About Resource Counters

Each mailbox has resource counters. The billing system allows you to charge a base rate and set two-tiered separate rates for each counter, if required. Rates for the following resources are discussed here:

  • Base Rates

  • Mailbox Accesses

  • Logins

  • Greetings Accesses

  • Connect Times

  • Disk Usage

  • Messages Received

  • Pager Calls

  • Network Rates

Base Rates

A base rate is a flat fee charged at every billing period. The system prompts you to set a base rate for each FCOS. The rate set for any FCOS can be any value between $0.00 and $327.67, precise to $0.01; it can be pro-rated for a portion of the billing cycle.

Mailbox Accesses

There are two different mailbox access counters: (a) login rates, and (b) greeting rates. Although each mailbox has mailbox access counters, these counters are designed specifically for billing Information-only mailboxes. Information-only mailboxes have an FCOS that does not allow them to receive messages (for example, chain and greeting-only mailboxes).

Other resource counters that may be increased for Information-only mailboxes are the "user connect" time and the "caller connect" time. A base rate can also be set.

Login Rates Counters

Login rates counters track the number of times the user logs into the mailbox. A different rate may exist for each port or line group on the system.

Greeting Rates Counters

Greeting rates counters track the number of times that the mailbox greeting plays (that is, the number of times that the mailbox is accessed by an outside caller). A different rate may exist for each port or line group on the system. Note: The caller does not have to listen to the entire greeting for this counter to be increased.

Connect Times

Two connect time accumulators measure phone line usage (off-hook to on-hook).

User Connect Rates

User connect rates measure the time used by the mailbox owner to pick up messages and make messages for other users. A different rate may exist for each port or line group on the system.

Caller Connect Rates

Caller connect rates measure the time charged when outside callers leave messages in a mailbox, or listen to the greeting of an Information-only mailbox.

Note:

  • Counter is not increased when a message is left by a TAS (Telephone Answering Service) operator using the Message Attendant application. There is no way to associate TAS operator time with any particular mailbox—other than by the number of messages left by TAS operators.

  • Different rates may exist for each port or line group on the system.

Measurement Method and Limitations of the "Connect Time" Counter

Connect time is measured in tenths of minutes (6 seconds), rounded up if not exact. Each counter allows 109 hours—about 3.5 hours per day for a month—before the accumulator restarts at zero.

Calculation of Charges

When charges are calculated, they are based on minutes of connect time (rather than tenths of a minute). This calculation allows rates (which are in mils) to be adjusted by small amounts.

Disk Usage

Disk usage is the size of the message, multiplied by the length of time the message stays on the system.

Measurement Method and Limitations of the "Disk Usage" Accumulator

Time on disk is measured in hours rounded up to the next hour, and is calculated when the message is deleted from the system. The disk usage accumulator resets to zero after 16,777,215 units of usage—equivalent to keeping three hours of speech for one year.

Calculation of Charges

Users typically accumulate several thousand units of disk usage per month, unless they delete messages immediately after they are received. If the rate is applied to the usage as accumulated, a rate of $.001 would be a significant charge, and the only way the rate could change would be to double it. Therefore, when charges are calculated, disk usage values are divided by one hundred, and the rate is specified to the nearest mil-per-minute of speech kept for 10 hours.

  • Users are not billed for messages not deleted at the time billing data is gathered. These messages will eventually be deleted, however, and the charges will increase, because the time on the disk will have increased.

  • Disk usage for names or greetings is not accumulated. Charges for these can be included in the base rates.

  • If a message is made with a distribution list, each mailbox receiving the message is charged for it.

  • If a user sends a message with comments to another user, the sender is charged for the original message for as long as it remains on the system. The recipient is charged disk usage for both the original message and for the comments until each is deleted from the mailboxes.

