Chele
join:2003-07-23
kudos:1 | Automatic Billing, who is doing it? Who is doing fully (or as much as possible) automatic billing in house? That means not using Powercode or any outside billing software/application/service. Currently we are using DMA softlabs for radius and a x86 MTK box.
In a perfect world the radius manager would be told by Authorize.net that the payment transaction went through OK and the customer would get an IP from the MTK box and be on his merry way. Should anything happen (ie declined or expired CC or anything else) the customer would be taken to a walled garden and asked to correct his CC info or make other arrangements such as Paypal.
Authorize.net says they can provide the code for us to put in our website and it would give customers the ability to change their billing info.
We already take credit cards via Quick Books but we want to streamline the process as much as possible. Customers get charged a flat amount every month. |
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| is this hotspot or regular network?
I have two friends who both have over 600 customers and the only thing they take is void cheque: press the button at the end of the month |
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Chele
join:2003-07-23
kudos:1
1 edit | At this point is just the regular monthly fee. We are also looking into a couple of hotspots, but that is down the road.
Added: we are already doing recurring billing through Quick Books. we just want to make it more convenient to have customers update their cc info and/or pay their bills. |
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I don't see why you are asking, when you state NOT using power code or other platform.
I'm not sure how you would just take payments, and have a gateway, without having it all combined in one system somehow.
We use Azotel. Quickbooks before that. QB sucks for customer managment and what we do as a WISP.
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»www.wirelessdatanet.net |
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Chele
join:2003-07-23
kudos:1 | You are not doing it in-house if you are using Azotel or Powercode. Theoretically, this can be done with the radius server(at least DMA Softlabs) and Authorize.net, I'm looking into any input from someone already doing it as to what issues might arise. |
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| reply to Chele
Gotcha,
You want an "in-house", non-managed solution.
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»www.wirelessdatanet.net |
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I know this doesn't really fit your spec, but we use Netsuite with a connector to our radius database. I'm guessing you could do something similar with sugar and the right billing module. Tract comes to mind but that costs $$. |
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We just recently went to Platypus. Extremely configurable. Interfaces with about everything; radius servers, etc. Also has many billing connectors: Authorize.net, IP Pay. Our system automatically turns customers off and on with radius integration. Bandwidth is also provisioned automatically via the radius server. When an account is on hold for late pay, we redirect them to a Platypus portal so the customer can pay their bill directly via credit card or online check. Customer can also change their billing plans via the portal. It will will take a bit to get everything talking to each other; but their customer support is excellent. They are on a monthly pricing that is tiered. We pay 220/mo for a 2000 account license. I think the lower ones start at around 100/mo. Cost covers maintenance, licenses, upgrades, and support. These guys have been around forever. The software is extremely comprehensive. They pretty much have thought of almost everything in regards to ISP billing and provisioning. www.ispbilling.com to check them out.
-eric |
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| reply to Chele
Just be careful how you are storing financial data.. PCI compliance requirements are pretty strict now.
The billing itself is not terribly difficult through any provider API, I believe Authorize.net has a tokenization system too if you don't want to worry so much about PCI. |
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