Billing question on phone calls

[Unknown]

Most of you probably don't need to worry about the number of calls you make/receive, but I'm on the $10/mth calling plan that only gives me 50 calling minutes, so it matters to me lol.  Anyone know if the billing on calls is done per minute or per second?  When I check my usage, it shows to the second, so I want to know if that's how it's billed too.  Also, the billing time PM charges me is always 10-13 seconds longer than what my call times are on my phone.  Does PM start their billing from when a call is ringing, and not when a call is actually connected?

[marcnoel]

So I noticed AFTER I posted.  Oh, well.  Better late than never?

[RossN]

@marcnoel hi you just replied to a post from last year 

[marcnoel]

Probably because your phone counts only the total seconds (later converted to minutes and hours, when necessary), whereas, PM charges one minute, even if the call lasts a few seconds.  For example, if you make ten outgoing calls at five seconds each, your phone will show 50 seconds' worth of outgoing calls, but your PM usage will show ten minutes (600 seconds) of airtime, as each call was charged as one minute.

I just switched over to the $ 15.00 plan, which has 100 outgoing minutes.  I also purchased an add-on of 500 Canada-wide minutes for $ 5.00, as a just-in-case.  Previously, my phone had shown a total of 16 hours of outgoing calls over ten months.  I figured that's an average of 96 minutes per month, so 100 should cover it.  I didn't take into account the previously mentioned process, and have used 24 minutes in less than six days.  I ended up installing Hangouts, so I can have free calling, and not use up my PM minutes.

[Unknown]

Thanks all!!  Still don't know why the call duration on PM's end is so much higher than the call times on my phone.

[Dunkman · Accepted solution]

@Unknown

As stated above, billing by minutes.  Be also careful with checking voicemail or call forwarding. Both also count as minutes.  

You can get long distance add on which also includes local, Canada, US and international minutes.  NIce thing about add ons is that unused minutes roll over to next month.  

400 International Long Distance minutes for $15

Included countries: Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela.           

200 U.S. & Canada Long Distance minutes    for   $8

[Gonzo]

The usual method is that any call under a minute, even a 1 second one, counts as one minute for billing. If you have a call 3 minutes and 2 seconds long, that’s probably going to billed as four minutes. Not sure why there would be a difference on your log of 10+ seconds, but most carriers don’t charge for ring time, they only charge once the call has connected (even if only to a voicemail).

[popping]

@Unknown

PM charges by the minutes.  I had 2 calls less than 1 minute each from usage history.  My data and add-ons usage view is 2/50 MIN.