Check the free guest allowance or your account's displayed connection, started-minute and text credit rates before using Ask FASS.
Quick answer
Guests receive five free voice minutes and ten text replies by default; Admin can change the allowance. The opening voice explanation uses no guest time or account credits. New accounts have a separate 48-hour trial; outside it, account use draws from your credits. Connected silence and mute count; 50 credits is not 50 minutes.
Open Ask FASS and review the allowance or account rates before starting. Opening the panel or declining AI consent does not start a provider call or consume connected voice allowance.
After you choose Talk to FASS, the opening explanation finishes before microphone access or voice-session admission. It consumes no guest voice time, account credits or AI-provider request. If local speech cannot finish, review the readable explanation and choose Continue to voice. Only then can the server reserve the allowance or connection/first-minute credits while setting up the call; failed setup uses the refund rules below. The separate 48-hour account trial still expires at its fixed time during this introduction.
The default guest allowance is five minutes of voice and ten text replies. Admin can change the guest allowance, so check the remaining time shown in the panel before starting. Earlier saved allowances remain in effect until Admin changes them. The panel counts down connected time and warns when it is low. Reconnecting, reopening or refreshing does not issue a new allowance for the same guest identity. Shared-network and per-call limits can reduce available time.
When the allowance ends, voice disconnects and the chat offers Create a free account or Sign in. Normal search, help, human support and downloading available conversation text remain available. Signing in uses that account's existing entitlement; it does not renew an existing account's trial or welcome-credit grant. Do not create repeated accounts to bypass limits.
New accounts receive a separate one-off 48-hour AI Assistant trial for text and voice. Its clock starts at account creation or, for a pending private handover, after the required account activation. It is not 48 hours of connected voice, and normal conversation and usage limits still apply. Existing accounts do not receive a new trial by signing in again.
During an active welcome trial, these assistant conversations do not deduct account credits. Outside an active trial, the assistant uses your personal AI-credit balance. A school owner's wallet is not charged just because you are viewing that school's dashboard. The standard one-time 50-credit welcome allowance is not 50 minutes.
Review the configured rates before continuing:
Rates must be configured by Admin; the assistant does not assume a price when a rate is unset. A new call requested after ending a call is a new connection. Failed starts or failed text requests use the server's refund/release rules; reporting an error does not automatically refund time already used. At insufficient credits, use the displayed account options or ordinary search/support; the assistant never buys credits automatically.
The server checks the connection and started-minute rates against those just disclosed. If Admin changed them, no new call is admitted at the new price until you review and continue again. A call already admitted keeps its agreed minute rate.
Some supported questions can show a labelled Draft reply while the answer is being prepared. If you deliberately choose Stop reply after draft text has been delivered, that uses one ordinary text request from the applicable allowance or credit pool. The draft is discarded; stopping does not create an additional charge or undo an earlier saved action. Failed provider/protocol replies, server deadlines and entitlement failures use the existing failed-request refund/release rules. FASS credits and any AI-provider usage already incurred by FASS are separate.
Progress messages, the draft display and navigation-outcome reporting do not change the configured rates or add an extra request charge. Canonical checked answers do not need another AI rewrite to display. Free reviewed support guidance remains available through the support helper; general assistant text retains its displayed allowance and pricing.
Idle, maximum-duration, turn, tool and concurrent-session limits also apply. An on-screen timer displays access; the server enforces it. A reconnect cannot bypass exhausted entitlement. FASS credits and OpenAI's charges to FASS are separate systems.
Check the account's AI credits panel for balances and recorded actions. Contact support about an unexpected charge with its date and action name; do not send payment credentials, passwords or API keys.
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