Minutes PLUS

Usage/Billing Tracker and Estimation tool for Kyocera and Treo SmartPhones

Version 1.00

Web: http://home.triad.rr.com/rlwhitt/palm
Email: rlwhitt-palm@triad.rr.com
Online Support: Yahoo Minutes Plus Group

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and troubleshooting information PLEASE, if you don't read anything else, at least read the FAQ before sending that email for support! Over half the questions I ever received for Minute Counter are answered in this small FAQ, and they apply just as well to Minutes PLUS.

Release Notes

System Requirements

Palm OS 3.5 or later
Kyocera SmartPhone 6035 or 7135, Handspring Treo (some features not supported! See below)
105 Kb Memory used for the base application, plus data files

Donating via Paypal

Minutes PLUS is not crippled or limited in any way. If you feel like this program is worthy of your financial support I have included a button below preconfigured for a $10.00 donation. PLEASE use this program until you are SURE it is working as you expect and feel it's worth paying for!

Installation

MinutesPLUS.prc is the only required file to install on your smartphone. When it runs the first time, it will create a default screen layout and all needed default databases.

If your downloaded archive contains any files with a .PDB extension, these are alternate screen layout files. If such files exist, there will also be a Screens.txt file to describe what the layouts are. To use any layout file, you MUST rename it to "rwMP_ScreenEditor.pdb" and install it.

IMPORTANT! Do not attempt to load and run Minutes PLUS from the SD card. Doing so will disable several features such as Alerts, SMS Tracking, 3G Minutes Tracking and Roaming call tracking!

Upgrading From the Minute Counter Program

If you already have any version of the Minute Counter installed on your device, Minutes PLUS will automatically find it and copy your Preferences and Phone Number Exclusion data. Minutes PLUS is a completely separate application - installing it will NOT delete Minute Counter or its data. Once Minutes PLUS is installed, any changes in setup in either program will NOT be reflected in the other. Once you are satisfied that Minutes PLUS is operating correctly for you, you may want to delete Minute Counter. Do this with the standard Applications Manager Delete function or the application delete function of your 3rd party application launcher, if you have one. It is best not to use a file manager such as Filez to delete applications, because most of them will not delete the associated databases and preference records.

Basic Overview

Minutes PLUS is a powerful tool to monitor and estimate phone usage and provide useful calling pattern statistics. Users familiar with the previous version called Minute Counter will recognize some features, but Minutes PLUS has so much more!

An overview of the major features (IMPORTANT! Treo users note the features that are only available on Kyocera phones):

Completely configurable to match most carriers' calling plans
User definable screens with dozens of fields of calculated data available to put in any arrangement you like.
Track minutes used and overage costs for Peak, OffPeak, Weekend, Data, Roaming, and Mobile to Mobile (single number or group).
Track high speed "3G" data if your carrier counts this type of data as Minutes. (Kyocera 7135 ONLY)
Track SMS (Text Messages), both incoming and outgoing. (Kyocera phones ONLY)
Exclude calls to "free" numbers.
Estimate period-end usage and costs.
Accounts for Holidays, can add common US and Canadian holidays automatically.
Can handle carriers that "split" calls between peak and off-peak.
Calculate calling statistics for any number of individual phone numbers or Address Book categories, export the results.
Set up Alarms to alert you when you are getting close to your category limits (Kyocera only).
Adjustments screen to account for other phones' usage in multi-phone share plans and other discrepancies
Beam your minutes for any period to other Smartphone users' shared adjustments. This way, 2 or more Palm phones on a shared minutes plan can keep a more accurate tally of the entire plan's usage.
View any previous period's data as far back as the call history has records.
Show statistics for all the call history data stored on the device.
Export any period's call history into ASCII format suitable for importing into desktop applications. Uses Memo application records for the transfer of this data to the desktop.
Override the maximum number call records kept beyond what the Call History application allows.
Configurable colors and fonts (where supported by hardware).
Imports preferences and data from Minute Counter, if installed.

Important! 3G Minutes and SMS will only be tracked AFTER Minutes Plus is installed. Plus, these are Kyocera-only features!

Minutes PLUS data display screens (10 in all) can be totally customized by the user. This capability will be described in detail further on in this document.

Shown here are a sample of the Main page and the first Detail page as they appear when you first install Minutes PLUS. The default page definitions are set up to mimic the display of Minute Counter as closely as possible. You can of course change this!

Navigation between the display pages is done by pressing the Up and Down scroll buttons or the Up and Down direction of the Treo Jog Dial. An "M" displays at the top of the page when you are viewing the Main page, and a number from 1 to 9 indicates a detail page. Only pages that you have items defined for will be shown in the rotation. Pressing the Treo Jog button will go to the Main screen.

At the top right of the screen is an indication of the billing period you are viewing. This is usually the Current period, indicated by the text "Curr" followed by a number in parentheses. This is the number of days remaining in the current period, inclusive of today and the last day of the period. You can see data for a prior period by tapping the left-pointing arrow. The indicator will change to show the Month in which that period started. There will also be a right-pointing arrow to allow you to navigate forward a period. In this way you can go back and forth among all months for which you have data. On the Kyocera 7135, you can also press the Down volume button on the side of the phone to go back a period, or the Up button to advance a period. ESTIMATE type data will NOT be calculated for a period other the current one. Minutes PLUS will always reset itself to the current period any time you switch away to another app and come back, or close and re-open the flip on the Kyocera phones.

Progression of Categorization

There are quite a few preferences that have control over how your minutes are categorized. So many in fact, that it can become confusing to determine exactly how things are going to be categorized. Considering this, here is an ordered list of how things get done:

