Issues with available numbers and rate centers

Tim, has there been any thought on Resellers reserving blocks of numbers?

• Say 20 numbers from one Rate Center for $2.00/month.
  
  • Some reasonable quantity and price.
  
  
  
  • Maybe a reserve setup fee.
    
    • So our target markets have inventory
    • Inventory could recharge at a trigger point.
    
    
  
  

They would switch to $1 or $5 monthly when in use like regular inventory.

They are talking on the forums too.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r238...ection-of-DIDs

EDIT: Perhaps the new CLEC will make such need for inventory moot.

Here is my reply from there:


We've optimized our DID ordering process recently.

We did remove some rural areas in which we've determined it's just not cost effective to do business in.

Your issue is more around the optimization though...

We work with many CLECs and carrier partners and often each ratecenter is priced differently with each of them. We get most DIDs via APIs.

In the past, our order forms just showed ALL DIDs from multiple carrier partners and mixed them together. In some cases, people would end up with DIDs from carrier partners that cost 5x more than others in their area. All carrier partners that we work with have great quality so that's not an issue. There's no functional difference besides price.

Now the order form looks at every ratecenter to determine the most cost effective carrier for that ratecenter. It shows the inventory from the most cost effective carrier choice first and will only advance to the next carrier if first first choice is sold out.

This may sound like it doesn't make a big difference, but just by going through and "optimizing" our existing DIDs recently by doing internal ports to move them to the most cost effective carrier, we're now saving around $14,000 per month. It's little details like this that determine profitability or failure in this industry and why so many people fail.

For those of you looking for wider selection though, there is some good news. We will soon to integrating another CLEC into the ordering process via API. This is a CLEC that we've worked with for years, but have recently signed a huge deal for origination with. Once integrated in the API, this CLEC will be our primary for number ordering in the 2600 top ratecenters in the country. They have over 1000 sequential numbers in most ratecenters and only a handful of companies using their API (I believe 4), so there are some pretty good numbers to choose from.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VOIPoTim

Within the next few weeks, we're adding our primary CLEC to the inventory via API. They have [pretty substantial coverage (top 2600 ratecenters) with at least a few hundred numbers in each ratecenter.

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Tim,
Any update on integration of the BW CLEC? Inventory is running kind of thin in my rate center, so I was curious if I might see an increase any time soon?

Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MacGyverLabs

Tim,
Any update on integration of the BW CLEC? Inventory is running kind of thin in my rate center, so I was curious if I might see an increase any time soon?

Thanks!

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Bandwidth CLEC is now added into all the main areas of the site. We're adding to reseller number ordering today. They only return 100 numbers at a time but have a lot more than that in most RCs so if you only see 100, don't worry.

I spy another field at the end of the list of states.

• Purchased Inventory
  
  • Is it to reclaim canceled numbers?
  
  

• Ported Numbers
  
  • Is it to reclaim temporary numbers after LNP replaced them?
  
  

In any case, it will be great to learn about them :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by usa2k

I spy another field at the end of the list of states.

• Purchased Inventory
  
  • Is it to reclaim canceled numbers?
  
  

• Ported Numbers
  
  • Is it to reclaim temporary numbers after LNP replaced them?
  
  

In any case, it will be great to learn about them :)

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These are still being wrapped up, but basically here's how it works.

You can now purchase numbers on the phone numbers page for your own private inventory at half price. You're billed $0.50 per month for them. They will be available to order/use for accounts in your "Inventory" state/city. When you assign it to an account, the next renewal on it adjusts to the normal $1. This will allow you to buy a block of numbers that only you can use even if you don't have access to immediately assign them to.

When you submit a port, it will go into your "Ported Number" state/city to assign to an account/use.

FYI Bandwidth CLEC is not fully integrated in reseller number ordering too.

And many questions arise from that info.
No immediate answer needed, just brainstorming a bit.

I expect the numbers will be available to assign as Full or Forwarded accounts?

Will canceled numbers go there too? Add a canceled list?

Can certain numbers get dropped from the list at our discretion too?

The confusing part is that all the numbers could have endless renewal dates while on hold. Unless they all get synced to one date.

I expect a newly reassigned number would get billed again right away
since that would then match the customer billing date.

Canceled numbers are canceled and removed from the system.

When you have a number in your private inventory @ $0.50, it retains its origination renewal date. So when you assign it to an account, it doesn't immediately get billed $1, just the next time it would normally renew @ $0.50, it'll renew at $1.

Basically all numbers maintain their origination renewal date no matter how assign. The only thing that changes is the $ amount.