- published: 09 Mar 2015
- views: 1227
A flat fee, also referred to as a flat rate or a linear rate, refers to a pricing structure that charges a single fixed fee for a service, regardless of usage. Rarely, it may refer to a rate that does not vary with usage or time of use. Another term used is "flate", a hybrid of "flat" and "rate".
American Telecommunications companies commonly offer a flat rate to residential customers for local telephone calls. However, a regular rate or Message Rate is advantageous for those who only make a few short calls per month. Flat rates were rare outside the USA and Canada until about 2005, but have since become widespread in Europe for both local and long distance calls and are now also available for mobile phone services, both for traditional GSM/UMTS voice calls and for Mobile VoIP.
Most VoIP services are effectively flat-rate telephony services, since only the broadband internet fees must be paid for PC-to-PC calls, and the calls themselves are free. Some PC-to-telephone services, such as SkypeOut offer flat rates for national calls to landlines.
flat commonly refers to:
Flat or flats may also refer to:
A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup.
Traditionally, professionals in Great Britain received a fee in contradistinction to a payment, salary, or wage, and would often use guineas rather than pounds as units of account. Under the feudal system, a Knight's fee was what was given to a knight for his service, usually the usage of land.
A contingent fee is an attorney's fee which is reduced or not charged at all if the court case is lost by the attorney.
A service fee, service charge, or surcharge is a fee added to a customer's bill. The purpose of a service charge often depends on the nature of the product and corresponding service provided. Examples of why this fee is charged are: travel time expenses, truck rental fees, liability and workers' compensation insurance fees, and planning fees. UPS and FedEx have recently begun surcharges for fuel.
Restaurants and banquet halls charging service charges in lieu of tips must distribute them to their wait staff in some US states (e.g., Massachusetts, New York, Montana), but in the State of Kentucky may keep them.