Thoughts

[genxweb]

Our company offers a free ad based phone service and paid service and after the last two months I have thought of a few things that would be nice to have and different tips and tricks to keep stored for those crazy days.

Ideas:

1. It would be great to be able to run a report that is download of all minute usage since last billing.

2. It be nice to allow clients see a progress bar of minutes used, it be a bonus to break it into toll free, sip, long distance, international and so on.

3. 24 x 7 support for major issues.

4. A page that has the system status and any information posted to that may effect clients. A email to the resellers would be a bonus.

5. The ability to allow customers to choose their own numbers. I understand you have a database that updates on each request. Why not supply a pi or module to tie int that. or a api that would allow a client to choose state and city and submit a search against your database.

Questions

1. Does Voipo all the transfer of clients from 1 voipo reseller to another. IE. you ever decide to get out of the business and want to sell your client base to ensure they still have service. Or do you have to transfer them to voipo? I think resellers should have the choice to who they sell to.


Tips:

1. Home user documentation will help you answer many questions that your users may ask.

2. Chat is your friend. Fast friendly and 99% dead on in resolving issues. Also faster then a ticket.

3. Free SIP calls means you must call the SIP URI, I was originally told differently on pre sales.

4. Accounts don't have unlimited channels. Meaning if you have one account and want multiple outbound calls you need to have multiple numbers tied to the account. You can only register each number two times per device / asterisk. I was told different in pre sales chat.

Kudos:

1. Love the international limitation option.
2. Love the pricing.


If you guys found any thing to add to the list post it.

[GreenLantern]

I agree that eventually the support needs to have at least late evening hours, if not 24/7.

I think we can already download the usage reports as described. Set your billing cycle so everyone is billed on the 1st. That simplifies things a LOT.

Voipo mentioned they were working on a proprietary billing system. I don't know when we might see that. But I'd assume it would continue to evolve. Features like graphic usage bars would be very nice, but I'd be happy with updating the current control panel to have a bit more user friendly info on the landing page... such as a usage summary table showing local calls, SIP, Int'l, Toll Free, Fax, etc. The Control Panel in general looks pretty utilitarian. But I assume that will improve over time.

I'm interested in clarification on SIP calling. If my customers call each other, I see that it looks like an "in system" call and isn't metered. But what if they dial a number that is a SIP account with a totally different (non-voipo) provider? Is that a metered call? Does the user have to dial a SIP address, or can they just dial the number?

Regarding unlimited channels. Have you run into an actual limitation? I've been able to have several simultaneous logins without any trouble.

[genxweb]

[quoteI'm interested in clarification on SIP calling. If my customers call each other, I see that it looks like an "in system" call and isn't metered. But what if they dial a number that is a SIP account with a totally different (non-voipo) provider? Is that a metered call? Does the user have to dial a SIP address, or can they just dial the number?

Regarding unlimited channels. Have you run into an actual limitation? I've been able to have several simultaneous logins without any trouble. [/quote]

I was told that calling any number that was on a sip based account would be covered. I thought that was to good to be true and it is. IE clients cant just call a 10 digit number they need to dial the SIP URI. How many end users have a clue what that is and how many end users have the ability to do that most run a locked pap device.

For channels each account can be registered at two consecutive times on different ports ie 5060 and 5061 hence why when a clients device is provisioned line 1 and 2 are the same number different ports.

My understanding of channels stem from asterisk. If I have 10 extensions internally and 1 trunk aka 1 account then when you tell me I have unlimited channels I expect that a client can call into my IVR (digital receptionist) and I can be calling another client at the same time while my partner talks to another client as well. The only restriction should be the inbound call until it is handed off to a extension. That is not so I could not place two outbound calls at the same time with 1 account. That means if you sell to a business that wants to sue a asterisk box each person in that business will need a number. Now I have not tested having multiple virtual numbers to 1 actual account if that will allow multiple outbound call, i have a feeling it will not. I think you will need to have multiple full accounts which adds to mgmt, so you can have multiple trunks that can handle multiple calls. I plan to register my number tonight as two trunks to see if then I can place two outbound calls. Though that still does not fully help business users. I should not be told I have unlimited channels and only be able to place 1 call at a time out bound.

