ISPs and Tariffs
Tariffs, traffic volume, and time
Now, back to the serious stuff. Let's talk about money. Many providers (ISP) have their own, unique tariff plans being used to calculate customers' Internet expenses.
Typically, time-based tariffs are used for dial-up connections. Broadband connection plans are usually based on the amount of data transferred (downloaded or uploaded/downloaded). It's not uncommon for a certain prepaid amount of time or traffic to be covered by the flat rate, while anything exceeding the limit incurs additional charges. The costs may also depend on the time of the day or day of the week.
Naturally, such expenses are difficult to calculate manually. CommTraffic allows you to specify most complex tariff rates to get the answer to the important question: How much has been spent on Internet access?
Let's have a closer look at the tariffs. A tariff rate itself doesn't tell you how much money has been spent. It is nothing but an algorithm specifying how expenses should be calculated. You can enter as many tariff rates as you wish and then use them to calculate your actual expenses. CommTraffic Wizard will guide you through the tariff set-up procedure, and this tutorial will help you take the right steps.
First of all, start the Wizard by clicking New on the Settings => Tariffs page in the View pane:
This will bring up a dialog box where you will be able to enter general information on the tariff being created. Enter the tariff name and select the provider from the drop-down list:
If you want the tariff to be applied to all your providers, or if you don't know exactly which provider to select, select Any in the Provider field.
Next, you need to select the tariff type. As we mentioned above, you may be charged for your Internet connections based either on the traffic volume or connection time. If the tariff type that you selected includes prepaid traffic or connection time, you will be able to enter the fixed monthly fee amount on the next page.
Now that you have selected the tariff type, you need to specify whether the rates are the same on all days or if there are special rates on weekends and holidays.
Click on the Add button and select Always active if the rate is the same on all days. Otherwise, click Custom and specify the days of the week or time of the day when certain rates are applicable.
You can specify as many time periods as necessary to cover the entire period within which your tariff is applicable. Traffic volume and time tariffs can be entered on the next page.
If you've selected the Prepaid volume included tariff type, you will have to specify how the provider calculates incoming and outgoing traffic and how prepaid traffic volume is set. You will find the most common options on the list. If they are not applicable in your case, select Advanced.
When you are through with the wizard, you will find your new tariff on the list. You are now ready to use the newly created tariff for calculating your traffic costs, which will be described in the next chapter.
