# Calling Rates

Outbound calls — dialed through the [phone system](/phone-system-guide/overview) with your FlyNumber as the caller ID — and call-flow forwarding to regular phone numbers both draw from your **prepaid balance**. What a given call costs depends on which of **three rate tiers** it lands in. This page explains the tier logic; the [rates page](https://www.flynumber.com/rates#voice) is the source of truth for the live per-country numbers.

## The three tiers {#tiers}

| Tier | When it applies | Example |
|---|---|---|
| **Local** | The destination is in the same country as your FlyNumber | A German FlyNumber dialing a Hamburg mobile pays Germany's domestic rate |
| **EU** | An EU or UK FlyNumber calling a destination elsewhere in the European Economic Area or the UK — one unified price list across the EEA and the UK | A Lisbon FlyNumber ringing a customer in Warsaw, or a London FlyNumber calling Dublin |
| **Standard international** | Every other combination | A US FlyNumber calling Tokyo |

The tier names map onto the **Rate tier** filter on the [rates page](https://www.flynumber.com/rates#voice): *Same-country calls* is the local tier, *EU/EEA calls* is the EU tier, and *Most calls* is standard international.

The practical takeaway: if there's a country you dial constantly, holding a FlyNumber **from that country** means your direct outbound calls there bill at its domestic rate instead of an international one — with the exceptions below.

## Exceptions {#exceptions}

- **A few destinations are always standard.** Some countries (Pakistan, for example) bill at the standard international tier no matter where your FlyNumber is from. If a destination only shows up under *Most calls* on the rates page, that's the rate that applies.
- **Forwarded calls never get the local tier.** When a call reaches your FlyNumber and a call flow forwards it out to a regular phone number, that outbound leg bills at the EU or standard tier only. The EU tier kicks in when the caller dialed in from the EEA or the UK *and* the forward destination is in the EEA or the UK — even if the FlyNumber itself sits outside Europe. Say an EEA caller reaches your Australian FlyNumber and the flow forwards to Madrid: the Spain leg bills at the EU rate. Any other combination forwards at standard international.

## How billing works {#how-billing-works}

Rates are quoted per minute but **billed by the second** on most routes — the *Billing* column on the rates page shows each route's initial/increment (`1/1` means a 1-second initial charge, then 1-second increments). Some destinations add a one-time **connect fee** per call, listed in its own column. Everything is deducted from prepaid balance as calls happen, and each deduction appears in [Transactions](https://panel.flynumber.com/billing/transactions); per-call detail lives in [Call Logs](/additional-resources/call-logs).

Toll-free FlyNumbers are the mirror image — they meter **incoming** minutes instead. That's a separate table at [rates → toll-free](https://www.flynumber.com/rates#tollfree), and [Phone System Billing](phone-system-billing.md) covers how it's charged.

## Where to look up a rate {#lookup}

- **[flynumber.com/rates#voice](https://www.flynumber.com/rates#voice)** — filter by country and tier, or search by network and prefix. No login needed.
- **[Panel → Billing → Rates](https://panel.flynumber.com/billing/rates)** — the same lookup from inside the control panel.

The tiered structure landed alongside a major price cut — many routes dropped to a fraction of their old cost. The original announcement is [Call like a local, pay like a local](https://www.flynumber.com/blog/call-like-a-local-pay-like-a-local/).