1. Scenario overview
Traffic billing is how you work out what is owed in and what is owed out. That is a different job from traffic alerts, which warn ahead of time, and from traffic statistics, which look back at usage. Billing covers plan charges (monthly, quarterly, or yearly), usage-based overage, and shared charges on a traffic pool. Bills can be cut by SIM, project, customer, agent, or time, then checked against the carrier’s billing data so finance can post them and auditors can trace them.
In B2B2C, end users can look up a bill and request an e-invoice. Billing sits next to settlement and split payments: billing answers what is receivable or payable, and settlement answers how revenue is divided and what each channel earns.
2. Core capabilities
Plan charges
For prepaid monthly, quarterly, and yearly plans. The platform builds a bill on the plan cycle: calendar month, activation date, or a cycle you define. A monthly plan is a fixed fee each month. A quarterly or yearly plan can be split across periods or charged once, so activation and settlement can follow the contract.
Usage-based overage
Once the plan allowance is used up, further usage is charged on what was actually used. Rates can step by tier — for example 0–1GB at one rate and 1–5GB at another — and overage can be capped or left uncapped. That fits customers whose usage moves around, and it follows the policy in overage management.
Shared pool charges
When many SIMs share a pool, the charge is on the pool total, then split to each SIM or project. Split equally, by actual usage, or by weight. One purchase can then be posted to several departments and projects.
Carrier reconciliation
The platform pulls carrier billing data on a schedule and checks it against its own result. Compare by SIM number, batch, or time range, and differences are marked automatically. Export the difference report, note a reason, and track each item until it is closed. A passed reconciliation is what finance posts and what an audit relies on.
3. Billing flow
4. Billing, statistics, and settlement
Traffic billing, traffic statistics, and settlement answer different questions.
| Dimension | Traffic billing | Traffic statistics | Settlement and split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | What is receivable and payable | Usage and how it is trending | How revenue is divided and what channels earn |
| Core capabilities | Plan, overage, and pool charges; bills; carrier reconciliation | Usage totals, trend analysis, spotting overage | Channel share, agent settlement, splitting revenue |
| What you get | Bills, reconciliation reports, invoices | Usage reports and trend charts | Share detail and settlement statements |
| What teams need | A posting for the books, cost analysis, and an audit trail | Usage you can trace and trends you can read | A reason for the channel to sell, including multi-level shares |
They work as a set. Traffic statistics are the usage record. Traffic billing turns that into what is owed. Settlement and split payments divide the revenue and pay the channel share.
5. Bills on more than one dimension
Build a bill by SIM, project, customer, agent, or time period. Roll it up by day, week, month, quarter, or year, and export Excel or CSV for the books and for cost analysis. The cycle can be a calendar month, the activation date, or a period you define. A bill can be a line-level version, one line per SIM and charge, or a summary by dimension.
A bill lists plan fees, overage fees, pool allocation, and charges tied to suspend and resume. You can generate it first and publish it only after review, so a wrong bill does not go out. In B2B2C, an end user can open their own line detail and request an e-invoice, which is the self-service they expect.
6. Typical use cases
- An internal enterprise project: several departments share one pool, and cost is split by project or department for internal books and budgets.
- Agent settlement: build the bill per agent, then use settlement and split payments to pay the channel share.
- An end-user subscription: a monthly plan is billed each month, overage is added on actual use, and the user can open the bill and request an e-invoice online.
7. Why it matters
Traffic billing on the SimtoLink IoT Cloud Platform gives finance a charge they can stand behind. More than one billing model covers different ways you sell. Carrier reconciliation keeps the charge accurate and defensible. Bills on several dimensions feed cost analysis and operating decisions. End-user bills and e-invoices make B2B2C self-service something customers will actually use.
8. Implementation notes
Reconcile with the carrier on a regular cadence so the two sets of numbers stay aligned. In B2B2C, offer an e-invoice. Agree the pool split before you bill, so the allocation is not argued after the fact. For overage, use tiered rates so a spike does not run away. Take differences to the carrier quickly, and write down how they get closed. SimtoLink can help with billing rules, the reconciliation path, invoice setup, and a billing report shaped to your books.