Another IDEA to add to the list.

Correct the support ticket system in the reseller panel I am getting sick of support telling me to send my ticket to the reseller email address. Dont give me a option then to open a ticket in the RESELLER panel then.

[genxweb]

Wow I stand corrected. I have so far registered my account 3 times with no issues in my asterisk box so in theory I can go till they say I cant and make as many calls as i want out only limited by my bank account / minutes :)

[genxweb]

OK I tested that and it works I had 3 calls going at the same time

[uf_shane]

Tim has verified that there are no limits on simultanious calls for resellers and accounts.

[genxweb]

Her is a Major issue a well a way to monitor hardware devices. I have a clients ATA who has been down for 2 hours and I have no way to look at logs or the device to help trouble shoot it and support is now close for the weekend.

[VOIPoTim]

Her is a Major issue a well a way to monitor hardware devices. I have a clients ATA who has been down for 2 hours and I have no way to look at logs or the device to help trouble shoot it and support is now close for the weekend.

What kind of information are you looking for? VOIPo really doesn't have a way to monitor hardware either. We can tell if it's connected or not but not a lot else. We simply walk customers through connecting on the phone and worst case we just use remote desktop to connect to their computer and login to the adapter remotely and make sure their network is all setup correctly.

99% of the time when a customer is down, it's an issue with their router or modem. Usually it's something like the IP changed and is easily resolved by simply rebooting all devices (the modem, router, and adapter all). Have you tried having her reboot everything (not just the adapter)?

We monitor our network very thoroughly 24/7 and if there are issues on it, they're corrected around the clock.

I think over time you will see that 99.9999% of issues your customers run into will be related to their home network, ISP or routers and are going to be resolved by just working through their home network issues and making sure they reboot, etc.

Unless our system is down or there is a problem with it (which we monitor for 24/7), the only variable is the customer side. There's really no magic to VoIP support. If our system is up and running and working for tens of thousands and a customer is having issues, logic says the issue is on their end.

You'll need to work with your customer to troubleshoot their network. There is very little that we can do for issues not on our end.

[VOIPoTim]

As far as the other posts in this thread, we'll keep the feedback in mind. Please continue to post any ideas like this as this type of feedback is always helpful.

To address some of the thing in it:

1) Transfers/Client Ownership - Your customers are your customers. We don't claim any rights to them. You would be free to sell them or transfer them to anyone you wanted.

2) SIP Calling - Calls to SIP addresses are not billed. If a phone number is called, then by definition it's not longer a SIP call and is billable. When a phone number is dialed, it has to go out to the regular phone network and then back in to the other provider. Even if they are a "SIP" provider, if the phone number is used, it's hitting the phone network and not going through SIP.

If it goes though a SIP address we bypass the phone network (and the associated charges) and can offer the call for free because it's a direct connection between us and the other end with no phone network in the middle.

Similarly on network calls are free even if the phone number is dialed. This is because we can tell it's a number on our network and just send the call to the other customer and do not need to hit the regular phone network to route it out.

Anything that hits the phone network...we get billed for. Anything that doesn't cost us money, we're essentially passing on the savings to the reseller.

[VOIPoTim]

Her is a Major issue a well a way to monitor hardware devices. I have a clients ATA who has been down for 2 hours and I have no way to look at logs or the device to help trouble shoot it and support is now close for the weekend.

I'm glad to hear that this was resolved and turned out to be on your customer's end with them having cables connected incorrectly.

This is one of the main reasons I've said our support hours really don't affect resellers much. As long as we keep our network up and there are no issues on our end, all problems will likely be on the customer side. The only time you'll really need our support team is if there is an actual problem on our end which we already monitor for 24/7.

