Bruce, Because of call volume on our network, it's almost impossible to process CDRs in realtime in our DataBase without incurring huge additional cost. So to keep our cost down, we process the CDRs in batch in the middle of the night and the prepaid account balance is updated once per day.
Because we also target business customers, we would get so much hate mail if we would suspend accounts immediately once the prepaid balance is under $0.00!!! So for both reasons, the account doesn't get suspended immediately. We also communicate with the customer by mail and also by phone. As for hacked PBX, we do have an auditing process that runs every hour to detect possible hacked PBX. We detect about 5-10 hacked PBX per week!!! Once our system thinks a customer's PBX has been hacked due to a large amount of calls made to the USA and to international destinations, our auditing process will send an email to the customer with the list of all the calls made in the last hour. My technician and I will receive a page on our blackberry smart phone (in the middle of the night too!) and whoever is on call will have to login into our system to manually verify the account status. If we have strong feelings the customer's PBX was hacked, we call the customer immediately. If we cannot make phone contact with the customer, we would suspend the account immediately to reduce damages. Some customers got charges up to $1,000 in 2 hours!!! But we're now pretty good at it lately and I haven't seen anyone get charge more than $300.00 an hour once their PBX was hacked. But don't take the information in this email as a warranty that our auditing process will detect 100% of hacked customers. Hackers are getting smarter and I'm sure they will find ways to fly below the radar soon! So make sure you use a minimum of 8 digits or more in your passwords! Stephan. On 2010-08-03, at 1:56 PM, Bruce N wrote: > Stephan, > > Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread. I want clarification on this > paragraph: > > "Unlimitel sells a prepaid service and it works exactly like a prepaid > calling card service. If the prepaid account is empty, the service is > suspended. Most VoIP provider runs their prepaid service this way. There's no > credit allowed for any customers using this business model." > > I was told that with DIDs from Unlimitel, in case of an attack or compromised > system, unlimitel does not have a procedure to stop the traffic even if it > goes past the $50 credit that is deposited as pre-paid. With true pre-paid > once the balance reaches $0 the system should stop calls. Is that what > Unlimitel does or is there a chance that a customer might rack up a $1000 > bill if their PBX is compromised or hacked because it sent calls way past the > "pre-paid" $50 credit. > > Or maybe I am not intrepreting your paragraph the right way Stephan. But can > you please shed some light? > > You really put some good details of cost of running business out there :-) I > agree wtih you. > > P.S. My confusions with billings were promptly taken care of through e-mail > by Unlimitel always. I never use phone support for things like this though. > Thanks, > Bruce > > > From: monet...@unlimitel.ca > > Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2010 12:10:10 -0400 > > CC: biz@taug.ca > > To: a...@kovasys.com > > Subject: Re: [biz] Unlimitel > > > > Alex, > > > > Unlimitel sells a prepaid service and it works exactly like a prepaid > > calling card service. If the prepaid account is empty, the service is > > suspended. Most VoIP provider runs their prepaid service this way. There's > > no credit allowed for any customers using this business model. > > > > But Unlimitel does allow 24 hours for customers to fix issues with credit > > card payments (which you already got since you receive the notice > > yesterday). Prepaid calling card companies do not allow this 24hours grace. > > We provide this 24 hours grace at our own expense and risk. Everyone knows > > a customer can run an hefty bill in 24 hours using VoIP, but we do this for > > our customers. > > > > In cases where customers lost their credit card, our billing rep. always > > suggest to go and purchase a prepaid credit card from your local corner > > store in order to fix your payment issue in the short term. The prepaid > > credit card is very useful in situations like yours and will avoid service > > suspension. > > > > Our billing department also offer to accept payment from another person's > > credit card and this was also communicated to you. > > > > But if you choose not to purchase a prepaid credit card or use someone > > else's credit card to fix this issue, this is your call and you will have > > to deal with the consequences. This is just unfortunate that you use this > > forum to complain about your credit card issue where Unlimitel offered you > > temporary solutions in the short term to avoid any problems. > > > > I'm sure you run your business the exact same way. You do not ship any > > products to any customers (regardless of their purchase volume) if the > > payment is rejected on the credit card, do you? I purchase products from > > your company any other businesses on this forum and you shipped it after > > the payment on my credit card was confirmed and this is what I expected, > > nothing less. > > > > Let's educate everyone on this forum. Here's why VoIP providers are using > > the PrePaid business model (not just Unlimitel, but almost every VoIP > > provider in Canada): > > > > 1- Between 6% to 10% of accounts do not get paid when you offer post paid > > services or credit to business customers. So for a $5Millions company (not > > Unlimitel case by the way!) this represents up to $500,000 in lost net > > revenues per year. > > > > 2- PrePaid services do not require full time staff to handle payments. > > Again for a $5Millions company, this would require about 5 full time staff > > at an average of $40k/employee for a total of $200k/year plus real estate > > space, computers,... > > > > 3- PrePaid services are usually fully automated. But for a post paid > > service, the payment process is manual. We also have to factor in the human > > error factor in a few transactions that can run your accountant crazy! > > There's also the bank fees to deposit all the customer's cheques. Bank fees > > will also increase your billing cost. With prepaid credit card, the > > payments are deposit into the business account daily as one payment which > > reduces the bank fees a lot. > > > > Billing services can cost as much as 15%to 20% of the service in some > > situation. > > > > With PrePaid services, the customer ends up saving a lot of money, but they > > have to make sure they have a valid credit card with their provider at all > > time. > > > > Cheers. > > > > Stephan Monette > > Unlimitel Inc. > > > > Tel.: 1-877-464-6638 > > Fax: (613) 482-1077 > > > > > > > > > > > > On 2010-08-03, at 11:38 AM, Kovalenko, Alex wrote: > > > > > Unlimitel is definitely a great company to purchase your VoIP lines from. > > > > > > However they called me today to inform me that our lines will be cut if we > > > do not pay our $50 bill which has been outstanding for only few days > > > immediately by 4pm today. I have explained that my wallet was stolen at > > > the > > > gym last week and I should be able to provide them with a new card over > > > the > > > next few days (it takes Mastercard - 4-5 business days to get the > > > replacement card over). However, Helene told me that they do not really > > > care > > > what happened and will cut if not received by 4pm. (Go get prepaid credit > > > card - she told me.) > > > > > > This is very unfortunate - as I have been with them over 5 years, spent > > > thousands of dollars and at www.VoIPGizmos.ca have recommended them to > > > dozens of other businesses. Stephane - not very cool way to run your > > > business. > > > > > > -- > > > Alex Kovalenko, http://ca.linkedin.com/in/kovasys > > > Director of Operations @ Kovasys IT Recruitment > > > IT Recruitment and Headhunting | Chasseur de Tête en TI > > > 888.568.2747 x701 | www.ITHeadhunters.ca > > > > > > Read about us in the News: > > > http://bit.ly/KovasysNews > > > > > > Join our IT Jobs Association Linkedin group: > > > http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2464449 > > > > > > Follow us on Twitter: > > > http://www.twitter.com/kovasys > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: biz-unsubscr...@taug.ca > > For additional commands, e-mail: biz-h...@taug.ca > >
