Overage charges are incurred when a
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
(cellphone) is used for more time than the quota fixed under a post-payment plan.
Payment plans and overage charges
Billing for
mobile phones can take the form of either a pre-paid plan or a post-paid plan. In a pre-paid plan, the cell phone user pays for the minutes before using them. This kind of plan is popular in many
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
n,
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
n, and some
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an countries.
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
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
and are catching up in other countries. The
cell phone providers (that is, the wireless carriers) typically charge a monthly fee for the post-paid plans. In turn, users get a monthly quota of minutes. When a user goes over the minutes allowed under the particular post-paid cell phone plan, they are charged separately for the extra minutes. In North America, this fee for the extra minutes is called ''overage fees'' or ''overage charges''.
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.
Overage charges in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
In
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
as of 2015, most post-paid cell phone plans are (for calls within
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
) either true flat rates (monthly rates between 17
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
*
History of mobile phones
The history of mobile phones covers mobile communication devices that connect wirelessly to the public switched telephone network.
While the transmission of speech by signal has a long history, the first devices that were wireless, mobile, and ...
*
Mobile phone operator
A mobile phone operator, wireless provider, or carrier is a mobile telecommunications company that provides wireless Internet GSM services for mobile device users. The operator gives a SIM card to the customer who inserts it into the mobile dev ...
References
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Mobile telecommunications