Set Billing Rate

This Telephony tool should only be used if you are using AT&T's Vari-A-Bill service. Set Billing Rate instructs AT&T to charge a customer a specific amount for a specific call. For more information on how Vari-A-Bill works, see the Vari-A-Bill User Guide you received from your Vari-A-Bill vendor.

Contact your AT&T Technical Sales Specialist to arrange testing of any Vari-A-Bill functionality you create in handlers.

Vari-A-Bill is optional on each line and must be activated in the Line Configuration container in Interaction Administrator.

Inputs

Call Identifier

The call that will have a billing rate set.

Billing Rate Type

These are the types of billing rates that can be charged.

Note: You can only use one of these types for a specific call, although you may send other messages of the same type. AT&T uses the final rating as the basis for the billing. The only exception to this is that Premium Charge and Premium Credit can be used interchangeably on the same call with the other three options.

ISDN_FREE_CALL - There is no charge for the entire call. This can be used at any time during the call.

ISDN_NEW_RATE - A new per minute rate is applied to the remainder of the call. Minutes incurred prior to applying New_Rate are billed at the original provisioned rate.

ISDN_FLAT_RATE - A flat charge is applied to the remainder of the call. The flat charge is added to the previously incurred per-minute charges.

ISDN_PREM_CHARGE - An additional flat charge is added on top of the provisioned charges that continue to accrue.

ISDN_PREM_CREDIT - A negative flat rate is applied to the call. Previously incurred charges continue to accrue.

Rate Change (cents)

The number of cents to charge. If this is ISDN_NEW_RATE rate, it is the cents per minute. If this is ISDN_FLAT_RATE, ISDN_PREM_CHARGE, or ISDN_PREM_CREDIT, it is the total amount to charge or credit.

Exit Paths

Success

This step takes the Success exit path if the rate is set.

Failure

This tool can take the Failure exit path for several reasons. Failure can occur if the call disconnects, if the call is picked up by a user (and is no longer under the control of the handler), the call ID is no longer valid (if the call is deallocated), or system resource limitation.