Overview
An Account is an entity that represents some logical or physical endpoint in the VoIP network. An example of a physical endpoint is a SIP phone or individual port in a multi-port device. An example of a logical end point is a single DID number in a pool of DID numbers received from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) - SIP gateway.
Each call going through the system is associated with at least one Account. The Sippy Softswitch determines who makes or who receives the call (depends on scenario) during the Authentication phase. After the call ends, all corresponding entities that were involved are charged by the system and CDR records are generated for them accordingly.
Info
Balance - shows the actual balance of an Account. It can be increased/decreased through the "Debit", "Credit" or "Add funds" function in the "Maintenance" section described below.
Base Currency - defines the currency of an Account. If the currency needed is not listed, you may add it on the Exchange Rate page with its corresponding rate. All prices/costs/CDRs on the Account's portal system will display in the Account's currency accordingly.
Expiration Date - displays the end of an Account's life. In other words, this is the date when an Account will be blocked for use. The expiration date may be changed via the "Lifetime, days" field in the "Rating & Billing" section of Account Properties found in each Account's page.
First Use Date - the date of the very first call attempt made by an Account
Created On - date of Account creation
Created By - displays the name of the web user who created the Account
Updated On - date of the last modification of the Account
Updated By - name of the web user who made the last modification
Last Login Date - date of the last login to the Account's web portal
Last Pass. Change - date of the last password change of the Account's web login
Basic Parameters
Account Name - a name of the Account. It can be used in the following cases:
- defines the "Username" for the Account's web portal login
- defines the "Username" for the device/soft-phone registration (Digest Auth.)
- name of a "Voucher ID" in the Top-Up IVR scenario
- defines the card number in the Calling Card IVR scenario
- defines the name of a cabin in the Call-shop scenario
Web Password - defines the password for the login to the Account's Web portal. The password policy may be customized (see "Password Policy" option below).
VoIP Login - defines an "authentication name" for the device/soft-phone registration (Digest Auth.). An example of registration X-Lite soft-phone is provided here.
VoIP Password - defines the password for the Digest Auth. of a device/soft-phone.
Time Zone - defines the time zone for Account's web portal. All CDRs for the Account will reflect he time zone selected.
Language - defines the language of the Account's web portal.
Batch Tag - the tag applied to a particular Account for the purpose of filtering. Tags can be updated via xls(x)/csv files. Tags are useful to define properties allocated to Accounts such as calling cards/vouchers etc. Through the use of tags, switch operators may easily distinguish, or filter Accounts by type and purpose.
Class - by setting up Account Classes, a user can automatically enable or disable features and settings in various Accounts. The Class feature is useful when a large number or batch of Accounts is created as it automates the process of pre-defining the features available. An additional benefit of the ability to create classes is that it enables the user to select and modify predefined classes easily on the Accounts Classes page.
Description - this field provides the ability to list important information (notes) about an Account. The description is visible on the "Accounts" web interface and is searchable so you can search for an Account based on its description.
Routing Group - provides the ability to select a Routing Group for the Account's outgoing calls.
Rating & Billing
Service Plan - mandatory field to complete Account creation. Users should select/define the appropriate Service Plan including the tariffs that match the currency of each Account. Thus, the Account will use a service plan and tariff assigned to it.
Balance - field that defines the amount of credit available to an Account at the stage of Account creation. Once the Account is created, this field is not available to update balances. To top-up an Account's Balance once it has been created it is necessary to use the "Add Funds" option (see "Maintenance" section of Account properties). See more details here.
Credit Limit - field that defines the amount of funds that an Account can spend in advance. See more details here.
Commission Agent - designated agent/customer set to receive a commission from an Account. More info...
Invoicing Enabled - field that denotes whether invoice generation is available for a particular Account. More info...
Invoice Template - select type field for choosing the invoice template to be used each time an invoice is generated. More info...
Advanced Parameters
Max Session Time - a maximum period of time set for the duration of any call that can be made by a particular Account.
Preferred Codec - the codec you set to have preference over others, if a selected codec is present it is moved to the top and used with priority.
Use Preferred Codec Only - if a preferred codec is selected and chosen as the only codec to be used, the system will only process calls that use the preferred codec.
Allow Registration - Registration is a record (stored locally on the server) which contains the IP and the port of a particular device. This option controls whether to allow or disallow a device to be registered against a particular Account.
