These are features that can be applied to your phone service. This is usually used for outbound long distance calls. ID Codes and Accounting Codes work almost the same. Before you are able to dial a long distance number, you need to dial an Accounting Code or ID Code first. These are just 4-5 digit codes that sort of works like a password so you could gain access to a long distance dial tone. How do these 2 differ?
Accounting codes are usually composed of 5 digits. Let’s say you’re in California and you need to call someone in New York. If your phone service has active Accounting codes, you need to press that 5 digit code first before you get another dial tone where you can now dial the telephone number of your contact in New York. There is a drawback though. If you have accounting codes active, you can actually press any 4 or 5-digit (depending on your setup) number to call a long distance number.
You’re probably wondering what the use of Accounting codes is if it’s not that secure and anyone could use it. If you have a small office or just at home, you can assign codes. Let’s say the dad uses code 11111 and the mom uses 22222. They would assign 33333 and 44444 to the 2 kids. When the phone bill comes out, you could see all the dialed numbers by accounting code. It will be conveniently separated on the bill. This means that you can easily find out who made that call.
But it didn’t answer the question completely right? Well, accounting codes are cheaper than ID codes (you’ll know why after this). If you have this feature, just tell them their codes and don’t tell them how it works and that they can press any code they want. If they miss a number, it could be near their code. Let’s say one of the kids dialed 33332. You’ll know it’s the first kid since it’s near the actual code you gave him/her and you’ll see it on the bill and you’ll know that he/she made that call. The kid may not notice that he/she pressed a wrong code since it worked. If you have a small office, you can use this as well.
Now for the ID Codes, the reason why it’s more expensive is that the code is specific to one user only. You can’t just press any code like in Accounting Codes. This time, you need to specifically designate a number to someone. This is much secure since if you gave ID codes to authorized users only, any other person won’t be able to dial long distance. If you encounter an issue with a code, you will know who did it immediately so ask your employee or whomever you gave an ID code to be careful not to tell it to anyone since if a sensitive call is traced to that ID code, the owner would be liable. You can add, delete or assign codes by calling your phone service provider.
So as you can see, if you want to bill individuals, these are the features that you’d want. You’ll know who to bill and how much each would pay. It should be clearly separated on your bill.
Also, if you’d ask me if there are there any limits, well it depends on the phone company. If the phone company says that you need to pay $20 for every set of 50 ID codes, you would have to pay $40 if you have 52 codes. Accounting codes would be much cheaper. Take note that these prices are just examples.
So, study well which of these 2 features you need on your phone. Also check whether you need codes at all (you probably don’t need them if you’re alone). Remember that these features are mainly for security and for billing purposes and may not be applicable for some. The number of digits or combinations may differ from one phone service provider to another.
