Availability

Sippy Softswitch 2.1


Charging groups are used to charge additional fees to DIDs.  . You may find it in the following section menu:



 

This feature enables a switch operator to create multiple DID categories that are charged different higher rates from normal categories.  For example, local DIDs can be charged X while toll-free DIDs can be charged at X + 1. When used, the Charging Groups feature will affect call cost by applying surcharges in addition to Tariff rates. 


Charging Groups are also useful for IVR applications. If used with IVR applications, the feature will result higher charges to the end user charge connecting through toll-free lines.


Starting from version 4.4 of the softswitch, the CDRs for Charging Groups are available from the web interface.


Any changes related to Rates, Routes, Destination Sets, Tariffs, DID numbers, DID Charging Groups and Routing Groups may not be applied immediately. You need to wait at least for 1 min so that the system can update its internal "cache". Sometimes, in case of a heavy bulk update of, for example, multiple destination sets at once, it may be required more than 1 min. Read more...

Note: only the fees configured in Selling charging group are available in DID cdrs on web.


Parameter explanations for Charging groups:


  • Setup Fee: commission that is applied for account on stage of the DID assignment. In 4.x versions of Sippy, the "Setup Fee" and "Monthly Fee" duplicated each other and worked in the same manner, that did not make any sense for real-world billing. From 5.0 we changed the incorrect approach of this functionality. Thus now if you want to charge your account every billing cycle, you have to use the "Monthly Fee" option, because "Setup fee" is a one-time fee charged on the assignment of a DID to an account.
  • Monthly Fee: commission that is applied on monthly basis to the account that has the DID assigned
  • Free Seconds: amount of free seconds that are given to the caller after Interval 1 before first Interval N, between Interval 1 and first Interval N.
  • Grace Period: period in scope of Interval 1 that the caller won't be charged for the call. In case the call lasts longer then Grace Period, the regular charge of Interval 1 is applied to cover the Grace Period.
  • Connect Fee: fixed commission that is taken from the balance of an account after every single call made
  • Post Call Surcharge: extra charge that is applied to the cost of the call. It's extra % added to the final cost charged from account's balance.


How to create & assign Charging Group to some particular DID number:


1) Click add to create a new Charging Group (2 groups are required 1-selling, 2-buying):


2) Select the type of Charging group and related prices:


3) Assign both Charging Groups that you have created on step 1-2 on some DID number that you have created in the DID Pool section:


Please, refer to our Understanding Rating and Billing documentation for detailed explanation of the call charging procedure