Skip to main content
Call minutes are counted for calls your agent actually handled, in either direction, and each call is rounded up to the next whole minute. Calls that never connected do not count, and neither does anything under 10 seconds. This page is the reference for what does and does not.

​
How a call becomes minutes

Each call is measured in seconds, then rounded up to the next whole minute, and that whole number is what comes off your allowance. Rounding happens once per call, not once per month, so ten calls of 90 seconds each cost 20 minutes rather than 15. Rounding up to the whole minute is the standard billing increment across carrier telecoms, and Brilo follows it rather than inventing a different unit. It is the same way your phone company, your conferencing provider, and the carriers Brilo buys minutes from all count a call, so the figure on your Brilo usage lines up with the way voice is billed everywhere else. There are no partial or fractional minutes anywhere in Brilo. A minute is the smallest unit your allowance and your bill are counted in, which is why lots of short calls are the ones to watch: twenty separate enquiries of one minute each cost the same as a single conversation lasting twenty minutes.

​
Calls under 10 seconds are free

A call that ends within 10 seconds counts as zero minutes. Wrong numbers, immediate hang ups, and a caller who rings off during the greeting cost you nothing. The 10 second allowance applies per call, on every plan, and it is applied before rounding, so a 9 second call is free rather than rounded up to one minute.

​
Why your minute count can differ from the call list

Your call list shows how long each call actually lasted, in minutes and seconds. Your usage figure shows minutes counted after rounding. The two are meant to differ, and the gap widens the more short calls you take. Adding up the durations in your call list is therefore not a way to check your usage. Compare against the usage figure in your billing settings instead, which is the number your allowance and your bill are calculated from. Each call is counted once, so a call that appears more than once in a report has not been charged twice.

​
What counts

​
What does not count

​
How the two directions differ

Incoming and outgoing calls both use the same pool of minutes, so a month with a large campaign leaves fewer minutes for people ringing you. That is worth planning around: if you run a campaign in the same month as your busy season, work out both together rather than separately.

​
Where to watch your usage

Your usage for the current period is in your dashboard and your billing settings. Check it mid month rather than at the end, for two reasons. If extra usage is off, you find out before your agent stops taking calls. If it is on, you find out before the bill.

​
FAQ

Rounded up. Each call is rounded up to the next whole minute, so 1 minute 5 seconds counts as 2 minutes, and there are no partial minutes. The whole minute is the standard billing increment across carrier telecoms, and Brilo follows it rather than using a different unit.
The unit is one whole minute of connected call time, which is the standard carrier telecoms increment. Brilo takes the call’s length in seconds, rounds up to the next whole minute, and takes that many minutes off your allowance. Calls of 10 seconds or less count as zero.
Not if it ended within 10 seconds, which counts as zero. Past 10 seconds, yes: an 11 second call counts as a full minute, because a minute is the smallest unit Brilo counts. Wrong numbers and instant hang ups are the calls the 10 second allowance is for.
Because your call list shows real length and your usage shows minutes after rounding up. The two are meant to differ, and the gap grows with the number of short calls. Use the usage figure in your billing settings, which is what your allowance and bill come from.
Yes, in the same way as real calls. That is deliberate rather than a catch: a test call is a real conversation with your agent. The Free plan’s 10 minutes exist for exactly this.
The minutes your agent was on the call count. Transferring a caller to a person does not double the charge for the same conversation.
Yes. The line answered, so the minutes used count, including any message your agent left. This is worth knowing before a large campaign, since a good share of calls reach voicemail.
Yes, one pool for both directions. A campaign in your busy month competes with your incoming calls for the same allowance, so plan the two together.
Yes. Emails count against your plan’s email allowance and calls count against your minutes, and running out of one does not affect the other. Emails are counted one by one, with no rounding. See Limits for the allowance on your plan.