The longer you provide service, you'll see how true it is that it's very very rare that there are issues on our end or issues where we'd be able to help. It's not something we say to shift the blame or support away from us...it's something we say because it's truth we see every day. :)

It's extremely rare to see an issue on VOIPo's end. The case of your customer last night mixing up the WAN/LAN cables after unhooking/rehooking his adapter up is a great example of what we see all day and kind of shows what I mean in that there's absolutely no way for VOIPo support to help you with that or figuring that out since we can't see the cables or communicate with actual customer.

[GreenLantern]

Tim,

I agree that most support issues are on the customers end.

That said, it would be nice to have a skeleton crew dedicated for reseller support available a bit later, say 8 or 9pm. Sometimes we just need basic questions answered. Or need to get little things worked out, like when a number needs to be moved from a voice account to a fax account.

An alterantive would be if resellers had a bit more control over accounts. For example, being able to change the account name or type without having to call support would help.

My two cents. :)

[genxweb]

Tim is right about the issues at the customers end i had a few this week def the customer but how do you tell them no its your problem.

The customers I host on a asterisk box I can at least check the logs watch the packets and debug issues. Customers that are just on the voipo system it self it is supports word vs customers word when there is a issue.

I def agree if the network is up it is up but their can always be a bad route especially with lcr running, static on the line, echoing. (I have several customers complain abut that on international calls).

Once again thank Tim for the link to show the system status on Twitter but it be nice to have some sort of better debuging or troubleshooting guide.

[burris]

Tim is right about the issues at the customers end i had a few this week def the customer but how do you tell them no its your problem.

The customers I host on a asterisk box I can at least check the logs watch the packets and debug issues. Customers that are just on the voipo system it self it is supports word vs customers word when there is a issue.

I def agree if the network is up it is up but their can always be a bad route especially with lcr running, static on the line, echoing. (I have several customers complain abut that on international calls).

Once again thank Tim for the link to show the system status on Twitter but it be nice to have some sort of better debuging or troubleshooting guide.

Not to intrude, but way back after the ATT breakup, we became first a long distance provider(reseller) and ultimately a facilities based CLEC.

We always had to handle all trouble calls and customer support even though none of the network components belonged to us...

What I fail to understand in the issues you are citing is what functions do you as a reseller expect to maintain and how much interfacing would you want VOIPo to engage in with your customers since you are most likely branded.

It is my opinion that a reseller would be totally responsible for maintaining his/her customers across the board.

Why else would you be buying at one price and reselling at a profit.

Otherwise, I imagine you could simply be a referrer to a provider and make a % off that.

I really don't know this difference between my old world and today's world.

[genxweb]

Burris i am confused on your response. I support my customers as far as I can unfortunately without insight into the back end and the ability to view the servers / logs / connections and so on I can not sit there with them trouble shooting issues like I do for my other customers for other products I offer. What I have to do instead is send a ticket to support saying account # blah is having a issue here is what it is.

One thing I have been working on is scrapping the Voipo twitter feed replacing the voipo name with my name and using it as a rss feed for customers to see the status on the back end network before saying there is a issue.

[burris]

Burris i am confused on your response. I support my customers as far as I can unfortunately without insight into the back end and the ability to view the servers / logs / connections and so on I can not sit there with them trouble shooting issues like I do for my other customers for other products I offer. What I have to do instead is send a ticket to support saying account # blah is having a issue here is what it is.

One thing I have been working on is scrapping the Voipo twitter feed replacing the voipo name with my name and using it as a rss feed for customers to see the status on the back end network before saying there is a issue.

I still have some confusion about how support should be performed for a VOIP reseller. Again, way back, as resellers, we did all the support and we had no access to any CPE....we took the trouble call, called the NOC and analyzed the problem. Most business problems, and that's all we did then, were problems with their PBX equipment, etc. If a network was down, that was easy...hold their hand and apologize. Since it was the customer's equipment nearly all the time, I suppose the same analogy would hold true here....except that the provider could possibly log into the customers router and try to define the problem further....still understanding that if it is the customers problem, they cannot set up a truck roll.

I would find it interesting if perhaps Tim could join in this thread and tell us if it is any different than what my experience was. His input would be more valuable since he lives it every day....and sometimes at night as well. :eek: