Definition
A tariff plan is a plan product defined on the carrier side (China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom). It includes the data allowance, the cycle, and the price. After an enterprise buys a tariff plan from the carrier, plan packaging wraps it as the enterprise’s own data plan, and carrier mapping keeps a one-to-one correspondence.
Relationship with plan packaging
The tariff plan is the carrier-side product. Plan packaging turns it into a sellable plan of the enterprise’s own. Each own plan must map to the matching carrier tariff plan. When the plan is delivered, the platform sends an order to the carrier from that mapping so the plan takes effect correctly.
What a tariff plan contains
A tariff plan usually includes the data allowance, the plan cycle (month, quarter, or year), the price, and the overage billing rules. When buying, the enterprise reviews the tariff-plan list the carrier offers and chooses products that fit the business. Through plan packaging, several tariff plans can be combined into a tiered data plan when prices need to differ by tier.
More than one carrier
The same own plan can map to different carriers’ tariff plans, such as a China Mobile 5 GB monthly plan and a China Unicom 5 GB monthly plan, so the offer covers China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom. Through carrier integration, the platform calls each carrier’s API and delivers the tariff plan that belongs to the card’s carrier. The enterprise keeps the correspondence “own plan ↔ carrier ↔ tariff plan” in carrier mapping.
Use Cases
The tariff plan is the basis for data plan issuance and operator reconciliation . When the platform issues a data plan, it initiates a tariff plan subscription with the operator according to the mapping; during reconciliation, it checks usage and costs based on the tariff plan. Enterprises need to regularly synchronize tariff plan changes with operators to ensure mapping accuracy.
Tariff Plan Management
When purchasing, enterprises need to obtain the list of tariff plans from operators to understand traffic, cycles, prices, and overage billing rules. Using operator mapping , establish the correspondence between own data plans and tariff plans. Operator tariff plans may be adjusted or discontinued; enterprises need to update mappings promptly to avoid data plan issuance failures or reconciliation discrepancies. The platform can provide tools for tariff plan synchronization and mapping verification to reduce maintenance costs.
Tiered and bundled
Through plan packaging, an enterprise can combine several tariff plans into a tiered data plan or an add-on pack. For example, the carrier’s 1 GB, 5 GB, and 10 GB monthly plans can be sold as Lite, Standard, and Premium when the prices need to differ. The same own plan can map to tariff plans on different carriers, so one offer sells across China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom and the user does not have to see which carrier is underneath.
What cannot be guessed in a carrier product code
A tariff plan is an orderable product in the carrier’s billing system. The carrier defines it by product code, traffic quota, cycle, applicable region, and overage rule. The enterprise’s own plan name is only sales packaging. At delivery the platform must submit a code the carrier recognizes, not the original words “5 GB monthly pack.” The code, the way it takes effect, and whether stacking is allowed follow the carrier’s materials. Some plans count from the first day of the month in which the request was accepted. Others run a full natural cycle from the moment of acceptance. Different start points make the expiry date the user sees differ by a long way. If a region limit is provincial traffic, putting that plan on a package sold nationwide produces out-of-plan charges while roaming.
A mapping is the combination of the enterprise’s own plan, the carrier, and the tariff code. The same sales plan has different codes on China Mobile and China Unicom, and the codes cannot be reused. After a code is withdrawn from sale or renamed, an old mapping may still be accepted by the API and order the wrong plan. Record the code’s effective date, and at delivery choose the entry that is still valid on the day of the order.
A sales tier and a carrier plan are not the same layer
An enterprise can package 1 GB, 5 GB, and 10 GB as three sales tiers. If the carrier offers only one plan whose tier can be changed, a change edits the plan parameters. If the carrier offers three independent plans, a change unsubscribes the old plan and orders the new one, and there can be a short gap with no plan. Before implementation, confirm whether a change is an in-place edit or an unsubscribe-and-reorder, and whether unused traffic is cleared. Hiding the reset rule in packaging copy, and not delivering it into billing, makes the platform’s remaining traffic and the carrier’s remaining traffic diverge.
Reconciliation can explain why one tier has a different unit price only when usage and charges are totaled by tariff code. On the correspondence between plans and tariffs, SimtoLink uses parameters such as rate region to translate a sales tier into a plan code that is usable for a named carrier and a named region, so a plan with one nationwide price is not ordered onto a provincial plan.
A discontinued code can still be referenced by active instances
After a carrier takes a tariff code off sale, new orders must use a replacement code. Cards already in effect may stay on the old code until the cycle ends. If the mapping table simply deletes the old code, renewals and changes cannot find the original plan, and remaining traffic cannot be explained. The right step is to mark the code as withdrawn from sale: new orders are forbidden, and queries and use under the original rule until the quota is gone are still allowed. The replacement code stands alone as a new version. In reconciliation the old code and the new code are listed separately. They cannot be merged into one sales name and the difference dropped. SimtoLink keeps the withdrawal date on the tariff mapping. The delivery API chooses only a code that is still for sale on the day of the order.