# Overview of the Billing System Something very important to understand about Verizon's billing system is that *all plans, services, and most discounts are billed a month in advance*. For every invoice (or bill from Verizon), the time period that plans, services, and most discounts are covering is for the next billing cycle, not the current one. > [!example] Example of how plans are billed on an invoice > Let's say, your billing cycle goes from the 24th to the 23rd of every month. If you were to look at your current bill on, say, February 10th, you will see that every plan, service, and most discounts apply to your next billing cycle from February 24th to March 23rd. Another thing to note is that *adjustments and one-time charges/credits, especially ones related to usage, are billed in arrears*. Whenever an adjustment or charge/credit is applied to an account, it will appear on the invoice for the next billing cycle and not the billing cycle in which it was applied. The next invoice usually generates a couple of days after the first day of a billing cycle. So, you will typically see these a couple of days after the start of your next billing cycle. > [!example] Example of a one-time charge being billed in arrears > Let's use the same billing cycle as before. If you made an international long distance call on February 19th, you won't see that charge on the invoice from January 24th to February 23rd. You'll see the charge on your invoice from February 24th to March 23rd. Why does the billing system work in this way? Think about what would happen if your current invoice or account balance fluctuated in real time with adjustments and/or one-time charges and credits as they were applied. Every time you'd make a payment to cover your account's balance, there's a possibility that an adjustment or one-time charge could be applied after which causes you to need to make another payment to cover it. You could end up making multiple payments a month just to ensure your account was paid in full by the end of the billing cycle. Having your account paid in full is important as any remaining account balance eventually becomes past due and leaves you vulnerable to disruptions in your service, cancellation of your AutoPay (due to non-payment), not being able to sign up for AutoPay again (having an APO restriction placed on your account), and more. Given those important details above, I cannot stress this next important fact enough: the total cost of the next bill after making any kind of change to a Verizon account is most likely not going to be the monthly cost of the bill going forward. Making changes to discounts, promotions, plans, and services on any part of a Verizon account are going to cause one-time adjustments as described previously. We usually refer to them as *proration*. It's a nebulous term to describe all of these one-time adjustments. # Effects of Different Changes ## Changes To Plans What happens when you change a plan on a Verizon account? > [!example] > **Scenario:** Let's say someone's billing cycle goes from the 7th to the 6th of every month. Specifically, this example occurs between January 7th and February 6th. > > **Before The Change:** Their plan is Business Unlimited for $45 per month. They were already billed the cost of the plan on their *previous invoice* because *all plans and services are billed a month in advance.* > > **The Change:** On February 1st, the plan is changed to Business Unlimited Pro for $85 per month. > > **One-Time Adjustments:** There are 6 days between February 1st and February 6th. Those 6 days were originally billed under the Business Unlimited plan for $45 on the last invoice. Since the plan was changed, however, that is no longer the case. Those 6 days worth of service under the old plan need to be refunded as an adjustment/one-time credit because the plan is no longer going to apply for those 6 days. Remember that *adjustments and one-time charges/credits are billed in arrears*, meaning this refund is going to appear on the invoice for the next billing cycle and not this current one. > > The new Business Unlimited Pro plan starts on February 1st and is assumed to continue until the end of the billing cycle. So, a partial charge for it between February 1st and February 6th is billed since the old plan is now being refunded. Remember that *adjustments and one-time charges/credits are billed in arrears*, meaning this partial charge is going to appear on the invoice for the next billing cycle and not this current one. > > For every plan or service on the bill, there is going to be a full charge for it that covers the upcoming billing cycle because *all plans, services, and most discounts are billed a month in advance*. In this case, the next bill is going to have a full charge for the Business Unlimited Pro plan because that is the one which this line will be signed up to going forward. > > **After The Change:** > The charges for the line would look something like this on the next invoice for the upcoming billing cycle: > * -$8.71 - Refund for the 6 days on the original Business Unlimited plan. > * $16.45 - Partial charge for the 6 days on the new Business Unlimited Pro plan. > * $85 - Full charge for the following billing cycle on the new Business Unlimited Pro plan. > * $92.74 - Total cost for the line's plan on this invoice (not accounting for state imposed telecom charges and Verizon surcharges as those are dependent on location and are hard to predict). # FAQ ## Does proration charge you more than what you're supposed to pay? No. All proration does is adjust your next bill to account for changes which were already billed and to prepare you for your new monthly rate going forward. It's a phenomenon that happens due to the way that the billing system works. > [!note] > There is one situation I've encountered where proration charged more than what was supposed to be paid, however it wasn't the billing system's fault. > > I had a customer who signed up for 5G Home Internet. A couple days later, they called into Customer Service because his equipment seemed to be defective. Instead of switching the defective equipment with new equipment on the same line of service (where proration doesn't apply), Customer Service added a new line of service in the middle of his billing cycle and disconnected the old line of service (where proration does apply in both circumstances). > > Normally, assuming that both lines of service cost the same amount, adding one and disconnecting the other would cause the one-time adjustments (proration) to cancel each other out. In this case, however, the disconnection did not cause a partial refund for the service because 5G Home Internet isn't even charged if it's cancelled in the same billing cycle. To resolve this, I just had to get his account balance credited manually by Customer Service.