If you have selected the option to track Roaming minutes, this is checked first. Further, if you have NOT selected the option to deduct roaming minutes from the other buckets and the call is indeed a Roaming call, the categorization stops here. This is the way many carriers handle Roaming calls - they do not count toward regular plan minutes.
Next, if the call matches the phone number of one of the FREE type entries in the Preferences:M2M/Free list, it is counted as free and no further categorization is considered.
If you have elected to consider Mobile to Mobile (M2M) calls BEFORE Off-Peak categories, the M2M entries are searched next. If the M2M buckets are not unlimited, this step may be skipped if you have already reached your M2M limit, in which case the call is considered in the normal categories. This step is also skipped if you have entered times in the "NOT Valid " section of the M2M screen and the call fell within these times (on weekdays only).
If the call has not matched so far, and you have elected to count separate Weekends, this is checked. If you have selected Split Calls (actually it is rare for a carrier to split calls), the time may in fact be split between Peak and Weekend if the call straddles a time boundary.
If not a Weekend Call, and you have EITHER Weekend or Off-Peak options selected, the Holiday list if checked. If the call falls on a listed Holiday, it is categorized as Off-Peak or Weekend, whichever one you have selected to use.
Next, Off-Peak is considered, if you have selected that option. Again, calls may be split if you have selected that option.
If you have NOT elected to consider M2M calls before off-peak, then this must be checked now, instead of in step 3.
Finally, if the call has not been categorized as any of the above, it gets put into Peak minutes.
After the categorization is done, and your Off-Peak or WeekEnd buckets are not unlimited, the call may be re-categorized as Peak if it would go over the limit.
The time is rounded up to the nearest minute and totaled to the appropriate counter. If there is a Split call involved, both parts will be rounded. First Incoming Minute Free and Add Seconds to Each Call will be applied as well, and in the case of Split calls, only to the first part. If the call was a Data type call, and you have selected the option to Separate Data Minutes, then the call is NOT counted in any other category.
Once all the calls are categorized and counted, any adjustments that you have entered in preferences are applied, Costs and Period Ending Estimates are calculated, and the display is updated.

Screen Editing

Minutes PLUS includes a powerful WYSIWYG screen editor. If the standard field selection and layout of the display screens does not suit your needs, you can change them to look however you like. Minutes PLUS can display a Main screen plus up to nine (9) additional screens with additional data. You can choose to put as much as possible onto the Main screen, or spread things out over multiple detail screens, keeping only the highlights on the Main screen. Many additional fields have been added beyond the basic set offered in Minute Counter. These will be described below.

This is an example of how the Screen Editor might look if you were working on the default Main screen layout:

At the top is a selection popup list from which you can select which screen you want to work on, Main or Detail 1 - 9. The Done button exits the screen editor and returns to whatever screen you were viewing prior to calling the editor. The editor will start in whichever screen you were viewing when you selected it from the main menu.

All items that can be created to display on a screen are shown as Palm trigger type fields and show with a dotted box around them. These dotted boxes will not show when the screens are displaying data, so any minor overlap you see in the example here will not be a problem while in display mode.

You may observe that when you are editing a screen that has a lot of fields, one or more of the labels may be corrupted. This is a known bug in the Palm OS when using dynamically created fields on a screen such as this. Rest assured that the text is properly stored in the database, and will render correctly in data display mode.

While editing a screen, you can carry out the following actions:

Action How to do it

Add an Item
Tap anywhere on an open section of the screen to create a new item at that point. You will see a dialog similar to this one:

The dialog allows you to select one of three (3) types of items to place on your screen. Detail for that type of item only will show to allow you to further refine your choice. For Field and Label types, you can select the Font to be applied. This is bold by default for Fields, standard for Label - but you can override this. If you have a color capable device, you can select the Color of any of the item types if you wish to override the system-wide default for color of screen items. Tap on the color sample to call up a color picker dialog. If you select the LAST black block on the resulting color picker, that signifies that the system default color is to be used. Any other color selected (including the other black ones) will be used instead only for the item being added. Finally, for Field type items, you can elect to Right Justify the resuting data if you prefer such an alignment. Tap OK to add the item or Cancel to dismiss the dialog without adding the item. More details for Fields, Labels, and Lines are given below.

Edit or Delete an Item
Tapping on an existing item without dragging it calls up a dialog similar to the one for adding items, except that only the fields that apply are shown. Make any desired changes and tap OK to save.

Also appearing on the Edit dialog is a Delete button. Tap this to remove the item from your screen design entirely.

Move an Item Tap an item and DRAG it before letting up on the stylus. This will move the item to another location. Exactly where the item ends up depends upon how you have the option to "Snap to Grid" set up, which is described in the Menu section below.

Field Type Items

The dialog for picking a Field Type looks something like the one at the left when you've tapped the popup list of available field types.

Below is a table of the available types and some information about their calculation. Unless otherwise specified, all calculations are based on the currently viewed billing period. Unless otherwise specified, all minute totals reflect rounding every individual call up to the nearest whole minute.

Field Type Details

Peak Total Total number of minutes used for all types of calls during Peak hours. If you are not using any kind of off-peak or weekend minutes plan, this will represent your only (anytime) minute total.

Peak Plan Allowance The number of Peak period minutes included in your calling plan.

Peak Remaining Number of Peak period minutes remaining to be used for the period before you start paying per minute overage fees.

Peak Estimate Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many Peak minutes you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. Note that this item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.

Peak % Used Percentage of the Peak Allowance used so far in the period.

Peak Total # Calls Total number of calls of all types made during the Peak (or anytime) period.

Peak In Calls Total number of Incoming calls received during the Peak period.

Peak Out Calls Total number of Outgoing calls made during the Peak period.

Peak Data Calls Total number of Data calls made during the Peak period.  This applies ONLY to circuit-switched data calls, the kind that uses minutes. If you use a plan with packet data that is billed by the Kilobyte or Megabyte (Sprint Vision or Verizon Express, etc), this figure does not apply.

Peak Other Calls Total number of calls made or received during the Peak period that were categorized as Missed or of unknown type.

Peak In Minutes Total number of Incoming minutes for the Peak period.

Peak Out Minutes Total number of Outgoing minutes for the Peak period.

Peak Data Minutes Total number of Data minutes for the Peak period (circuit switched).

Peak Other Minutes Total number of Other minutes for the Peak period.

Off-Peak Total Total number of minutes used for all types of calls during Off-Peak hours, if you have the option selected in Preferences to separate off-peak

Off-Peak Plan Allowance The number of Off-Peak period minutes included in your calling plan.

Off-Peak Remaining Number of Off-Peak period minutes remaining to be used for the period.

Off-Peak Estimate Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many Off-Peak minutes you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. Note that this item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.

Off-Peak % Used Percentage of the Off-Peak Allowance used so far in the period, IF there is an Off-Peak Plan Allowance entered.

Off-Peak Total # Calls Total number of calls of all types made during the Off-Peak period.

Off-Peak In Calls Total number of Incoming calls received during the Off-Peak period.

Off-Peak Out Calls Total number of Outgoing calls made during the Off-Peak period.

Off-Peak Data Calls Total number of Data calls made during the Off-Peak period  (circuit-switched only).

Off-Peak Other Calls Total number of calls made or received during the Off-Peak period that were categorized as Missed or of unknown type.

Off-Peak In Minutes Total number of Incoming minutes for the Off-Peak period.

Off-Peak Out Minutes Total number of Outgoing minutes for the Off-Peak period.

Off-Peak Data Minutes Total number of Data minutes for the Off-Peak period (circuit switched).

