Reproducible

The telephony cost model, as code

Every telephony figure on this site comes from one function. This is that function, verbatim from the running build, with its rate card, its assumptions and worked examples.

MNAbhi ChawlaLast substantive update

Rate card

Twilio pay-as-you-go, US local. Rates vary by destination and fall with committed volume.

US local outbound, per minute$0.0140
US local inbound, per minute$0.0085
Local number, per month$1.15
Toll-free number, per month$2.15
Sourcehttps://www.twilio.com/en-us/voice/pricing/us, read 2026-09-04. See the verification log for the archive link.

Assumptions

  • Carriers bill per call rounded up to the next whole minute. Talk time per connect is therefore rounded up before multiplying.
  • A voicemail that picks up bills one full minute even if you hang up in ten seconds. Unanswered rings cost nothing. Most published calculators skip this line, which is why their estimates run low.
  • Defaults, all overridable: 5 percent connect rate, 22 percent voicemail rate, 2.5 minutes average talk time, 21 working days a month, one local number per rep.
  • The default connect and voicemail rates are editorial assumptions, chosen to sit inside the published B2B ranges on the statistics page. They are inputs, not measurements. Change them and every figure changes.
  • The model covers outbound US calling only. International rates, inbound volume, SMS and carrier fees are excluded.

The function

Rendered from the compiled source at build time, so this cannot drift from what the site actually runs.

function(a){let{reps:c,dialsPerRepPerDay:d,connectRatePct:e=5,voicemailPct:f=22,avgTalkMinutes:g=2.5,workingDays:h=21,numbersPerRep:i=1}=a,j=d*h*c,k=e/100*j,l=Math.round(f/100*j+k*Math.ceil(g)),m=l*b.perMinuteOutboundUsd,n=c*i*b.localNumberMonthlyUsd;return{dialsMonth:Math.round(j),connects:Math.round(k),minutes:l,minutesCost:Math.round(m),numbersCost:Math.round(n),total:Math.round(m+n)}}

Worked examples

Defaults as above. Reproduce any row by hand from the rate card.

ScenarioDials / monthConnectsBillable minutesMinutes costNumbersTelephony total
One rep, 120 dials a day2,520126932$13$1$14
Three reps, 150 dials a day each9,4504733,497$49$3$52
Five reps, 150 dials a day each15,7507885,828$82$6$87
Ten reps, 150 dials a day each31,5001,57511,655$163$12$175

The break-even against a bundled unlimited seat is the seat price divided by the per-minute rate: a $140 seat (PhoneBurner Standard) breaks even at 10,000 billable minutes a month. Software cost is added separately on each page from the dataset.