[Asterisk-Users] Asterisk PBX Billing

[Scott Stingel]

Shepherd-

Having designed one of these in the past (in a higher level voice
environment), I can tell you that this is not a small undertaking.  It's at
least as much an SQL job as a voice task.

Usually the way to accomplish this is to establish more-or-less a pre-paid
phone card system, where the shop prepays an overall amount for
international calling access.  Then you have to time each call as it is
occurring, debiting each account, and the master account, in real-time. This
can be a bit complex when you have 20 or 30 calls going at one time.  You
have to cut them off promptly when the money runs out (big problem).  And
you have to provide call detail and charges to them at the end of each call,
using their own retail tariff.

To add to the complexity, each country has a different tariff from the long
distance carrier, and within the country, major cities often have special
rates per minute.  Mobiles have a different tariff too.  Phone card
platforms usually include a least-cost routing system which chooses a
carrier real time based on the call.  Tariffs change weekly and must be
updated in the system.

Anyway, I'm just scratching the surface!  I'll write more when I can!

Cheers
Scott Stingel


Scott M. Stingel 
Emerging Voice Technology Inc.

Email:          scott at evtmedia.com <mailto:scott at evtmedia.com>   
URL:            www.evtmedia.com <http://www.evtmedia.com>   



> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-admin at lists.digium.com 
> [mailto:asterisk-users-admin at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of 
> shepherd fungayi
> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 10:49 AM
> To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Asterisk PBX Billing
> 
> 
> Hi
> 
> I would like to use the Asterisk PBX as part of a phone shop 
> system instead 
> of the usual PBX plus PC. How can I do the the billing in a 
> way that is 
> convinient to the phone shop attendant?
> 
> Regards
> 
> Shepherd
> 
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