PhonePresence Per Second Billing
Per Second vs Per Minute Billing
Many telecoms companies quoting cheap outbound calls, particularly using Voice over IP (VoIP) quote what seem amazing 'per minute' rates, particularly in comparison with standard BT or landline charges.
When you look in detail at the small print, or terms and conditions, you will typically see a 'minimum call duration' that will be charged - regardless of the length of the call. In some cases, this can be as long as a minute, so even if you make a 1 second call, you will get charged for a whole minute. And often the second minute gets charged in the same way, so a 61 second call gets charge as two minutes!
X-on's outsource products are all charged strictly on a per second basis, so if you have a three second phone call, you get charged for 3 seconds, and no more.
Example
The following shows the cost of a selection of different length calls based on a per minute and per second tariff:
| Call Length | Cost at 2.0p per minute with per minute billing |
Cost at 2.0p per minute with per second billing (0.033p per second) |
|
| 10 sec | 2.0p | 0.33p | |
| 20 sec | 2.0p | 0.67p | |
| 30 sec | 2.0p | 1.0p | |
| 40 sec | 2.0p | 1.33p | |
| 50 sec | 2.0p | 1.67p | |
| 60 sec | 2.0p | 2.0p | |
| 70 sec | 4.0p | 2.33p | |
| 80 sec | 4.0p | 2.67p | |
| 90 sec | 4.0p | 3.0p | |
| 100 sec | 4.0p | 3.33p | |
| TOTAL | 550 sec | 28.0p | 18.33p |
| Average per minute | 3.05p | 2.0p | |
So based on this example, you will be paying 50% more on per minute than per second billing.
