This may be getting a little off-topic, but this is a benefit of back-end systems:
We have tiered service levels...the more you pay the faster you go. We have bandwidth caps (FAPs)...the higher level tiered service you pay for, the higher your FAP limit is so you can download more. About this time, we see customers getting slowed down because they hit their FAP. After we explain this to them, most of them opt for a higher level of service so they can download more. This nets us about $50-$60 a month in additional revenue EVERY MONTH for doing nothing but having the limits (and explaining it to them over the phone). No more equipment cost, no truck roll, no blah blah blah... This is for residential, BTW... Currently, business-class service levels currently do not have a FAP. We do get some customers opting for a business class service (higher price) to get no FAP limit. In any case, if this is something you are looking at doing (bandwidth caps), here's something in the "Plus" column... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Blake Covarrubias" <bl...@beamspeed.com> To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org> Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 8:19 AM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Backend systems Oops. Dropped my iPhone and sent that out prematurely & with some unfinished sentences. Oh well. Point is, Plat wasn't that difficult to grok. I think its a great platform to invest time and energy into. The documentation is pretty clear, and the support is good. I recommend it. It definitely helped us streamline our billing and account management, and continues to do so as we implement more of its features. The only issue I have with Plat is the service provisioning dialogs get messy very quickly when provisioning objects with quite a few service parameters. For example, I haven't found a clean way to manage customer DNS records from Plat, or WiMAX QoS profiles. Anyone using Plat should understand the particular limitations I'm talking about. *sigh* Perhaps I'm just looking to integrate too much… -- Blake Covarrubias On Aug 23, 2010, at 8:11 AM, Blake Covarrubias wrote: > Wow. Really? I found the documentation on Plat to generally be > understandable...enough that I was able to wrap my mind around it & > perform a conversion from QuickBooks. > > I implemented Plat in '07. Instead of just importing basic customer info & > starting balances (as recommended) I actually wrote code to import all > historical data from QuickBooks into Plat. Past invoices, payments, etc > biofiwere all re-created in Plat. I even tied in provisioning for most of > our back-end services (email, DHCP, RADIUS, FTP, CPE ) into Plat after the > initial import. > > -- > Blake Covarrubias > > On Aug 23, 2010, at 7:41, tfad...@coastinet.com wrote: > >> I purchased platypus in 2007 and tried to implement it. It was rather >> difficult and cryptic. I abandoned the project. >> >> On Sunday 22/08/2010 at 5:23 pm, David Sovereen wrote: >>> Have you looked at Platypus? Costs less, does more, scales big, and is >>> a proven solution (I've been using for 13 years, since 1997). >>> >>> Dave >>> >>> On Aug 22, 2010 7:50 PM, <tfad...@coastinet.com> wrote: >>> > I have been using Quickbooks memorized transactions since 2001, I >>> > added a JFFNMS monitoring server in 2004, a Scrutinizer Netflow server >>> > in 2007 We currently have 700+ customers >>> > >>> > My main problem with Quickbooks for billing is that it does not handle >>> > late fees adequately, so I don't charge them now. I have 300 customers >>> > I could charge a $5 late fee this month and about 40 people I could >>> > charge a $15 reconnect fee this month as well. That is over $2, 000: I >>> > know with late fees, this number would come down, maybe cut in >>> > half(which would mean I would get my money sooner). That is why I can >>> > cost justify moving to Powercode. I have seen enough improvement over >>> > the last year with Bertram buying them that I feel comfortable enough >>> > to move forward with them. >>> > >>> > My other problems are, call tracking for tech support, auto shutoff >>> > and auto reconnect. Online payment and transaction >>> > history for my customers, double data entry into Quickbooks and >>> > JFFNMS. Everything I need(still keep Netflow Server) to see would be >>> > on one system. My hope is that all the Azotel will continue to improve >>> > which should keep the Powercode folks focused on adding features and >>> > enhancements to their system. Competition is good for everyone! >>> > >>> > >>> > On Sunday 22/08/2010 at 3:33 pm, Mike Hammett wrote: >>> >> I'm looking to have something completely in place by the end of the >>> >> year. Because of the issues Matt pointed out, I don't want to really >>> >> add much more until it's automated. >>> >> >>> >> Well, after I rebuild a bunch of backhauls and turn a new network >>> >> into >>> >> a >>> >> routed one, the backends are next on my list. >>> >> >>> >> There sure isn't much information out there on Azotel. If I didn't >>> >> get >>> >> the Solutions4ebiz emails, I'd think it was a secret. I remember >>> >> deciding against Platypus years ago, but now I don't remember why. >>> >> Maybe I should revisit. >>> >> >>> >> The thing I don't like about WISPMon is that it's outsourced. Well, >>> >> unless I pay $10k, which would be inappropriate for my size. I don't >>> >> outsource my email, my DNS, my hosting, my lawn cutting, etc. >>> >> Everything is in-house . >>> >> >>> >> ----- >>> >> Mike Hammett >>> >> Intelligent Computing Solutions >>> >> http://www.ics-il.com >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> On 8/22/2010 8:52 AM, Mike Hammett wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>> I've been setting up FreeSide... forever. 1) I'm too poor to hire >>> >>> it out properly. 2) I haven't had the time to dedicate to it to >>> >>> finishing it up. >>> >>> >>> >>> I remember seeing someone on here made a new backend system. I'm >>> >>> thinking it was WISPMon, but I'm not sure if there's another out >>> >>> there >>> >>> that a WISP made. >>> >>> >>> >>> It looks as though WISPMon certain does things that FreeSide doesn't >>> >>> and >>> >>> looks a hell of a lot better. However, does it do everything that >>> >>> FreeSide does? >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> >> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >>> >> http://signup.wispa.org/ >>> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> >> >>> >> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >>> >> >>> >> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >>> >> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >>> >> >>> >> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ >>> > >>> >> >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> WISPA Wants You! Join today! >> http://signup.wispa.org/ >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org >> >> Subscribe/Unsubscribe: >> http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless >> >> Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! 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