Phone plan costs and overage blocks

Your phone plan is the voice-and-messaging side of your Dispatch Bros subscription: it includes dedicated business phone numbers, a monthly outbound SMS allowance, and a monthly voice-minute allowance. The Phone tab of Billing shows your plan, live usage for the current period, and the On-demand overage control that decides what happens when you exceed an allowance — bill the extra on demand, or hard-cap until next period.

Before you start

• Open Billing from the sidebar and switch to the Phone tab.
• Changing phone plans is owner/admin only; the on-demand overage toggle is owner only.
• Some platform plans bundle phone service — the tab then reads "Included with platform plan" instead of a separate price.

What your phone plan includes

The plan card lists the tier's monthly price and allowances, and the includes section itemizes:

• Dedicated business phone numbers — how many numbers your tier covers.
• Outbound SMS per month — your texting allowance.
• Voice minutes per month — your calling allowance.
• Inbound SMS & delivery receipts — always included.

Numbers beyond your plan's included count bill as extra monthly line items at your plan's per-number rate — the buy a number flow shows the exact math before you purchase. Extra capacity packs appear under Communications Add-ons when active on your account.

Track usage for the current period

The Current Period Usage section shows three real-time meters:

• SMS Sent — outbound messages against your SMS limit.
• SMS Received — "Inbound messages — always included".
• Voice Minutes — call minutes against your minute limit.

On-demand overage: pay for extra, or hard-cap

The On-demand overage card sits between usage and the plan details. When the toggle is On, usage beyond your allowance is billed at the per-unit rates shown on the card for SMS and Call minutes, and Estimated overage this period totals what the current period's extra usage will cost.

When you flip it Off, a confirmation explains the consequence: "Turning off on-demand overage will hard-cap your account at the included package limits. Once limits are reached, new outbound SMS and new billable calls will be blocked until the next billing period or until on-demand is turned back on." Choose Turn Off On-Demand to confirm or Keep On-Demand On to back out.

Only the company owner can change this — other roles see the toggle disabled with the note "Only company owners can change this".

Change your phone tier

The tier grid at the bottom ("Switch your phone tier", or "Upgrade your phone plan" if your phone service is bundled) lets an owner or admin move between phone tiers: "Upgrade or downgrade your phone plan with prorated billing. Your platform plan stays unchanged." Every change goes through a confirmation that states when the new price starts billing — see upgrade, downgrade, or add capacity.

Troubleshooting

• Texts suddenly stopped sending mid-month — you likely hit your SMS allowance with on-demand overage off. Check Current Period Usage; turn on-demand on, upgrade the tier, or wait for the next period.
• The Phone tab says "Not Subscribed" — you have no active phone product. Pick a tier under Choose your phone plan, or if you have no platform subscription yet, the button reads Choose During Checkout and routes you through the Platform tab first.
• The tier buttons show "Owner / Admin Only" — sign in as an owner or admin to change plans.
• The on-demand toggle is greyed out — it's owner-only by design.
• "Phone plans coming soon" — no phone tiers are published for your account yet; contact our team if you need capacity now.