[asterisk-biz] Common charging patterns for US-based carriers

[SIP]

I asked them about it as I was looking at the billing, and they implied 
that this was their standard thing, so I don't think it's just a grey 
route thing.

"International calls are billed the second the call initiates per our 
vendors. Unfortunately we have no control over this"

N.

Nitzan Kon wrote:
> Most carriers bill based on when the call is answer()'ed even
> for international. They should most definitely not bill a call
> unless and until the channel is answered.
>
> Having said that, it is very common for grey routes and even
> white routes in some countries to false-answer the call, and
> only then start ringing. The end result is that you get billed
> despite not completing a call, or get billed from the time it
> starts ringing rather than the time you start talking. In this
> case the provider can do nothing about it as the call indicates
> answered.
>
> If this happens only on some countries, it's probably just
> grey routes acting up. If it happens with EVERY country,
> then it is a problem.
>
> --
> Nitzan Kon, CEO
> Future Nine Corporation
> www.future-nine.com
>
> --- On Fri, 9/5/08, SIP <sip at arcdiv.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> From: SIP <sip at arcdiv.com>
>> Subject: [asterisk-biz] Common charging patterns for US-based carriers
>> To: "Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion" <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
>> Date: Friday, September 5, 2008, 3:10 PM
>> We've had a few carriers for PSTN termination over the
>> years, and with 
>> our most recent one (Vitelity), I've noticed something
>> that's unusual in 
>> OUR experience, so I'm wondering how common it is.
>>
>> For what they call "international" calls -- i.e.
>> calls outside the US-48 
>> (they're ALL "international" to US, since
>> we're not a US-based company), 
>> they start charging based on when the call was initiated
>> and not when it 
>> was established. Whereas, for US-48 calls, they bill based
>> on when the 
>> call connects. Is that normal? Was the first we'd seen
>> it, so I was just 
>> somewhat curious whether that was common practice. It was
>> wholly 
>> unexpected for us, as we bill our customers based on when
>> the call 
>> connects to the other party and not when it starts
>> 'dialing' to the 
>> other party.
>>
>> Just somewhat curious as to everyone else's experience
>> with carriers. 
>> We've certainly no complaint with Vitelity's
>> service -- just thought it 
>> was a little odd.
>>
>>
>> N.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by
>> http://www.api-digital.com--
>>
>> AstriCon 2008 - September 22 - 25 Phoenix, Arizona
>> Register Now: http://www.astricon.net
>>
>> asterisk-biz mailing list
>> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
>>     
>
> _______________________________________________
> --Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com--
>
> AstriCon 2008 - September 22 - 25 Phoenix, Arizona
> Register Now: http://www.astricon.net
>
> asterisk-biz mailing list
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
>