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Provider Rate Cards

Management Provider Rate Cards

Provider Rate Cards determine the routing and billing for calls made by customers. Before configuring Provider Rate Cards, we suggest you review Rate Card Overview then Rate Card Setup in the ConnexCS Video Guide.

Provider Rate Card Functions

  • Bulk Edit: Select one or more Provider Cards and click Bulk Edit to revise multiple cards for settings such as Force Presentation, Dialing, Direction, and Billing Precision.

  • Delete: To delete a Provider rate card, select its name from the list and then click the trash bin icon.

Before deleting a Provider Rate Card

Before deleting a Provider Rate Card, we need to delete the Active Revision.

Overview

  • Name: Click the name of the provider to see an individual rate card and management options. If a Rate Card name shows a yellow warning or red alert, these will show details about the card. It may be stale or have some sort of error.

  • Direction: Cards are either Termination (calling out to the PSTN) or Origination (DID numbers receiving calls from the PSTN). Termination is the most common card type used by ConnexCS customers.

  • Company: Refers to the Provider, or Carrier, for using the configured card.

  • Currency: The currency for the provider's region (typically USD, EUR, or GBP).

  • ?: Lists dependent Child (or Customer) Rate Cards. The changes made on the parent impact the lists. Click on the Child Card to view the configuration.

  • ID: A system identifier that acts as a placeholder and prevents confusion between similarly named items.

  • Rule Count: The number of rows in the Rate Card.

Create Provider Rate Cards

Once created, you can either add rows manually or upload an existing file for the new Provider Rate Cards.

  1. Click .
  2. Complete the required fields. (For details, see Configure Provider Rate Card below.)
  3. Click Save.
  4. From here, you may add the Provider Rate Card manually or perform a Bulk Upload.

Option 1: Manual add To manually add Rate Card rows, select Create Draft and then add / modify / delete required rows.

Option 2: Bulk Upload The preferred method for adding a Rate Card is to import/upload it:

  1. Click Bulk Upload, then Upload.
  2. Select the file, typically sent by the Provider in CSV format (if not provided as CSV, conversion required before proceeding).
  3. Right-click on the first row of data and select "Set Start Row."
  4. Right-click and map the columns. It's important to map all fields based on the Rate Card columns. For example:
    • Col 1 - Prefix
    • Col 2 - Name
    • Col 3 - Cost
  5. Choose Upload to Sever and confirm the upload.
  6. Select whether to make this active instantly.

Manually generated cards

When users create Provider Rate Card CSV files manually in Excel (rather than generating them from a rate card management system), they may introduce errors such as empty rows or duplicate prefixes, which could cause the file upload to error.

Configure Provider Rate Card

Once you create the Provider Rate Card, click on the Rate Card name to access additional configuration.

Main tab

Bulk Upload: Upload the Provider Rate Card using a CSV file, typically provided by the carrier.

Email: You can send the CSV file to the mentioned email address.

Audit Log: Review any changes made to the card settings.

Functions alt text

  • Revision: List all versions of changes on the card.
  • Create Draft: Create a blank revision to manually add all prefixes and rows. This will only contain rows added manually and doesn't keep any previous revisions.
  • Edit Revision: Make inline edits to the current revision. Upon Save, you can select to make this new revision Active. This will keep previous revisions and alterations.
  • Delete Revision: Select a revision to delete.
  • Download: Download a CSV file of the Rate Card.

Prefix and Billing Columns

Prefix: The part of the dialled number that will match to trigger use of the card.

Name: Optional name for the card.

Cost (or Indeterminate): Refers to international calls, Toll Free (800, 888, etc) numbers, or anything else that isn't classified as Inter or Intra.

Intra (US-Only): Refers to IntraState dialing (calls between numbers in the same state) and the cost of a call from this prefix to a number in the same state.

Inter (US-Only): Refers to InterState dialing (calls between numbers in different states) and the cost of a call from this prefix to a number in a different state.

Billing: Call billing depends on the MCD (Minimum Call Duration) and Pulse, represented as x/x.

Each call using this Rate Card rounds-up to MCD, then in increments of Pulse.

These settings round-up the call durations and the call billing is based on the new duration.

Billing Example

In our example, MCD has a value of 30 and Pulse has a 6. The Billing column shows 30/6.

You can see the process of call billing:

Call Duration MCD? Pulse Billed Duration
1 sec round up to 30 n/a 30 sec
20 sec round up to 30 n/a 30 sec
30 sec round up to 30 n/a 30 sec
31 sec met 6 36 sec
35 sec met 6 36 sec
36 sec met 6 36 sec
37 sec met 6 42 sec

Rate Connect: One-time (per call) charge for connecting the call, triggered upon SIP 200OK and ACK.

Status: Indicates a blocked call.

Dependent Cards: Customer cards that use the selected Rate Card. Changes to the Provider Rate Card apply to each dependent card.

Revisions Tab

The Revision Tab displays up to 8 most recent changes made to a rate card. The two most recent revisions are available as Active or Inactive, the rest are in Archive state.

To change Revision status:

  • Click Archive next to the Revision to send it to the Archive. This may take some minutes.
  • To make that version Active, click Inactive. This may take some minutes.
  • Use the Date Live function by the Revision to set a future date to make the revision Active.

Properties tab

Basic

  • Name (Private): The name of the card; this is visible within the ConnexCS Control Panel (not visible to end-customers).
  • Carrier: Select the carrier associated with this card.
  • Currency: Card billing done using this currency.

