This article is for Aircall customers on the Essential plan. It explains how your monthly domestic call allowance is calculated and clarifies why you might see charges for domestic calls on your invoice despite having a domestic bundle.
⚠️ Domestic Bundle Exception:
It's important to note an exception for domestic bundles: Aircall accounts on the Essential plan in the US/CA region come with unlimited domestic calls to both mobile and landline numbers (non-premium). This means they are not subject to the typical 1000-minute fair use policy.
See our article for more details: Call bundles
Understanding your Essential plan's domestic call bundle
The Aircall Essential plan includes a monthly allowance of domestic call minutes. Here’s a breakdown of how this works:
- Included minutes: Each license on your Essential plan provides 1000 domestic minutes per monthly billing cycle.
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Usage of included minutes: These included minutes are specifically designated for calls made to your country of residence. Your country of residence is determined by the billing information registered on your Aircall account.
- To ensure your billing information is current, or to update your billing address, please refer to our guide: How to update your billing address.
Additional resources:
- For a comprehensive overview of all Aircall plan types and their features, please visit our pricing page.
- To learn more about which countries Aircall generally classifies for domestic calling rates and for further details on how call bundles operate, please see our article: Call bundles.
How your total domestic minute allowance is calculated
Your total monthly domestic minute allowance is determined by combining minutes from two sources: your committed licenses and any additional licenses used beyond your committed count. This combined total can then be used by any licensed user on your account. Here’s the breakdown:
1. Contribution from committed licenses
Each license you are committed to in your Essential plan contributes 1000 domestic minutes to your monthly allowance. This forms the base of your total domestic call allowance.
- Example: If your plan includes 5 committed licenses, your base allowance from these licenses is calculated as: .
- 💡 Unused Committed Licenses: It's important to note that these 1000 minutes are included for every committed license, even if some aren't actively used during that particular billing cycle.
- For instance: If your plan has 5 committed licenses, but during a particular month only 3 of those licenses were created/used, your allowance originating from these committed licenses will still be minutes.
2. Contribution from additional active users
If, during your monthly billing cycle, you have more users utilizing licenses than your number of committed licenses, each additional license contributes 1000 domestic minutes to your total allowance for that specific month.
- Example: If you have 5 committed licenses but had 7 users (thus utilizing 2 additional licenses), the contribution from these additional licenses for that month would be: .
- ⚠️ Important Note for Annual Plan Subscribers: On an annual plan, additional licenses are billed through to your contract's end. Even if an additional license is deactivated before this term concludes, its 1000 monthly minutes continue to be included in your allowance because the paid "seat" is reusable by another user.
Check our article: How will my additional users & numbers be billed?
How out-of-bundle usage charges are calculated
If your total domestic minutes used within a billing cycle exceed your total calculated allowance, these extra minutes are considered "out-of-bundle usage." These out-of-bundle minutes are then billed according to the standard domestic rates for your Essential plan.
Example Calculation for a Billing Period
Let's walk through an example for a specific invoice period:
- Number of Committed Licenses: 10
- Number of Additional Licenses: 2
- Total Licenses Contributing to Allowance:
- Your Total Included Domestic Minutes Allowance:
- Total Domestic Minutes Used: 13500 minutes
- Domestic Minutes Exceeding Allowance (Out-of-Bundle Usage):
In this scenario, your invoice would show charges for these 1500 out-of-bundle minutes, billed at your plan's standard domestic rates.
Note on Checking Your Usage: You can find your detailed call usage, including total minutes, by exporting a call report from your Aircall dashboard. For instructions, please see our article: Call History in the Dashboard.
💡 Tip: Optimizing Costs for High Domestic Call Volume
Consistently finding your domestic call usage on the Essential plan exceeding your allowance? Upgrading to our Professional plan could be a more cost-effective solution for you. The Professional plan includes unlimited domestic calls to eligible countries, potentially saving you money if your call volume is high.
What's Next?
- Learn About Upgrading: See the steps and benefits here: How to upgrade to a professional plan?
- Discuss Your Options: Your Account Manager can help you assess if an upgrade is the right fit. Contact them via: How to contact my account manager?
We hope this information is helpful. Thank you for being an Aircall customer.