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Frequently asked questions about how Plivo charges for voice calls, messaging, and phone numbers.

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How does voice call billing work?

Plivo bills voice calls based on per-minute rates with billing increments that depend on the product:
ProductBilling IncrementHow It Works
Voice API60-second (60/60)Calls are rounded up to the next full minute. A 10-second call is billed as 1 minute.
Zentrunk (SIP Trunking)Varies by countryPer-second (1/1) for US routes, 60-second (60/60) for India routes. Other destinations vary — check your rate sheet for details.
Key details:
  • Billing starts when the call is answered, not when it starts ringing.
  • Both inbound and outbound call legs are billed separately.
  • Rates vary by destination country and number type. See Voice Pricing for current rates.

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How does SMS and MMS billing work?

SMS and MMS are billed per message segment. SMS segments:
  • A single SMS segment can contain up to 160 characters using GSM-7 encoding (standard Latin characters).
  • If your message uses Unicode characters (such as non-Latin scripts or special symbols), the segment limit drops to 70 characters.
  • Messages longer than one segment are split into multiple segments, each billed separately. For multi-part messages, segment limits are 153 characters (GSM-7) or 67 characters (Unicode) due to concatenation headers.
MMS:
  • MMS messages are billed per message, regardless of media size.
  • MMS is available only for US and Canadian destinations.
See SMS Pricing for current per-segment rates.

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What are phone number charges?

Plivo charges a monthly rental fee for each phone number on your account.
  • Rental is charged on a calendar-month basis starting from the date of purchase.
  • Rates vary by country and number type (local, toll-free, mobile, national).
  • Some countries may have one-time setup charges in addition to the monthly rental.
  • Numbers removed mid-month are billed for the full month.
See Phone Number Pricing for rates by country.

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What is CPS and how do I increase it?

CPS (Calls Per Second) is the maximum number of concurrent outbound call requests Plivo processes per second for your account.
Account TypeDefault CPS
Standard2 CPS
EnterpriseCustom (higher limits available)
Voice API and Zentrunk (SIP Trunking) each have their own separate CPS limit per account. For example, a standard account can initiate 2 outbound calls per second via Voice API and 2 outbound calls per second via Zentrunk simultaneously. If you need higher CPS for large-scale calling campaigns or high-volume applications, contact Plivo Sales to discuss an Enterprise plan with increased CPS limits.
CPS limits apply to outbound call initiation only. They do not limit the number of concurrent active calls on your account.

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What do billing increments like 1/1 and 6/6 mean?

These are standard telecom billing increment notations in the format initial/subsequent:
IncrementMeaning
1/1Per-second billing — both the first and every subsequent second are billed individually
6/6Billed in 6-second blocks — the first 6 seconds are billed as a block, then every additional 6 seconds
60/60Per-minute billing — the first 60 seconds are billed as a block, then every additional 60 seconds
30/6First 30 seconds billed as a block, then every additional 6 seconds
Example with 60/60 billing: A call lasting 61 seconds is billed as 120 seconds (2 minutes). Plivo Voice API uses 60/60 (per-minute) billing. Zentrunk billing increments vary by country — for example, 1/1 (per-second) for US routes and 60/60 (per-minute) for India routes. Check your Zentrunk rate sheet for destination-specific increments.