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Call charge metering pulse: The following article.......... |
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10/25/2000
was posted on 24.10.2000 on the "www.teltarif.de" website in relation to the problem of transmission of call charge metering pulses from other network providers:
Confusion about metering pulse
Advice of charge and bill rarely match
The global advice of charge scheme scheduled to begin on November 14 appears to be causing some confusion. Deutsche Telekom already transmits the metering pulses of its competitors in 104 local exchanges, though they do not show the actual costs incurred. We receive readers' inquiries about this on an almost daily basis, and the forum on the subject is virtually overflowing. So here's the explanation:
The metering pulse is only transmitted in the old Telekom units at the 12 Pfennig rate. But those units are now rarely used any more, even by Telekom. Only local call charges are advised correctly, but even then only if you have not chosen one of the optional tariffs such as AktivPlus or Select5/30. Otherwise the billing is usually calculated on a per minute basis.
As some Telekom competitors bill on a per second basis, the situation is becoming more and more confused. Telekom press spokesman Walter Genz told us that in case of doubt the advice of charge will indicate too much rather than too little. In practise this means: When you begin your call the advice of charge is immediately 12 Pfennigs. If you make a one minute call for 6 Pfennigs with Tele2, for example, the advice of charge is 12 Pfennigs, but only half is billed. If the call goes on longer, the advice of charge leaps to 24 Pfennigs as soon as the actual cost surpasses the 12 Pfennig mark.
Further confusion is caused by the fact that the competitors, too, have only one metering pulse for all their customers. For example, if you have a cheaper tariff based on a preselected rate, you still get the call-by-call pulse. A Tiscali customer told us, for example, that his metering pulse does not come from Tiscali at all, but from Colt Telekom. The Colt reseller was also not able to stop the misleading pulse from being transmitted. The advice of charge feature can only be deactivated by application to Telekom. Nevertheless, in future hotels and shared office communities, for example, will be able to allow use of call-by-call providers again. Because in case of doubt too much rather too little will be billed. That's good news for the hotels, of course, who often charge 50 Pfennigs or more per unit rather than the standard 12 anyway.
The article reproduced here is intended for information purposes only, and implies no agreement with or other attitude toward the views expressed in it on the part of AGFEO !
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