Off-Peak Other Minutes Total number of Other minutes for the Off-Peak period.

M2M Total Total number of minutes To or From any numbers in your Mobile to Mobile (M2M) list. Single Number M2M calls are counted separately below.

M2M Plan Allowance The number of M2M minutes (for all numbers) included in your calling plan.

M2M Remaining Number of M2M minutes remaining to be used for the period.

M2M Estimate Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many M2M minutes you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage.  This item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.

M2M % Used Percentage of the M2M Allowance used so far in the period, IF there is a M2M Plan Allowance entered.

M2M # Calls Total number of calls To or From any numbers in your Mobile to Mobile (M2M) list.

M2M (Single) Total This item and the next 5 mirror the general M2M items above except these apply to any Single Number you have entered. Calls to and from this single number are considered separately and have their own plan allowance (which may be unlimited).

M2M (Single) Plan See above.

M2M (Single) Remaining See above.

M2M (Single) Estimate See above.

M2M (Single) % Used See above.

M2M (Single) # Calls See above.

Free Total Total number of minutes To or From any numbers in your FREE list.

Free # Calls Total number of calls To or From any numbers in your FREE list.

Holiday # Calls Total number of calls made on a Holiday that were thus recategorized to an off peak period.

Holiday Total Total number of minutes made on a Holiday that were thus recategorized to an off peak period.

OffPeak Overage to Peak Number of minutes that would have been Weekend or Off-Peak but exceeded the plan allowance for that category and were thus recategorized to Peak.

Split Calls (#) Number of calls that spanned a Peak/Off-Peak (or Peak/Weekend) boundary and were thus Split into a Peak part and an Off-Peak part. This can only occur if you have selected the Split Calls option.

Weekend Total Total number of minutes used for all types of calls during Weekend hours, if you have the option selected in Preferences to separate Weekend.

Weekend Plan Allowance The number of Weekend minutes included in your calling plan.

Weekend Remaining Number of Weekend minutes remaining to be used for the period.

Weekend Estimate Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many Weekend minutes you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. Note that this item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.

Weekend % Used Percentage of the Weekend Allowance used so far in the period, IF there is a Weekend Plan Allowance entered.

Weekend # Calls Total number of calls of all types made during the Weekend period.

Data Total Total number of minutes used for Data (circuit switched) type calls, if you have the option selected in Preferences to separate Data.

Data Plan Allowance The number of Data minutes included in your calling plan.

Data Remaining Number of Data minutes remaining to be used for the period.

Data Estimate Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many Data minutes you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. Note that this item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.

Data % Used Percentage of the Data Allowance used so far in the period, IF there is a separate Data Plan Allowance entered.

Data Total # Calls Total number of Data calls made during the period.

SMS # Msgs Total Total number of SMS (Text) messages sent and received.

SMS # Msgs In Number of SMS messages received.

SMS # Msgs Out Number of SMS messages sent.

SMS # Msgs Plan Number of SMS messages allowed on your plan before incurring per message costs.

SMS # Msgs Remaining Number of SMS messages remaining to be used in your allowance.

SMS # Msgs, Estimate Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many SMS messages you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. Note that this item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.

Roam Total Total number of Roaming minutes of any type.

Roam Total # Calls Total number of Roaming calls of any type.

Roam Digital Minutes Number of Digital Roaming minutes.

Roam Digital Calls Number of Digital Roaming calls.

Roam Analog Minutes Number of Analog Roaming minutes.

Roam Analog Calls Number of Analog Roaming calls.

Total Cost Total cost accumulated so far in the billing period. This would include the plan base cost plus any overages generated thus far.

Base Plan Cost Fixed cost of your plan, as entered in the Costs Preference page.

Minute Overage Cost Cost of all Peak minutes over the plan allotment. You must have a per minute cost entered in preferences for this category.

Digital Roam Cost Cost of all Digital Roaming minutes.. You must have a per minute cost entered in preferences for this category.

Analog Roam Cost Cost of all Analog Roaming minutes.. You must have a per minute cost entered in preferences for this category.

Data Overage Cost Cost of all Data minutes over the plan allotment. You must have a per minute cost entered in preferences for this category.

SMS Overage Cost Cost of all SMS (Text) messages over the plan allotment. You must have a per message cost entered in preferences for both incoming and outgoing messages.

Estimated Total Cost Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated total cost at the end of the period. This would include the plan base cost plus any estimated overages.

Est Minute Overage Cost Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated cost of Peak minute overages at the end of the period.

Est Digital Roam Cost Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated cost of Digital Roaming minutes at the end of the period.

Est Analog Roam Cost Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated cost of Analog Roaming minutes at the end of the period.

Est Data Overage Cost Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated cost of Data minutes at the end of the period.

Est SMS Overage Cost Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated cost of SMS messages at the end of the period.

Rounding Minutes Wasted This the total number of minutes worth of time that your carrier is stealing from you via their fabulous practice of rounding up to the next whole minute. Each time a rounding up is done on a call, the number of seconds lost is accumulated. this number is that total, to the nearest tenth of a minute.

3G Data Minutes Total Total number of minutes occurring in any time period as a result of billable 3G Packet data calls when billed by the minute. This includes all active sessions and any billable portion of dormant sessions. Note: 3G minutes are NOT  separate category! They are categorized along with other data and also as Peak or Off-Peak in the normal manner. This and other 3G categories are provided as extra information for your convenience.

3G Minutes, Active Number of Active minutes occurring in any time period as a result of 3G Packet data calls when billed by the minute.

3G Minutes, Dormant Number of billable Dormant minutes occurring in any time period as a result of 3G Packet data calls when billed by the minute.

3G Minutes, Peak Number of the 3G data minutes that were categorized as Peak.

3G Minutes, OffPeak Number of the 3G data minutes that were categorized as anything other than Peak.

% of Period Elapsed Percentage of the current period that has elapsed. By definition, prior periods will display 100. This field could be shown on a screen along with one or more of the other "% Used" fields to get a quick idea how you are doing on minute consumption.

Label Type Items

For Label items, enter up to 25 characters in the field given. If you need a label larger than 25 characters, just place 2 labels end to end. The button with the question mark pops up a lookup list of a few common label strings. Font is standard by default for labels, though you can turn change this. Be aware that bold and large texts are much larger than standard so you will not be able to create labels that are as long.

Line Type Items

For Line types, enter the length from 2 to 40. This length is the number of "dash" characters used to draw a simulated line object in the editor. When the screen is actually displayed, a "real" line will be drawn roughly the same length.

