When you sign up for a hosted VoIP provider, you’ll rely on your monthly invoices to understand usage and calling charges. But these invoices can look confusing if you don’t understand how your provider bills their service.
To help you understand your VoIP bills, we’ve put together this article on VoIP billing increments.
How are VoIP Calls Billed?
Your VoIP calls are billed based on your provider. Each provider has a different pricing model and different types of costs.
Generally speaking, you can expect two costs:
- Monthly VoIP line fee and
- Costs for usage (charged in increments)
While the monthly fee is usually obvious when signing up, the cost for usage (billing increments) is more challenging to determine. So, it’s a good idea to ask your new provider how exactly they bill for phone calls occurring over a month.
What are Billing Increments?
Billing increments refer to the unit of time used to charge a particular service, specifically to indicate the minimum and incremental measures of time.
Most VoIP phone calls incur fees based on a minimum and increment charge set by your carrier. Let’s define these terms:
Billing minimum — the minimum amount of time your provider will charge for each call.
Billing increment — the amount of time your provider will charge you after achieving the minimum time.
Here’s an example of VoIP billing increments with a 12/6 rate:
In this case, your billing minimum is 12 seconds and your billing increment is 6 seconds.
So, after the first 12 seconds, your provider will charge you again after every 6 seconds.
Again, every carrier does this differently, so it’s important to understand how your desired provider will charge you.
Related: Is VoIP Reliable?
Different VoIP Billing Increments and Pricing Models
Each VoIP carrier offers a different pricing model. And some even offer multiple models, so you can choose what works best for your particular situation.
Here are some of the billing increments currently present on the market:
- 6/6 billing increment — minimum billing 6 seconds and subsequent billing 6 seconds — talk for 8 seconds, pay for 12 seconds
- 12/6 billing increment — minimum billing 12 seconds and subsequent billing 6 seconds — talk for 14 seconds, pay for 18 seconds
- 30/6 billing increment — minimum billing 30 seconds and subsequent billing 6 seconds — talk for 34 seconds, pay for 36 seconds
- 60/60 billing increment — minimum billing 60 seconds and subsequent billing 60 seconds — talk for 62 seconds, pay for 120 seconds
Affordable VoIP Phone Services
United World Telecom offers competitive and cost-effective cloud communication solutions. Learn about how to install VoIP and how we can help your business grow and expand internationally. Call us at 1 (877) 898 8646 or chat with us online!