How Usage Is Counted
Voice minutes, text segments, and what is never metered.
Two things are metered: time spent on calls, and text messages sent. Everything else in your account is included.
Voice minutes
Billed per whole minute. A 3 minute 10 second call counts as 4.
That rounding is the carrier’s rule rather than ours, and every telephony provider works the same way. It is worth knowing because it means a lot of very short calls cost more than the raw seconds suggest.
What that looks like
Thirty calls averaging 2 minutes 20 seconds each bill as 3 minutes each, so 90 minutes rather than 70. At $0.12 that is $10.80 instead of $8.40.
Text segments
A segment is roughly 160 characters. A longer message counts as more than one, which is why keeping follow-up texts short is cheaper as well as better to receive.
Watch for the accidental second segment
What is never metered
- Logins
- Add as many team members as you like. Seats are free.
- Leads and contacts
- No cap, and no per-record charge.
- Recordings and transcripts
- Stored and searchable at no extra cost.
- Dashboards and reports
- Included.
- Knowledge base documents
- Uploading and indexing your files costs nothing.
A missed call costs nothing
A call that rings out and never reaches us is not billed, because there was nothing to bill.
Worth saying plainly because it is the opposite of how an answering service with a monthly minimum works. You are charged for calls that were handled, not for the capacity to handle them.
Both are voice minutes at the same per-minute rate. An outbound follow-up call is metered exactly like an inbound one.
It still connected, so it still bills a minute. These are usually a very small share of your volume, but they are the reason your minute count is slightly above what your call durations suggest.
Something on your usage look wrong?