound Manager in the Appendix.

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