Screen Editor Menu

The Editor menu has the following choices:

Menu Choice Description

Toggle Snap To Grid To make it easier to align objects with each other, the Editor can force objects that are being added or moved to align themselves with a grid of horizontal and vertical lines. You can turn this off to be able to place objects precisely where you want them.

Toggle Grid Display If you want to actually see the alignment grid you can toggle it on. The grid lines will appear as dim gray lines. Note that when moving items around with the grid lines turned on, the screen refresh will be quite a bit slower, since the grid lines have to be redrawn thus causing all the fields to be redrawn on top. With the grid lines off, only those fields in contact with the moving field need to be redrawn.

Grid Size... Brings up a small dialog where you can select the grid size, from 4 to 20 pixels. Smaller grid sizes may make precise placement easier. Be aware that the slow refresh problem mentioned above is even worse for smaller grids (more lines to draw at each field movement).

Clear Screen This will delete ALL the items on the current screen and remove them permanently from the screen definition database.

Reset To Original This will remove ALL items from either the Current or ALL screens (user choice) and replace them with the "factory" original defaults that were created when you first installed the program.

Move Current Screen

Allows you to swap the current screen's position with one of the other screens. A Dialog box will prompt you to select one of the other positions to swap with.

Editor Instructions Shows some brief instructions.

IMPORTANT: Your screen layout is saved in a file called "rwMP_ScreenEditor.pdb". This file is created with the backup bit set, so it will be backed up to the Palm Desktop backup directory. Therefore, if you ever make a serious mess of your layout and want to get back to the version as of your last hotsync, you can select this file in the install tool and reinstall it. Likewise, it will be restored for you if you have to do a hard reset and re-sync everything. Lastly, you could even share your screen designs with others!

Preferences/Setup

There are a number of Preference pages available to setup every aspect of how Minutes PLUS operates. These are accessed from the main screen menu. Each Preference page has a popup list at the top which you can use to choose which page you need to edit. All screens have an OK button to return to the main screen. The data display screen will be refreshed when you leave preferences, so any changes you make will be reflected automatically. Note that some of the screens below have option combinations shown that would probably not reflect reality. This was done so all the available fields could be shown on the screen shots.

Main Preferences

This is where you will select your billing period start date and time. Once you have this set, you will not need to touch it again, as Minutes PLUS always resets it to the next month when the current period expires.

Next enter the number of minutes in your plan that apply to the Peak period, or if your plan does not use OffPeak or Weekend options, this is the number of minutes for any time of day and any day of the week.

The "Add Seconds to Each Call" field is an advanced option that you will probably not need. My observation with the Kyocera phone has been that the time recorded in the Call History log accurately reflects the seconds that the carrier records. If you compare the call times on your bill to the History log and see that the carrier is charging an extra few seconds, it may be that they are charging you for the time after the phone dials and is waiting for an answer. Adding a few seconds here in this case may make your totals a little more accurate. Note that this only applies to Outbound calls.

The next option allows you to tell Minutes PLUS whether any of your incoming calls are free. Select "First Minute" if your plan excludes first incoming minutes, select "All" if NONE of your incoming calls are charged, else select "None".

If your carrier charges you for Roaming calls you will want to check the next box. Minutes PLUS must do extra work after each call on the Kyocera phones to record roaming data, thus this is optional. The following checkbox would be checked ONLY if your carrier considers Roaming minutes to count against normal plan minute buckets - most do not.

IMPORTANT - Be aware that the smartphone's roaming indicator will show any time the phone is outside your home network. Depending on your plan, you may not be charged for these minutes. Examples would be Verizon's America's Choice and One Rate plans. Minutes PLUS registers a roaming minute based on this roaming indicator. So, unless you are being charged for most or all of these minutes, turning on this tracking option will actually cause your totals to be WAY off. An alternative would be to track them but check the option to deduct from buckets. At least then your normal buckets would reflect your plan plus you get a side count of minutes used off the primary network just in case you're interested.

Off-Peak Preferences

On this screen you tell Minutes PLUS if your plan tracks either Off Peak or Weekend minutes as a separate category, and the plan allowances for each (0 = Unlimited). Note that both are shown enabled in this screen shot - in the real world this would be an either/or situation. If you have Off-Peak checked, calls falling on the weekends are considered to be off peak.

You must enter the start and end time of the PEAK period on this screen. It defaults to 7am to 9pm, which is typical of most carriers. If you need to change it just tap anywhere on the dotted box to select a new time.

The "Split calls..." option is very rare. Most carriers consider the ENTIRE call to have taken place in the period in which it started. But in some cases a carrier will split the call that spans the time boundary into a Peak part and an Off-peak (or Weekend) part. Check this box if you have such a plan.

Data Preferences

This preferences screen controls how your Data usage is tracked.

The first two fields control whether to track data minutes as a separate category, not counted against Peak, Offpeak, etc. Data minutes is the plan allowance for this (0 = Unlimited). Normally this is not the case.

The next series of fields are used if your carrier tracks your packet data usage by the minute instead of by the KB. Verizon has such an option for Express Net. If the Track Packet Data checkbox is checked, the remainder of the fields become available - these are to tell Minutes PLUS how the "dormant" periods are billed. Phones that use packet data have essentially 3 modes. Inactive (no data connection), Active (data connection is ready to or is currently transferring data), and "dormant". The later mode occurs when you have not transferred data in a certain amount of time. The phone waits in dormant mode in case you decide to use the connection again so that a new connection does not have to created (which takes time). Some carriers may bill for this time as well, either all of it, or a minimum number of minutes. Note that if the dormant session lasts less than the minimum minutes, only the actual length is counted.

IMPORTANT: At this time, Minutes PLUS does NOT have capability to track packet data by the KB or MB.

Also note that since it is Minutes PLUS itself that is trapping the data for 3G minutes (unlike regular minutes, which come from Call History) and SMS Messages, 3G minutes and SMS will only be tracked from the time Minutes PLUS was installed.

The remaining fields control how Minutes PLUS tracks SMS messages (Text Messages). If you check "Track SMS Messages", the remainder of the fields become available. If your plan does not have a limit on the number of messages you can send and receive, check "Unlimited". If you do have a limit, enter it in the "Allowed" field, even if that limit is 0 (all messages are charged a fee).

Mobile to Mobile (M2M) and Free call Preferences

This screen offers you a place to set up an unlimited number of phone numbers that will either be excluded entirely (FREE calls) or counted toward a Mobile To Mobile (M2M) calling plan bucket of minutes.