Messages Received

Every time a message is left in a mailbox, a counter is increased for that mailbox for each of the following categories:

  • user messages

  • caller messages

  • call placement messages

  • future delivery messages

  • urgent messages

  • wakeup/tas messages

  • receipt response messages

  • fax received messages

  • fax sent messages

  • fax retrieval non-billed messages

  • fax retrieval billed messages

  • fax undelivered messages

  • fax pages received messages

  • fax pages sent messages

  • fax pages retrieval non-billed messages

  • fax pages retrieval billed messages

User Messages Counters

User messages counters are increased in two ways:

  • When a caller phones his or her own mailbox and "makes" a message for another mailbox, the recipient’s mailbox counter increases.

  • When a user "gives" a message with comments to another mailbox, the recipient’s mailbox counter increases by one (message plus comments are counted as one message).

Caller Messages Counters

Caller messages counters are increased in several ways:

  • When a caller phones into the system directly and leaves a message.

  • When a caller leaves a message in the attendant’s mailbox and the attendant forwards the message.

  • When a greeting is delivered for a Greeting-only mailbox. Including times when the mailbox owner logs into his mailbox by pressing the * key (star) while the greeting is playing.

  • When a caller phones into the system directly and leaves an urgent message.

  • When a caller phones into the system directly and requests a receipt response.

TAS Operator Messages Counters

TAS operator messages counters increase when a TAS operator leaves a message via one of the open ports set up by the Message Attendant application.

Limits of the "Messages Received" counter

Each message counter can accumulate up to 4,095 messages—132 messages per day for a month—before it resets to zero.

Pager Calls

Each time a successful page is issued, a counter is increased in the mailbox, however, this does not necessarily correspond to the number of messages received.

  • If two messages are received at the same time, only one page is made.

  • If a message is not picked up within the set pager interval (a selected amount of time programmed when the mailbox was created), the system re-pages.

  • If the mailbox pager frequency (programmed when the mailbox was created) is greater than one, every re-page is counted as a separate page.

Pager call rates are set by the Pager System, not by an individual pager. Pagers with the same pager outdial index (also known as the access code index) belong to the same pager system. See Pagers and Message Delivery for more information.

Adjusting Pager Call Rates in Mid-cycle

The rate at which a page is billed depends on the pager outdial index—representing the pager system access code—programmed into the mailbox at the time the "Gather" is performed, and not the rate present at the time the page is made. If the pager outdial index or the billing rate are changed in the middle of the billing period, all pages accumulated during the billing period are billed at the new rate.

Termination of Paging

When paging service is discontinued in the middle of the billing period, an outdial index does not appear in the mailbox at the time of billing. Therefore, no pages are billed even if some have accumulated. To avoid this situation, run a Termination Report before modifying the mailbox. This report calculates the amount due without changing statistics in the mailbox. Other charges are corrected at the regular billing. See the Reports section for instructions to run the Termination Report.

Network Rates

Billing rates can be set for network usage, including the following:

Network Message Counters

  • messages sent; urgent messages sent

  • network nodes sent to; network nodes sent urgent to

  • recipients sent to; recipients sent urgent to

  • messages received; urgent messages received

Network Message Length Counters

  • messages sent; urgent messages sent

  • messages received; urgent messages received

  • network nodes sent; network nodes sent urgent

  • remote recipients sent to; remote recipients sent urgent to

Network rates can be set for any/each of the following categories:

  • Network messages sent

  • Network urgent messages sent

  • Number of network nodes sent to

  • Number of network nodes sent urgent to

  • Number of remote network recipients sent to

  • Number of remote network recipients sent urgent to

  • Network messages received

  • Network urgent messages received

  • All message length rates are per .1 minutes of messages

  • Message length for network messages sent

  • Message length for network messages sent urgent

  • Message length for network messages received

  • Message length for urgent network received

  • Message length for number of network nodes sent

  • Message length for number of network nodes sent urgent

  • Message length for number of remote recipients sent

  • Message length for number of remote recipients sent urgent
Parent topic: Overview
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