Cellphone overage charges
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Overage charges are incurred when a mobile phone (cellphone) is used for more time than the quota fixed under a post-payment plan.
Payment plans and overage charges
Billing for
In post-paid plans, the cell phone user pays at the end of the month for the minutes used during that month. Post-paid plans are common in
For example, suppose that a mobile phone user signs up for a post-paid cell phone plan that costs $40 per month and is allowed a quota of 700 minutes under that plan. If this user were to end up using 750 minutes in a month, then they would be charged an overage fee for the extra 50 minutes.
Mobile networks may offer the ability to check how much of a quota has been used, or users may sign up to third-party monitoring services. Overage charges are being phased out by some major providers.[1]
Overage charges in Germany
In Germany as of 2015, most post-paid cell phone plans are (for calls within Germany) either true flat rates (monthly rates between 17[2] and 40 EUR, depending on how much data and how many SMS are included) or include a more limited amount of included minutes (100-200 Minutes), with a modest overage of 7 to 21 Euro-cent per minute. The time of days is not accounted for.
Overage charges in North American countries
North American post-paid cell phone plans typically divide the minutes used in various categories such as peak minutes, evening and night minutes (also called off-peak minutes), weekend minutes, mobile-to-mobile minutes, and so on. The peak minutes also go by the name of "anytime minutes" or "whenever minutes".
The peak minutes allowed under most post-paid plans are usually limited (such as 750 peak minutes allowed in a month for $40 per month) and minutes in all other categories are either free, or come with a large monthly quota (such as 5000 weekend and weeknight minutes). Therefore, in North American countries, the overage charges typically mean "peak overage charges", that is, a cell phone user gets charged separately for the extra peak minutes used in a month.
See also
References
- ^ "AT&T Introduces Mobile Share Advantage Plans – Ending Overage Charges". RV Mobile Internet Resource Center. 17 August 2016.
- ^ Kluge, Hans-Georg. "Günstige Allnet-Flats bei Mobilfunk-Discountern im Überblick". teltarif.de (in German). Retrieved 2015-04-18.