The first thing you need to do on this screen is to enter your Mobile to Mobile plan minutes. If your plan has unlimited M2M minutes, leave this field blank. This minute limit applies to any M2M number in the list in the lower half of the screen. Some plans offer a special bucket of minutes that apply to calls to/from a single number. If have such a plan, enter the minutes and phone number in the fields provided. If you wish, you can have BOTH categories of M2M at the same time.

For each number (other than Single M2M) you want to exclude, tap the New button and enter the number, the exclusion type (Free or M2M) and the matching type (All or Prefix Only). For the number, only enter numbers, parentheses, dashes, periods, or spaces. You can use the Lookup button to search for numbers within your Address Book. Minutes PLUS will attempt to strip off leading and trailing text from the numbers but it can only account for the simple cases. You will be warned when saving a record if you've left invalid characters in the number. For Match Type, you can select All, which means the entire number must match exactly, or Prefix Only, where only the part of the number you enter must match the first part of the call history number. This would be used for M2M plans where all phones within a certain area code-exchange are included. Tap OK to save or Cancel to abort the New record.

To edit or delete an existing record highlight a record by tapping anywhere on that row and tap the Details button. Either edit and tap OK, or tap the Delete and confirm the deletion. All records will be maintained sorted in order of phone number. If there are more records than will fit in one screen, use the scroll arrows or the hardware scroll keys to roll the list forward or back one screen full at a time.

NOTE: Unlike Minute Counter, Minutes PLUS will consider numbers to match if they differ only in the first 3 characters and they are not the same length. In other words, you can enter a number with or without an Area Code, and it will match numbers with or without an area code in the call history. This applies to the Single # entry and any list entries with the "All" match type. It does NOT apply to the "Prefix" match type.

When Minutes PLUS does the comparisons between numbers it ignores leading '1', dashes, parentheses, periods, and spaces.

Holiday Preferences

This page gives you the option to enter Holidays that your carrier considers to be Off-Peak time even if they fall during the week. You can enter specific dates yourself, or select a menu option to "Add Typical Holidays" for the current year, either for the US or Canada. Both fixed-date and floating holidays are added with this option. User-entered dates are always considered to be floating. The fixed-date holidays show in the list without a year. If any dates are added that your carrier does not consider off-peak, you can delete these individually via the Edit button. You can edit the Name of any entry, but not change its date. If the date is wrong, delete and re-add the entry.

If there are any entries in this list, AND you have an Off-Peak or Weekend option selected on the Off-Peak preferences page, any calls that fall on these days during the week will automatically be put into the appropriate Off-Peak bucket and an item of data will be calculated to accumulate the total calls and minutes thus re-categorized.

Minutes PLUS will re-evaluate the Holiday list after each recalculation to make sure they have not expired. When this occurs, all of the Holidays for the prior year will be deleted automatically and you will be alerted to this fact, indicating that you need to come to this page and re-add holidays for the new current year. Note that FIXED date entries will never be deleted, as by definition their date is correct for any year.

Categories Preferences

This preference screen gives you a list to which you can add any of the Address Book categories or single Phone numbers from the Address Book. These are used when you select the Category Statistics main menu item, and calling data is accumulated for each entry in this list. Thus you can see at a glance for any billing period how many calls & minutes you made to or received from each individual number or whole category of numbers.

To add an entry to the list, tap on either the Add Name or Add Category buttons. Add Name gives you a standard Address Book lookup list from which you can pick a name. If that name has a Work, Home, Mobile, or Other phone number, it can be added to the list. If it has only one of these, it gets added without further prompting. If the name has more than one of these numbers, you will be prompted to select which number to use. Add Category gives you a list of all the available Address Book categories to select from. To delete any entry on this list, merely select it and tap the Delete Selected button. Note that this list is kept sorted first by Category types, then by Name within those types. The Name shown is whatever format you have specified in your Address Book list. CAUTION: Once an entry is added to this list, it is thereafter disconnected from the Address Book, that is, changes made to names, numbers, and categories will NOT be reflected in this list. If an entry is no longer valid here, you will need to delete and re-add it.

Cost Preferences

If you wish to track costs and estimated costs of your calling activities, enter the source amounts here. In addition to the basic monthly plan cost, you can enter per/minute charges for regular minutes, digital and analog roaming, or data minutes if your plan breaks these out as a separate category. You may also enter a per message charge for Incoming and Outgoing SMS (Text) messages.

If you enter amounts here, each time Minutes PLUS does its analysis, any overages will be multiplied by the minute costs here, and category cost totals as well as overall totals will be calculated. In addition, these costs will also be calculated based on the ESTIMATED minutes based on current usage rates.

Alarm Preferences

Use this preferences screen if you wish to be alerted at the end of any call when the call just completed will put you within one of the limits defined here. Keep in mind that the processing done to categorize a call can be significant, and this MAY cause a slightly noticeable delay once you end a call. If one of these limits is reached, you will receive a beep and be prompted to open the flip to see an alert dialog describing the limit that has been reached.

Adjustment Preferences

If you find that your Minutes PLUS totals are not exactly mirroring the totals your carrier is reporting on an online status screen, you can enter amounts here to either add to or subtract from any minute total category. This may result from discrepancies between the exact way your carrier records the call time and the way your phone records it in the call log.

More common uses of this screen would be to enter a "catch-up" amount if you begin using Minutes PLUS in a month for which you do not have full Call History data, or to enter minutes used by other phones in a shared minute plan scenario.

The first column of numbers is for entering the minutes used so far in the period by all other phones in a shared minute plan. These are always added to the respective totals. You can receive values for the shared column from other smartphone user(s) via Beaming. The second column is for miscellaneous adjustments to correct descrepancies in actual billing counts. These can be subtracted by checking the Minus box beside them.

These adjustment amounts are saved for the billing start date in effect when you enter this screen (usually the current period), so if you navigate to a previous month the adjustments that were recorded that month are used to calculate totals. Note that if you ever change the DAY of the billing start, prior entered adjustments will be lost and you would need to re-enter any that you cared about maintaining for the new start dates.

Tap the Reset button to clean the 2nd set of numbers ONLY. The Shared column will not be cleared by a reset. Tap the Update Info button to see the date and time that you last saved adjustments.

Color Preferences

You can set the colors used by the data display screens with this preferences page. You can set the background and two (2) different text colors. "LOW Min Remaining" occurs when the period end estimate is greater than your plan allowance for that category, indicating that there is a chance you will exceed your limit.

For each color item, there is a "Pick..." button that displays a color palette from which to select a color. Alternatively, once on *that palette screen you can elect to pick color with RGB (Red-Green-Blue) component sliders.

