Explanation of SIP Plans

The Basics

In it’s simple terms a SIP Plan is a telephone contract providing calls via a digital connection over the internet. The plan itself describes what is included in your contract.
These contracts we provide are normally for 12 months and include minutes in the same way a traditional mobile phone contract does.

Why have Plans?

From the early days of us starting to supply SIP trunks we had two ways of purchasing the connections from wholesalers; these ways were as trunks / channels only and pay for your calls on top [like most landlines]; or purchase trunks / channels with bundled minutes [like most contract mobile provides].
We used to supply both forms known as SIP A and SIP B; but due to the cost and explanation issues with SIP A this is currently being phased out leaving SIP B which is like a mobile phone contract.
Most businesses and individuals these days have a mobile phone contract, and as such find it easier to understand the fees and structure when done like this.

Whats in a Plan?

All SIP Call Plans and Packages include the below features as standard unless otherwise stated.

• 1 Free UK Geographic number
• 5 SIP Channels
• UK Landline minutes (cover UK Geographical numbers)
• UK Mobile minutes (cover the major mobile networks O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Three networks)
• One-off £22 Ex VAT setup fee
• Provisioning lead time up to 48hrs
• Included minutes are billed per minute
• Calls outside the monthly allowance are billed per second on our call tariff
• 12 Month Contract
• Easy upgrading of plans during contract

Please note, Premium rate (07,09 Numbers) and Numbers with a connection Charge are not included

How are Plans Billed?

Our call plans on the billing front is the same as any mobile phone bill, except it has two parts. The two parts to our bills have caused confusion in the past; but there is a good reason for it!
The two parts to our bills are: –

• Upfront Plan and any additional add-ons
• Call charges outside of plan

On the 1st of the month our automated system raises the invoice for your plan which runs from the 7th of the month to the 6th of the next.
On or around the 7th of the month our system produces a text file dump of all your calls and costs for the month; we then import this into a template to make it readable and save it to your CDR report location as well as creating the invoice for the additional calls.
We do two invoices like this as it enables us to automate the plan an add-ons invoice; reducing typo’s and missing components while reducing costs.
The CDR report we produce looks just like a mobile phone contract invoice; bringing together both bills information into one view for analysis.
To give you a full example of what to expect: –
Lets say today is the 15th of March 2017, by this date you should have

• Invoice on 1st for plan covering 07/03/2017 to 06/04/2017
• Invoice on 7th for calls covering 07/02/2017 to 06/03/2017
• CDR Report on the 7th which can be found using access link and password on your plan invoice