rate.conf(5)							   isdnlog 4.71 						      rate.conf(5)

NAME

       /etc/isdn/rate.conf - rate and provider configuration

DESCRIPTION

       isdnlog	and  related programs like isdnrep or isdnrate obtain the information about telephone rates or fees from a rate-file.  In addition
       to the general data from the rate-file it is necessary to provide information about the individual situation.  This is the purpose  of  the
       configuration file rate.conf.

       Words  below  consisting  of  uppercase	letters  like  RATEFILE  refer	to  the so named setting in the general isdnlog configuration file
       /etc/isdn/isdn.conf.

   General Concepts
       The rate-file contains one or more providers for a country.  A provider covers an offer of a telephone company.	Usually there are now many
       telephone companies in a country and most companies offer several different price lists.

       A  provider is identified by provider number and provider variant or sub number.  The provider number, short pnum, is commonly used for all
       offers of one company.  The provider variant, short var, is used to number these offers starting from 0.  A specific provider is referenced
       as pnum,var or pnum_var depending on the context.

       VBN  contains  the shared leading digits of the carrier selection prefixes.  The entire prefix for a provider is specified in the rate-file
       by the B: tag.  In Germany the carrier selection prefix begins with 010 followed by two or three digits which make the pnum ranging from 10
       to 199.	A mapping like this is not required but common.

       The  overall  format  of rate.conf is similar to the rate-file, lines starting with tags P:, X:, or Q: may occur in any order and quantity.
       (Of course, the resulting configuration should make sense.)

   Provider Booking
       P:pnum=var

       Mark the provider specified by pnum and var as booked or active.  Only booked providers are taken into account when  isdnlog  computes  the
       connection costs.  Booking also tells isdnlog the provider variant to use if there are more than one.

       Beside  computation of real connections booking also splits the providers in two groups: the booked ones that are available at the specific
       subscriber line at the not booked ones that are less important for price comparison.

       One provider in booked group is declared the default provider by setting PRESELECTED to its pnum.  This provider is assumed to be used if a
       connection is made without a carrier selection prefix and no exceptions matching.

   Exceptions to Provider Selection
       X:number=pnum
       X:number=pnumzzone

       Connections to number will be assigned the booked provider with pnum as provider number regardless of a dialed provider selection prefix or
       the PRESELECTED setting.  zone if present replaces the normal zone selection based on destination codes.  Exceptions can also be  given	in
       the rate-file.

       In rate.conf exceptions may become necessary if there different preselected providers for local and distance calls for example or if prese-
       lection does not apply generally, e.g. not for connections to special numbers.

   Provider Skipping
       At least for some countries there are universal rate-files distributed with isdnlog or provided elsewhere.  In this case it is desirable to
       keep the rate-file unmodified so that updates require no further changes beyond installing the new rate-file.  If a rate-file aims to cover
       the telephone market in an entire nation there will be always providers in it which are not  available  or  not	suitable  for  a  specific
       installation.  Such providers can be disabled by not booking them but they remain present and may be displayed as overall cheapest provider
       or the like.

       Provider skipping completely ignores selected, so called skipped providers, from the rate-file.	To be more precise, the effect of  skipped
       provider could also be achieved by deleting its lines starting from its P: tag to the last line before the P: tag of the next provider from
       the rate-file.

       Providers to skip can also be configured in the parameter file of isdnlog using the syntax described below in a line  starting  with  skip-
       Prov= instead of Q:.

       Q:[!|~]list

       list   := range[;list]

       range  := (*|prov|prov-|-prov|prov-prov)[!|~]

       prov   := pnum[,var]

       Skipping applies to all providers that are matched by a given range.  If var is missing, all providers with pnum are skipped.

       * matches all providers.

       Booked providers are not skipped unless !  is given at end of the range or in front of the entire list where it applies to whole line.

       The ~ can be given alternatively to !.  Providers that match such a range are not skipped under any circumstances.

       Space can occur anywhere in the line after Q:.

       Example:
       Q:*; 13,1~; 33-33,1~; 200-299!; 321-323!

       This skips all not booked providers except 13_1, 33_0, and 33_1.  Additionally all providers with a pnum between 200 and 299 or 321 and 323
       are skipped.

FILES

       /etc/isdn/rate.conf
	      This file.  RATECONF may be used to specify an alternative rate and provider configuration file.

       /usr/lib/isdn/rate-CC.dat
	      The rate-file for your country.  Replace CC with your two letter country code, e.g.  de for Germany.  RATEFILE defines the rate-file
	      to use.

AUTHOR

       Tobias Becker <tobiasb@isdn4linux.de>

SEE ALSO

       isdnlog(8) rate-files(5) isdn.conf(5)

ISDN 4 Linux 3.13						    2007/01/05							      rate.conf(5)