The Regular Text color is used for all screen items (fields, labels and lines) unless you specifically override the color for a given item. Thus it is easy to set up default colors and then highlight specific items you are usually interested in with a different color for that item. Note that LOW Min Remaining color takes precedence over the any specific color you might set for Remaining Minutes type items.

The Use color in Screen Editor checkbox is available if you want a true WYSIWYG experience in the screen editor. WARNING: Note that enabling this option SLOWS the screen refresh when dragging items in the editor by a considerable amount!

This page is available only if your device is capable of displaying color.

Beaming Your Data

Beaming your minute total(s) to another smartphone user is very handy if you have multiple smartphones on a shared minute account and want all the phones on the plan to have a more accurate total of all minutes used by all phones.

When you select Beam My Minutes from the main menu, the dialog to the left appears. You have the option of selecting which of the category totals to send. After a successful Beam, these selections are saved in your preferences so that they remain selected the same way the next time you Beam. Tap Beam to begin the beam attempt or Cancel if you change your mind.

The user on the receiving end will see this dialog pop up if a successful beam session can be created. You can decline or accept the beamed data, plus select what the beamed data does to your shared minutes adjustments. If you have only two (2) phones on a plan, you would always select Replace, as the other phone's minutes are the only ones you care about in your adjustments. Note that only those totals that the sender elected to beam will be used, so if you have adjustments other than those they would not be affected. If you have 3 or more smartphones on a plan, you would accept a Beam from the first user with Replace, then all others would Add to those.

You can RECEIVE beamed data without Minutes PLUS running - the data is saved in the database for use next time you run it. If you are running Minutes PLUS when you receive the data, the behavior of the program depends upon which screen is showing. If one of the main data screens is showing, it will be refreshed once the beam receive is done, thus allowing changes in shared adjustments to be reflected in your totals. If you are on the Adjustments preference page itself, the new numbers are merely used to update the fields on the screen. You will need to tap the OK button on this screen to save them.

Normally, the receiver will always store the received data in the CURRENT period, no matter what period it has selected. You can override this behavior and receive into any prior period by navigating to that period on the receiver and opening the Adjustments preference page before receiving. Make sure the sender has the same prior period selected!

Exporting Data

You can use the export feature to make an ASCII representation of your call history that can be hotsync'ed to the desktop and imported into Excel, a database program, or any other program that can read Comma Separated Value (CSV) files.

Your options are to select a range of dates to export, whether to include names if a matching phone number can be found in the address book, and whether to export the data in raw form or categorized. Raw data has the exact number of seconds for each call and the phone number appears just as it is found in the call history file. This format is the same one used by the older Minute Counter program. If you select Categorized, the time exported for each call will be rounded up to the nearest minute, the phone number will be formatted for easier reading, and the call's category (Peak, OffPeak, etc) will be exported as well.

The data is exported directly into one or more Memo application records. Since a memo record can have at most 4000 characters, exporting a large number of records may cause the program to split them among more than one record. At the end of the process, you will be told how many records were exported and how many memo records were required.

If you elect to export Raw data, the record layout in the exported text is as follows:

"T",mm/dd/yy hh:mm,nSecs,"ph#..."[,"Fname Lname"]

Where:

"T" = Type (O is Outgoing, I is Incoming, D is Data, ? is Missed/Unknown).
mm/dd/yy hh:mm is the date & time, and is given with 2 digit year, 24 hour clock.
nSecs is the actual number of seconds call duration, no rounding or conversion to minutes is done.
"ph#..." is the phone number exactly as it appears in the log file. No attempt is made to embellish it with dashes and parentheses.
"Fname Lname" is the first and last name from the address book, if that option was selected. If no match is found there will be empty quotes. If the name option was not selected, this field does not exist at all.

If you export Categorized data, this will be the layout:

"T",mm/dd/yy hh:mm,nMin,"category","formatted ph#..."[,"Fname Lname"]

Where:

nMin is the rounded number of billable minutes.
"category" is one of the following: "Peak","Off-Peak", "Weekend", "Free", "M2M", "Roam", or "Unknown".
"formatted ph#..." is the phone number with parentheses and dashes added to aid readability.
The remainder are the same as above.

Things to Note:

Be patient! This can take a good bit of time if you export a lot of call data, especially with name lookups. Name Matches are cached to speed things up but each new phone number requires a potential scan of all address book entries, and all 5 possible phone numbers for each.
The name lookup feature attempts to make a match first by exact number (including area codes) but if not found also attempts to match just the last 7 digits if one of the numbers has an area code and the other does not. This is required because you may have an area code in the call log but not in the address book, or vice versa. Unfortunately this means it's possible to have a spurious match if the same phone # exists in 2 different area codes, this should be rare enough to warrant the extra accuracy in the most common cases.
Due to the fact that the Memo file is sorted by the first line of text you will notice that multiple memo records will probably show up "out of order" timewise. This of course won't matter if you are importing this data into a sortable database, but be aware if you cut and paste the memo records into a text file you may need to pay heed to the correct order to paste the blocks.
Packet Data "calls" (3G, Enhanced Network, etc) are handled a little differently than regular data and voice calls. Since these are tracked separately in a different database, they cannot be exported "in line" along with the other records in date/time order. If you have the option in Preferences checked to track 3G data, these will be exported after the other data into one or more separate memo record(s). The "ph#" field will read either "3G Active" or "3G Dormant" to indicate the connection type (you'll only see "3G Dormant" if your option settings indicate that dormant minutes are billed).

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and troubleshooting information

Q: My minute totals are doing crazy things, going up or down without pattern, or not adding up correctly.
A: Most likely cause is the "Max # of Calls" preference in your built-in Call History application is not set high enough to cover an entire billing cycle. It defaults to 99 (and seems to revert again to this number sometimes after a hard reset). If you have more than 99 calls of all types in a billing period, the totals will do wild things as the oldest record is lost and replaced by the new one. Thus your total could actually minutes used could actually go DOWN after a call!

Q: What is that number in parentheses beside the month? A: The number of days until the end of the billing cycle, inclusive of today and the last day. It is NOT the current date!

Q: Why does the number of minutes used not exactly match my bill? A: It probably never will exactly match, except through sheer luck. This is meant to approximate the final figure. A program such as this cannot predict every nuance of every carrier's billing practices, nor can we count anything that's not reflected in the on-board call history log.

Release Notes

1.00 - 11/08/03

Initial public release

1.01 - 11/16/03

Fix error counting as result of entering a value for "Add Seconds to Each Call".
Fix for not counting Missed calls.

1.02 - 11/17/03

Fix for SMS In/Out Adjustments not showing up in SMS Overage Cost
Fix for SMS Overage Cost not showing up in Total Cost
Added new screen field: "Base Plan Cost"

1.03 - 11/18/03

Fix on Treo 600 for initial screen being blank.

