Tariffs
The tariff area displays the available telephone carriers on the software. If the user is a Blue’s administrator, also the tariffs in use will be displayed on the left.
This environment edits the carriers, creates new ones, imports and duplicates them from disk or the Internet.
Note: this environment does not allow to add or remove carriers in use. In order to perform this operation, please use the Guided Configuration or Billy Blue’s Setup
The tariff editing environment can be entered by double clicking the tariff.
Here, you can:
Change the tariff name and data:
Click the tariff name to change it, click the interconnection code to set it, cick ‘Valid from’ to change the tariff validity. Click monthly few to edit them. For these setting, read the ‘monthly fee’ paragraph.
Create / edit the destination groups/tariffs:
The orange buttons on the left display the destination groups/tariffs that contain a list of area codes with the same time bands or the same tariffs.
Click New (  ) to create a new group and type in the name. Then, hit the enter key.
In order to delete a group, click the name next to the orange dot and drag it onto the Bin (  )
Selecting a group of an existing carrier displays, on the right side, the costs according to the days of the week and the time bands. Click the cost to edit it and click the ends of the bands to move them, as the animation shows:
The other settings of the tariff are:
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Setup fee |
The cost of the call connection |
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Minimum cost: |
The minimum cost is the cost under which the call will never go. If the call cost is lower the minimum cost, then the cost is automatically increased to the minimum one. |
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Minimum duration: |
This duration indicates the minimum duration of the call. If for example this value shows 10 seconds and a call ends after 5 seconds, the call cost is calculated as if it was a 10 second call. |
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Ring time duration: |
Duration after which the cost per minute begins. The cost setup is applied immediately and, after the ring time duration, the time band cost is applied. |
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Advanced settings: |
Call duration rounding: 1 is the minimum value and has no effect. If eg a value of 30 seconds is entered, the duration of the call is rounded to the closest value (up or down), according to the rounding type.
Cost rounding: like the duration rounding, but calculated on the cost values. Eg in case this value is set to 10€, a 6€ call will be rounded up to 10€. This feature also replaces the pulse calculation system.
Dial time: this feature is useful in case the pbx calculates the call duration starting from the dialling of the number (not very common) because the pbx is not able to establish the moment the called person picks the call up. In this case, the real duration is shorter than the logged one and is anyhow unknown. In this case an average duration is subtracted from the duration and the cost calculation is imprecise. |
The lower part of the window, under the costs per minute, shows the following options:
- The cost of the calls changes according to the duration: in this case the cost per minute changes according to the duration of the call. Eg the first 60 seconds can cost 0,15£ and the rest of the call can cost 0,10£ per minute. The time bands can be more than one, according the tariff plan.
In order to change the codes that made the group, click ‘Edit area code list’. The available code list will be displayed on the right side, in place of the costs. Select those to add and use the single arrow to move them to the left hand side. The double arrow moves all the area codes to the left. A drop own list (top right) will display different code types to chose from.
In order to add a new area code that is not available in the archive, select the type of destination to create (top right, eg. National, Mobile, International, etc) and click New below the yellarrows. The type in the code, destination name and, if necessary the latitude and longitude.
Monthly fee settings:
Click Monthly fee (top right) to display the fee list.
Click Add to add a new fee or Edit to modify an existing fee. Creating and editing a fee means entering a description, the fee amount and the recurrence. Also, it is required to specify if the fee refers to the single line or not in order to have a correct calculation of the tariff comparison (see here under).
View summary and print:
Below the destination groups, the view summary command is displayed..
Costs can be edited, as well as the time bands.
Options:
In order to set the currency, and, in case the tariff is not yet in use, the area from the calls are originated
Tariff comparison (only Advance versions):
Powerful tool for having an exact calculation of the most convenient tariffs. This tool calculates a month of calls using different selected tariffs, the calculation comprehends rental, monthly and subscription fees. This tool offers a unique and effective method for evaluating the offer that best fits one’s telephone habits. A calculation that is only based on the cost per minute or on the monthly fees is not sufficient at all: only an exact simulation would tell how much one can save or waste with different telephone carriers.
In order to start the comparison, select the tariffs from the list, type in the number of trunks used by the pbx, the month to be considered and click Calculate. A printable report will be displayed, showing a chart and a table.
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