Track Cell Phone Bills (Software or other idea?) 3

[Toni269]

Does anyone have a solution for tracking cell phone bills, I have multiple cell phone providers and our end users rack up the minutes. I need a way to easily keep track of their rate plans and minutes and show trending. I've tried doing some things with Excel but it's been rather messy. If anyone has a good system, I'd love to hear how you do it.

Thanks!

 

[telprog]

The cell bill should have all the calls to and from the phone,

 

[jlshelton]

Companies like Traq-Wireless (

http://www.traq.com)

have services to do this across multiple carriers, but they may only be economical if you have many phones.

If you can switch your people to a single carrier with a negotiated corporate plan, you can get your carrier to send you consolidated billing information. Perhaps you have the volume to deal with 2 such carriers.

Good luck.

 

[telprog]

It just dawned on me what you were asking and I can see that it would get messy doing it with excel, I have never heard of anything. Have you done a google search? that my point you in the right direction.

 

[Toni269]

jlshelton,

Thanks for the link, I requested a quote from traq.com, hopefully it's not too expensive. No way to get the babies in my company to agree to one provider!

Telprog, at first I thought you were trying to be a smart-a**!! Yes I did a google search before I posted and it's always better to hear your ideas because you all have so much experience to share.

Thank you!

 

[mscallisto]

I've tried doing some things with Excel but it's been rather messy

What are you using as Excel input?

Where are you having problems (what's messy)?

 

[Toni269]

In Excel I am entering in the Name of the user and the cell phone number and their Rate Plan, and then I am entering in their charges by month. Because the user name and rate plan change so often, I need a way to enter in the type of minutes they used either Night and Weekend, or Anytime minutes, and their Roaming and their Additional minutes. I want a way that I can just enter in this information and be able to tell easily who is going over or under their plan so I can call to change rate plans and stay on the most economical plan to save the company money. On my Excel sheet I'm not tracking the types of minutes they are using, just the monthly cost of their rate plan. And the results of my Excel sheet don't really help me at all.

 

[mscallisto]

That doesn't sound too complicated for the moment.

If you need some excel assistance I'll be willing to give it a try or you could post this in the "Microsoft Office" forum.

Can you post a short example of what your spreadsheet might look like along with a data sample of how the data changes and what calculations you would like to see?

Do you have a preference between excel formula's or VBA code?


Sometimes (when it's possible), it's practical to have all users on the same plan.
Our provider has a cell plan where unused minutes are transferred to users who have exceeded their minutes.

 

[Toni269]

Mscallisto,

Thank you for your more than generous offer. I would hate for you to go out of your way. I would however like to know which cell phone provider you are using that transferrs unused minutes for you. I'm using AT&T Wireless and Verizon.

Thank you again!

Toni

 

[mscallisto]

Tek-Tips doesn't go for any advertisements in this forum so e-mail stu.mills@necsam.com and I'll let you know the vendor