Customer Care » Frequently Asked Questions » About Billing

Q: My account number on invoice recently changed to 11-digit number.
A: Please be advised that as of March 10th, Excel implemented a new Billing platform that consolidates all billed services into a single customer invoice. This change will provide a more comprehensive view for customers who currently subscribe to multiple Excel Products such as voice, data, VOIP and residential services. Excel's new billing application has been designed to also service commercial and wholesale accounts. Future enhancements to Excel's new integrated billing platform will include new functionality that will enable the viewing of Excel's invoices via the internet. Other changes you will notice include the Excel account number that has changed from a 7-digit number to an 11-digit number in addition to the invoice format and billing schedule.
Q: What should I expect to see on my first Excel bill?
A: Excel customers typically benefit from single source billing for voice and data services, and will be invoiced in U.S. dollars on a monthly usage basis. The billing cycle for most Excel products is based on calendar months. The Excel bill will include applicable interstate, in-state, and international rates for usage. The service and promotion type determines these rates. The monthly invoice will carry the monthly recurring charges and invoice payments are due upon receipt.
Q: What is call rounding?

A: Excel implements a call-rounding standard that is designed to ensure the utmost accuracy and clarity of your invoice. Instead of rounding each call charge to the nearest cent, we are billing our customers for the exact amount per call as determined by their individual calling plan. This change was made to benefit our valued customers. Call rounding is implemented by using following billing Increments:

  • Domestic calls carry an 18-second minimum and 6-second call rounding.
  • Domestic Calling Card traffic carries an 18-second minimum and 6-second call rounding.
  • International calls carry a 30-second minimum and a 6-second call rounding.
  • Calling Card calls that terminate internationally carry a 30-second minimum and a 6-second call rounding.
  • Calls for the U.S. to Mexico carry a 60-second minimum and a 60-second call rounding.
  • Calling Card calls originating from overseas carry a 60-second minimum and a 60-second call rounding.
Q: What customized billing reports you offer?

A: As an added feature Excel offers tailored billing reports. These reports are perfect for tracking project, controlling the budget and managing expense charge back You can select one of the following reports that best suits your reporting needs:

  • Country Code Summary
  • Chronological Sort by ANI
  • Account Code Sort by ANI
  • Area Code Summary
  • Summary by Time of Day
  • Summary by Day of Week

The cost for this service is $2/month/report. You have the option of selecting the report(s) you wish at the time of order. Free of charge Summary by account codes or Summary by location codes reports will be included in customers invoice if customers are using those features.

Q: Can I receive my invoice in electronic format?

A: Excel offers several different formats of billing invoices. You will be automatically billed via paper bills. You also have the option of receiving your bill via Electronic Media. By using Electronic Media you can conveniently access your monthly CDRs via our Electronic Media Service. You may receive your CDRs on a CD or diskette. Valued diskette billing customers are able to:

  • View a complete listing of calls made on a monthly basis
  • Manipulate the data for different purposes through the query function
  • Save the information on a PC for review at any time
  • Compare traffic from month to month by simply opening a saved file

The cost of Electronic Media is $10/Month.

Electronic invoice is usually delivered 2 different formats:

Enclosed to invoice you customer receives CD that contains all of CDRs for the current months invoice.

Q: How to upload MS Access formatted CDRs?

MS Access Format Instructions

01) Insert CD into your computer’s CD-ROM drive.
02) Select and Move file contained on the CD to your Desktop.
03) Open up the file in Notepad and then save it as a "Text file" to your Desktop.
04) Open MS Access and create a new database file.
05) On the MS Access Toolbar click on File then select "Get External Data" then select "Import".
06) On the Import window select Look in "Desktop". Also make sure that the Files type = "Text".
07) Select the "Text file" that you saved to your Desktop.
08) On the Import Text Wizard window select "Delimited", and then click next.
09) On the next page select "Comma", and then click next.
10) On the next page select "In a New Table" and then click next.
11) On the next page change all columns to Data Type = "Text", and then click next.
12) On the next page you can choose whether to add a Primary Key or not, and then click next.
13) On the next page click finish.

Column Headings
field Column format Description
account num Field 1 Customer Account Number
call date Field 2 YYYYMMDD Originating Date
call time Field 3 HHMMSS Originating Time (24 hour/zulu time)
category Field 4   Call Type (Interstate, Intrastate, International {North America Number plan shows country})
account code Field 5   Customer Assigned Account Code
location code Field 6   Customer Assigned Location Code
bill to number Field 7   Billing Number
orig ani Field 8   Originating Number
orig city Field 9   Originating City
orig state Field 10   Originating State
orig lata Field 11   Originating LATA
orig ocn Field 12   Originating OCN
orig country Field 13   Originating Country
dialed num Field 14   Dialed Number
term city Field 15   Terminating City
term state Field 16   Terminating State
term lata Field 17   Terminating LATA
term ocn Field 18   Terminating OCN
term country Field 19   Terminating Country
duration Field 20   Rated Duration (in 1/10 of a minute {6 second})
rate Field 21   Rate
charges Field 22   Rated Amount of Call
payphone Field 23 Y/N Payphone Call (Yes/No)
Q: How to upload MS Excel formatted CDRs?

MS Excel Instructions (Maximum of 65,536 rows)

14) Insert CD into your computer’s CD-ROM drive.
15) Select and Move file contained on the CD to your Desktop
16) Open MS Excel and click on the "Data" tab the scroll down to "Import External Data", then select "Import Data".
17) Select the file that you downloaded on your desktop. Be sure to select "All Files" in order to see the file.
18) Once you select the file, you will see the Text Import Wizard - Step 1 of 3. Under the Original Data Section, please select "Delimited" and then click "Next".
19) On the Text Import Wizard - Step 2 or 3 page select "Comma" and then click "Next".
20) On the Text Import Wizard - Step 3 of 3 page select "Finish".
21) On the Import Data page click "OK".
22) Your CDR data has now been imported into an MS Excel spreadsheet for your review. You will need to insert the appropriate column headings from below into the file.

Column Headings
field Column format Description
account num A Customer Account Number
call date B YYYYMMDD Originating Date
call time C HHMMSS Originating Time (24 hour/zulu time)
category D   Call Type (Interstate, Intrastate, International {North America Number plan shows country})
account code E   Customer Assigned Account Code
location code F   Customer Assigned Location Code
bill to number G   Billing Number
orig ani H   Originating Number
orig city I   Originating City
orig state J   Originating State
orig lata K   Originating LATA
orig ocn L   Originating OCN
orig country M   Originating Country
dialed num N   Dialed Number
term city O   Terminating City
term state P   Terminating State
term lata Q   Terminating LATA
term ocn R   Terminating OCN
term country S   Terminating Country
duration T   Rated Duration (in 1/10 of a minute {6 second})
rate U1   Rate
charges V   Rated Amount of Call
payphone W Y/N Payphone Call (Yes/No)