1.04 - 12/08/03

Fix for label text disappearing if switched away while screen editing.
Fix for Restricted and other no-phone-number calls getting dumped into Free bucket.

1.05 - 01/24/04

Fixed for incorrect Lifetime Stats screen.
Seems to fix reset problems for some Treo 600 users.

1.06 - 02/24/04

Fixed major goof in SMS counting where some incoming SMS was counting in both In and Out totals.
Changed the First Incoming Minute Free option on the main Preferences screen to allow 3 options, and renamed it Incoming Free. The 3 options are None, First Minute, and All.

1.07 - 11/10/04

Fixed bug that would not allow Adjustments to be saved on TREO devices only.

Action	How to do it
Add an Item	Tap anywhere on an open section of the screen to create a new item at that point. You will see a dialog similar to this one: The dialog allows you to select one of three (3) types of items to place on your screen. Detail for that type of item only will show to allow you to further refine your choice. For Field and Label types, you can select the Font to be applied. This is bold by default for Fields, standard for Label - but you can override this. If you have a color capable device, you can select the Color of any of the item types if you wish to override the system-wide default for color of screen items. Tap on the color sample to call up a color picker dialog. If you select the LAST black block on the resulting color picker, that signifies that the system default color is to be used. Any other color selected (including the other black ones) will be used instead only for the item being added. Finally, for Field type items, you can elect to Right Justify the resuting data if you prefer such an alignment. Tap OK to add the item or Cancel to dismiss the dialog without adding the item. More details for Fields, Labels, and Lines are given below.
Edit or Delete an Item	Tapping on an existing item without dragging it calls up a dialog similar to the one for adding items, except that only the fields that apply are shown. Make any desired changes and tap OK to save. Also appearing on the Edit dialog is a Delete button. Tap this to remove the item from your screen design entirely.
Move an Item	Tap an item and DRAG it before letting up on the stylus. This will move the item to another location. Exactly where the item ends up depends upon how you have the option to "Snap to Grid" set up, which is described in the Menu section below.

