I often joke with my new client’s that we (mobile phone companies) purposely make mobile phone bills confusing just to make it difficult for them to see exactly what they’re being charged.

If you’re often having difficulty making sense of the fees and charges that appear on your mobile phone bill then perhaps the information I’ve appended below will help you get a better understanding of how to accurately read and decipher your account.

HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR MOBILE PHONE CALL RATES

Probably 80% of the clients I meet don’t have a clear understanding of their mobile phone call rates; or what they believe they’re are being charged and what is actually being charged are two completely different things! To calculate your mobile phone call rates follow these steps:

a). FIND A 30 SECOND PHONE CALL
b). FIND A 1 MINUTE PHONE CALL
c). DEDUCT THE COST OF THE 30 SECOND CALL (a) FROM THE 1 MINUTE CALL (b)

This will generally provide you with your “real” call cost per 30 seconds. You’ll now notice that the new 30 second charge varies from the 30 second phone call cost (a) that you found in your mobile phone bill. This variance is due to an additional fee referred to as “flagfall” or “connection fee”. If you now deduct the new 30 second phone call cost from the original 30 second phone call cost (a) you’ll end up with a figure that is your flagfall cost per phone call.

WHAT IS FLAGFALL?

Flagfall (or connection fee) is what I call the “hidden fee” that many client’s either forget they’re being charged, or in some cases, were never told they’re being charged. Flagfall is a “single” fee applied at the beginning of a phone call every time you “connect” to someone (or something) on the other end. Simply put – if you make a phone call and someone (or something) answers, you’re charged flagfall. If nobody answers and the call “rings out” no flagfall fee applies. Many clients ask “what if I get someone’s message centre, am I still charged flagfall?” and the answer is “yes”. In this scenario your mobile phone call has still connected with something on the other end and therefore flagfall and call costs apply.

CHECK YOUR WHOLE BILL

Call rates and flagfall fees vary from carrier to carrier, plan to plan and call to call (see we really do try to make things confusing!) and this greatly depends on the type of plan or plans you and your business is subscribed to.

To give you a rough guide, in my experience CAP PLANS tend to have higher flagfall fees than BUSINESS PLANS and on occasions some BUSINESS PLANS may have no flagfall fee at all. You may even find that flagfall (and call costs) vary depending on the type of call that you make. For example, a call to a “landline” (office number) may be charged at a higher rate than a call made to a mobile phone, or a call in the morning may cost less than a call made in the afternoon!

So as you can see there are many variables that need to be considered when trying to accurately establish what you and your business is being charged for mobile phone calls.

I trust these simple “Tips & Hints” will help you make sense of your next mobile phone account.

Jason Hellyer
Mobile Guide

Looking for extra cash to pay monthly phone bills? Tired of paying larger telephone bills? Well, then switch your phone on to VoIP calling. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provides its user to make cheaper phone calls? over long distance and international calls. This is so, because it allows it’ s users to make telephone calls over the Internet. Considering the world as global village, with Internet telephony, user gains the potential for making ultra-cheap or free calls. Apart from that in telephonic communication, the latest telephony technology?competes with the reliability of traditional PSTN systems.

With VoIP user can transfer or share voice, data, image or video through a single line. This makes communication easier and affordable. Compared to regular phones, voice over IP calls made through broadband connection allows longer distance and international calls at significantly cheaper rates. Besides that, VoIP services have gained momentum over features like usability, reliability, functionality, security and scalability when compared to conventional Public telephone Service Network(PSTN) in telephonic communication. In order to avail these services, user needs to require standard telephone and good PC installed with Internet telephony or VoIP software. However, Internet is flooded with free telephony software that can be downloaded for making calling an easier task.

Well, voice over IP opts for packet switching network services for transferring the analog voice. To give brief about VoIP process, analog voice is digitized over network and then sent over IP network. Before reaching receiver, digital packets are turned back to analog voice. Thus, packet switching allows lowering down the cost of calling and helps in improving an efficiency of resources like voice quality. Considering importance of these telephony services, commercial and residential users are opting for these services. By using advanced mode of talking, user can save monthly telephone expenditure to half.