[VoiceOps] Billing of Forwarded Calls

[Alex Balashov]

Scott Berkman wrote:

> So how do most of you deal with billing of forwarded calls (specifically 
> where the calling number on the forwarded leg is using the original 
> calling number from the inbound leg) in a SIP environment when the 
> originally called number is not preserved in the new invite?  In this 
> case there is no way to match the calling or called number to a specific 
> customer.
> 
> Do you bill by IP address or interface instead?  Do you somehow use a 
> system that correlates the forwarded leg to the original inbound leg?  
> I’ve come across this issue a few different times when trying to bill 
> off of SIP messaging logs, for instance radius off a SIP SBC or SQL logs 
> from SER.

In my view, that depends on what is doing the forwarding.

If it's the customer handset actually initiating the forward, then it 
should just look like a normal termination call from the customer.

If it's a multi-tenant switch or other call control agent, it should 
have some way of associating forwarded calls with an account and 
sticking an account ID or similar into the CDRs, which will reveal who 
to bill and presumably the rate plan to use.

If it can't do that, the product sucks.

-- Alex

-- 
Alex Balashov - Principal
Evariste Systems
Web     : http://www.evaristesys.com/
Tel     : (+1) (678) 954-0670
Direct  : (+1) (678) 954-0671