Field Type	Details
Peak Total	Total number of minutes used for all types of calls during Peak hours. If you are not using any kind of off-peak or weekend minutes plan, this will represent your only (anytime) minute total.
Peak Plan Allowance	The number of Peak period minutes included in your calling plan.
Peak Remaining	Number of Peak period minutes remaining to be used for the period before you start paying per minute overage fees.
Peak Estimate	Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many Peak minutes you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. Note that this item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.
Peak % Used	Percentage of the Peak Allowance used so far in the period.
Peak Total # Calls	Total number of calls of all types made during the Peak (or anytime) period.
Peak In Calls	Total number of Incoming calls received during the Peak period.
Peak Out Calls	Total number of Outgoing calls made during the Peak period.
Peak Data Calls	Total number of Data calls made during the Peak period. This applies ONLY to circuit-switched data calls, the kind that uses minutes. If you use a plan with packet data that is billed by the Kilobyte or Megabyte (Sprint Vision or Verizon Express, etc), this figure does not apply.
Peak Other Calls	Total number of calls made or received during the Peak period that were categorized as Missed or of unknown type.
Peak In Minutes	Total number of Incoming minutes for the Peak period.
Peak Out Minutes	Total number of Outgoing minutes for the Peak period.
Peak Data Minutes	Total number of Data minutes for the Peak period (circuit switched).
Peak Other Minutes	Total number of Other minutes for the Peak period.
Off-Peak Total	Total number of minutes used for all types of calls during Off-Peak hours, if you have the option selected in Preferences to separate off-peak
Off-Peak Plan Allowance	The number of Off-Peak period minutes included in your calling plan.
Off-Peak Remaining	Number of Off-Peak period minutes remaining to be used for the period.
Off-Peak Estimate	Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many Off-Peak minutes you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. Note that this item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.
Off-Peak % Used	Percentage of the Off-Peak Allowance used so far in the period, IF there is an Off-Peak Plan Allowance entered.
Off-Peak Total # Calls	Total number of calls of all types made during the Off-Peak period.
Off-Peak In Calls	Total number of Incoming calls received during the Off-Peak period.
Off-Peak Out Calls	Total number of Outgoing calls made during the Off-Peak period.
Off-Peak Data Calls	Total number of Data calls made during the Off-Peak period (circuit-switched only).
Off-Peak Other Calls	Total number of calls made or received during the Off-Peak period that were categorized as Missed or of unknown type.
Off-Peak In Minutes	Total number of Incoming minutes for the Off-Peak period.
Off-Peak Out Minutes	Total number of Outgoing minutes for the Off-Peak period.
Off-Peak Data Minutes	Total number of Data minutes for the Off-Peak period (circuit switched).
Off-Peak Other Minutes	Total number of Other minutes for the Off-Peak period.
M2M Total	Total number of minutes To or From any numbers in your Mobile to Mobile (M2M) list. Single Number M2M calls are counted separately below.
M2M Plan Allowance	The number of M2M minutes (for all numbers) included in your calling plan.
M2M Remaining	Number of M2M minutes remaining to be used for the period.
M2M Estimate	Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many M2M minutes you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. This item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.
M2M % Used	Percentage of the M2M Allowance used so far in the period, IF there is a M2M Plan Allowance entered.
M2M # Calls	Total number of calls To or From any numbers in your Mobile to Mobile (M2M) list.
M2M (Single) Total	This item and the next 5 mirror the general M2M items above except these apply to any Single Number you have entered. Calls to and from this single number are considered separately and have their own plan allowance (which may be unlimited).
M2M (Single) Plan	See above.
M2M (Single) Remaining	See above.
M2M (Single) Estimate	See above.
M2M (Single) % Used	See above.
M2M (Single) # Calls	See above.
Free Total	Total number of minutes To or From any numbers in your FREE list.
Free # Calls	Total number of calls To or From any numbers in your FREE list.
Holiday # Calls	Total number of calls made on a Holiday that were thus recategorized to an off peak period.
Holiday Total	Total number of minutes made on a Holiday that were thus recategorized to an off peak period.
OffPeak Overage to Peak	Number of minutes that would have been Weekend or Off-Peak but exceeded the plan allowance for that category and were thus recategorized to Peak.
Split Calls (#)	Number of calls that spanned a Peak/Off-Peak (or Peak/Weekend) boundary and were thus Split into a Peak part and an Off-Peak part. This can only occur if you have selected the Split Calls option.
Weekend Total	Total number of minutes used for all types of calls during Weekend hours, if you have the option selected in Preferences to separate Weekend.
Weekend Plan Allowance	The number of Weekend minutes included in your calling plan.
Weekend Remaining	Number of Weekend minutes remaining to be used for the period.
Weekend Estimate	Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many Weekend minutes you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. Note that this item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.
Weekend % Used	Percentage of the Weekend Allowance used so far in the period, IF there is a Weekend Plan Allowance entered.
Weekend # Calls	Total number of calls of all types made during the Weekend period.
Data Total	Total number of minutes used for Data (circuit switched) type calls, if you have the option selected in Preferences to separate Data.
Data Plan Allowance	The number of Data minutes included in your calling plan.
Data Remaining	Number of Data minutes remaining to be used for the period.
Data Estimate	Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many Data minutes you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. Note that this item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.
Data % Used	Percentage of the Data Allowance used so far in the period, IF there is a separate Data Plan Allowance entered.
Data Total # Calls	Total number of Data calls made during the period.
SMS # Msgs Total	Total number of SMS (Text) messages sent and received.
SMS # Msgs In	Number of SMS messages received.
SMS # Msgs Out	Number of SMS messages sent.
SMS # Msgs Plan	Number of SMS messages allowed on your plan before incurring per message costs.
SMS # Msgs Remaining	Number of SMS messages remaining to be used in your allowance.
SMS # Msgs, Estimate	Given the average per day usage so far in the current period, this is a rough estimate of how many SMS messages you will use for the entire period if you keep the same rate of usage. Note that this item is NOT calculated if you are viewing a prior period.
Roam Total	Total number of Roaming minutes of any type.
Roam Total # Calls	Total number of Roaming calls of any type.
Roam Digital Minutes	Number of Digital Roaming minutes.
Roam Digital Calls	Number of Digital Roaming calls.
Roam Analog Minutes	Number of Analog Roaming minutes.
Roam Analog Calls	Number of Analog Roaming calls.
Total Cost	Total cost accumulated so far in the billing period. This would include the plan base cost plus any overages generated thus far.
Base Plan Cost	Fixed cost of your plan, as entered in the Costs Preference page.
Minute Overage Cost	Cost of all Peak minutes over the plan allotment. You must have a per minute cost entered in preferences for this category.
Digital Roam Cost	Cost of all Digital Roaming minutes.. You must have a per minute cost entered in preferences for this category.
Analog Roam Cost	Cost of all Analog Roaming minutes.. You must have a per minute cost entered in preferences for this category.
Data Overage Cost	Cost of all Data minutes over the plan allotment. You must have a per minute cost entered in preferences for this category.
SMS Overage Cost	Cost of all SMS (Text) messages over the plan allotment. You must have a per message cost entered in preferences for both incoming and outgoing messages.
Estimated Total Cost	Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated total cost at the end of the period. This would include the plan base cost plus any estimated overages.
Est Minute Overage Cost	Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated cost of Peak minute overages at the end of the period.
Est Digital Roam Cost	Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated cost of Digital Roaming minutes at the end of the period.
Est Analog Roam Cost	Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated cost of Analog Roaming minutes at the end of the period.
Est Data Overage Cost	Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated cost of Data minutes at the end of the period.
Est SMS Overage Cost	Given the usage so far this billing period, this figure represents the estimated cost of SMS messages at the end of the period.
Rounding Minutes Wasted	This the total number of minutes worth of time that your carrier is stealing from you via their fabulous practice of rounding up to the next whole minute. Each time a rounding up is done on a call, the number of seconds lost is accumulated. this number is that total, to the nearest tenth of a minute.
3G Data Minutes Total	Total number of minutes occurring in any time period as a result of billable 3G Packet data calls when billed by the minute. This includes all active sessions and any billable portion of dormant sessions. Note: 3G minutes are NOT separate category! They are categorized along with other data and also as Peak or Off-Peak in the normal manner. This and other 3G categories are provided as extra information for your convenience.
3G Minutes, Active	Number of Active minutes occurring in any time period as a result of 3G Packet data calls when billed by the minute.
3G Minutes, Dormant	Number of billable Dormant minutes occurring in any time period as a result of 3G Packet data calls when billed by the minute.
3G Minutes, Peak	Number of the 3G data minutes that were categorized as Peak.
3G Minutes, OffPeak	Number of the 3G data minutes that were categorized as anything other than Peak.
% of Period Elapsed	Percentage of the current period that has elapsed. By definition, prior periods will display 100. This field could be shown on a screen along with one or more of the other "% Used" fields to get a quick idea how you are doing on minute consumption.

Menu Choice	Description
Toggle Snap To Grid	To make it easier to align objects with each other, the Editor can force objects that are being added or moved to align themselves with a grid of horizontal and vertical lines. You can turn this off to be able to place objects precisely where you want them.
Toggle Grid Display	If you want to actually see the alignment grid you can toggle it on. The grid lines will appear as dim gray lines. Note that when moving items around with the grid lines turned on, the screen refresh will be quite a bit slower, since the grid lines have to be redrawn thus causing all the fields to be redrawn on top. With the grid lines off, only those fields in contact with the moving field need to be redrawn.
Grid Size...	Brings up a small dialog where you can select the grid size, from 4 to 20 pixels. Smaller grid sizes may make precise placement easier. Be aware that the slow refresh problem mentioned above is even worse for smaller grids (more lines to draw at each field movement).
Clear Screen	This will delete ALL the items on the current screen and remove them permanently from the screen definition database.
Reset To Original	This will remove ALL items from either the Current or ALL screens (user choice) and replace them with the "factory" original defaults that were created when you first installed the program.
Move Current Screen	Allows you to swap the current screen's position with one of the other screens. A Dialog box will prompt you to select one of the other positions to swap with.
Editor Instructions	Shows some brief instructions.

Q: My minute totals are doing crazy things, going up or down without pattern, or not adding up correctly.	A: Most likely cause is the "Max # of Calls" preference in your built-in Call History application is not set high enough to cover an entire billing cycle. It defaults to 99 (and seems to revert again to this number sometimes after a hard reset). If you have more than 99 calls of all types in a billing period, the totals will do wild things as the oldest record is lost and replaced by the new one. Thus your total could actually minutes used could actually go DOWN after a call!

Q: What is that number in parentheses beside the month?	A: The number of days until the end of the billing cycle, inclusive of today and the last day. It is NOT the current date!

Q: Why does the number of minutes used not exactly match my bill?	A: It probably never will exactly match, except through sheer luck. This is meant to approximate the final figure. A program such as this cannot predict every nuance of every carrier's billing practices, nor can we count anything that's not reflected in the on-board call history log.