Config

  • Name (Public) (Optional)customer: Allows you to display an alias or pseudonym for the carrier.
  • Tech Prefix: Appended to outbound calls, this should be unique per carrier so it can allow route manipulation.
  • Force Presentation: Find the number of rows to display for rates:
Option Example Usage # of Rows in table
Single Rate 0.0007 Usually a UK Landline 1
IntER/IntRA 1 (NPANXX) Refers to Interstate and Intrastate calling for USA dialing 2
IntER/IntRA/Indeterminate 1 (NPANXX) Indeterminate indicates that call is between a USA number and another country 3

  • Dialing: Select whether to bill based on the carrier of the Dialed Number or using an LRN Database (US-only).

    The LRN (Local Routing Number) identifies the switch for a number and used to determine billing for a call.

    When a customer ports the number from one provider to another, the billing may change based on the new carrier. An LRN dip will correct any pricing discrepancies between the original and new carriers. This helps to reduce billing costs.

    If the customer wants to do single rates, they may not want to do the LRN dip.

ConnexCS LRN Database

ConnexCS maintains an in-house LRN database. This ensures a quick response time and updates the rates daily.

No charges for using this service, so customers have unlimited dips into the database.

  • ASR+: Filter known failed, non-existent / working numbers. See ASR Plus Details for additional information.

Advanced

  • Direction: Configure the card to be either termination (calling out to PSTN) or origination (DID numbers receiving PSTN calls). Termination is the most common.
  • Billing Precision: Round billing on a card to the specified decimal point (typically set to 4).

  • Rounding Method: Specify how to handle the n+1 digit (For example, if your card bill has 4 decimal places, this cares about the 5th digit). For our example: 0.12345 (rounded to 4 decimal places):

    Method Explanation
    Up Rounded up regardless of n+1 digit (0.1235)
    Down Rounded down regardless of n+1 digit (0.1234)
    Half-Up Values 5 through 9; rounded up (0.1235)
    Half-Down Values from 0 through 5; rounded down (0.1234)

  • Duration Rounding: The same rounding options, but for the call duration.

  • Public Options: Choose what you can do with the card information: view it via HTML (on a web page), download CSV (a spreadsheet), and whether to list the rate card in the customer portal (customers can view cards not currently on their account and select them for use). (Note: API Querying is no longer available.)
  • CLI Restrict: Enable Call Line Identification (CLI) restriction(s) using regular expressions to set valid number formats. See CLI for additional details.
  • PAID Restrict: Enable Pre-Asserted-Identity (PAID) restriction(s) using regular expressions to set valid number formats. See Filter PAID by Number or Pattern for additional details.

  • SMS URL: not in use

  • Default RTP: If set and the customer adds the route themselves, then it deploys the Default RTP. Otherwise, this is an unused setting.

  • Capped Rate: Block calls above the set price.

  • Force RTP:

    Option Explanation
    Disabled Selects the least expensive path between your customer and provider.
    Direct RTP (No Proxy) Bypass ConnexCS, so media flows directly between the customer and carrier.
    Closest (To ConnexCS) Server Media will use the server geographically closest to ConnexCS
    Closest (Elastic) Server This will allow traffic to traverse new deployed servers. Would only cause issues if the customer runs a firewall, in which case the servers aren't authorized.

  • Block Destination Type: Block calls to one or more types of destination (example: Mobile, Paging, or Satellite) using SIP Message `403 Destination Blocked'.

  • Block Connect Cost: Disable / enable the per-call connection cost across the carrier.
  • P-Time: Packetization time, or P-Time, refers to the length of an SDP packet based on the media time in milliseconds.
    • Default: Use the default setting in the end-device's firmware (don't change what's sent.)
    • 20 through 20 ms
    • 30 through 30 ms
  • Delayed Bye: see Delayed Bye below.
  • Flow Speed (CPS): Set the number of Calls Per Second allowed on this card.
  • Delayed Bye MCD: see Delayed Bye below.
  • Channels: Set the number of concurrent active calls allowed on the card.
  • Delayed Bye Customer Charge: see Delayed Bye below.

Delayed Bye

Delayed Bye allows for an extended call by delaying the call's release.

This is useful when a carrier contract specifies a minimum duration call but you have customers who frequently make short duration calls.

Use with caution

You should only use this feature if you fully disclose it to the customer, as they will be charged for the extra duration. Failing to notify the customer is regarded as Late Disconnection FAS (False Answer Supervision.)

ConnexCS doesn't endorse fraudulent activities.

This feature bends the rules; if you don't use realistic figures or understand how this is working, you will get unexpected results, use with caution.

Consider the following when using Delayed Bye.

  • Only works for termination calls.
  • Only BYE messages from Downstream get delayed.
  • When a message gets delayed, a 200OK is sent Downstream instantly informing that the call has ended.
  • We only allow extending a call for a maximum of 30 seconds.
  • If a Downstream BYE message gets delayed and an Upstream BYE interupts:
  • We will instantly inform the upstream carrier about the terminated call.
  • The charge recorded in the carrier's CDR will be the actual call duration + Delay. It won't take into consideration the incoming Upstream BYE.
Fields
  • Delayed Bye: Establishes the number of additional seconds for each call.
  • Delayed Bye MCD: Sets a minimum duration to calculate a delta. For example, if you set the Delayed BYE MCD to 10 seconds and the call lasts for 8 seconds, the call gets extended by 2 seconds.
  • Delayed Bye Customer Charge: Determines if the customer should be charged for the extended call.

Incorrect Billing

Any attempt at artificially adjusting packets may cause billing problems.

Some limitations exist within the protocol, the real world, and our implementation.

You must understand what you are doing before using this feature.

Notes

Private Notes aren't visible to the end Customer. Not typically used on Provider Rate Cards.