Max Sessions - a limit on the maximum number of active calls that can be made from or to a particular Account.
Max Calls Per Second - a setting that limits the maximum calls per second that can be put through a particular Account.
Use Media Relay - an option that enables or disables proxy-ing of calls made by a particular Account through media relay. More info...
CPE# - a MAC address of the User-Agent., applicable with the auto-provisioning feature.
CLD Tr. Rule - a Regular Expression rule that can translate CLD (dialed number) before doing rating/routing.
CLI Tr. Rule - a Regular Expression rule that can translate CLI (caller's number) before doing rating/routing. More info...
Trust CLI - applicable when VoIP login differs from Account name. More info...
Follow Me Enabled - enable/disable forwarding of calls. More info...
Allow Free On-Net Calls - allows or disallows making on-net calls for a particular Account in case of negative balance.
Auto-Provisioning - turns on/off auto-provisioning feature. More info...
Caller Name - an option to replace the "Display name" part of the SIP "From" header.
Disallow Loops - a feature that enables/disables a mechanism that is able to reject calls which have been looped. For example, when a call is made from a particular Account and routed to some carrier; then back to Sippy. In this case the new call instance can be rejected because it is the same call already in progress and can be seen on the "Active Calls" page. More info...
Pass P-Asserted-Id - controls whether to pass the "P-Asserted-Id" header to the outgoing call leg. More info...
Password Policy - an option to choose the policy that is applied when you try to change or set the password for a particular Account. The "Default" policy expects that the password:
- should contain both letters and digits;
- should have a minimal length of 7 characters;
- has expiration time of 90 days;
- has to be changed upon the first login.
Alternatively the password can consist of letters only, digits only or any characters. Adding new policies can be requested by way of support ticket through the support portal or by emailing to [email protected].
Generate Ringbacktone - an option to force the system to generate a ringback tone in particular cases. More info...
P-Asserted-Id Tr. Rule - an option to set the translation rule and change the number (provided in PAI header) before sending it to the outgoing call leg. The option expects a Regular Expression string.
DND Enabled - an option to turn on/off the "Do Not Disturb" state. Applicable for incoming calls to a particular Account. When checked, rejects all incoming calls. The caller would receive the No Routes found for the call message
Download Format - sets the default format which will be used when Account downloads CDRs into a file on his Web portal.
Start Page - sets the default page that is opened when Account logs into his Web portal.
DNCL Lookup - if enabled, the system checks the number (dialed by Account) against the DNCL list. If the number is present in the list of prohibited numbers, the call is rejected. More info...
Voicemail & IVR
PIN Code - a code that the system can request as verification (depends on IVR options) when the Account is used as a card number in the Calling Card IVR application. Applicable as an additional security measure.
Welcome Call - enables or disables a welcome call generated by the system upon the first registration of an Account.
VM Timeout, secs - the period of time that the system must wait while the registered UA is ringing. Once the timeout is expired, the calling party (caller) is forwarded to Voicemail. Applicable during incoming calls to the Account.
E-Mail Forwarding - an email address to which the system can forward Voicemail messages (as attachment).
Del. After Forwarding - an option of whether to delete Voicemail messages after forwarding.
VM Check # - a number that can be dialed from a registered device to check the Voicemail box of an Account.
E-Mail Notification - an email address to which the system can send notifications upon receiving a new Voicemail.
VM Enabled - enables or disables Voicemail box.
VM Dialin Access - an option to disable/enable a possibility of reaching Voicemail box via "VM Check #" option. More info...
Anonymous Calling
Hide Own CLI - enables or disables mechanism that hides your number (CLI). Applicable for outgoing calls.
Block Incoming AC - enables or disables mechanism of Anonymous incoming calls detection.
Incoming AC Action - an action to choose what to do with incoming calls with Anonymous CLI where the list of actions is:
- Reject Call - reject the anonymous call with '433 Anonymity Disallowed' message.
- Transfer To Voicemail - do not try to connect the call but send it directly to the voicemail of the On-Net Account.
- Prompt And Reject Call - play the Anonymous IVR message and reject the call.
The Incoming AC Action is respected for On-Net calls only (Registered UA or Trunk).
The behavior for Off-Net calls (routing to On-net is not applied) defaults to Reject Call setting no matter what is configured on Account in order to avoid performance issues on high traffic volume.
Address Info
A batch of options that can keep details about your customers or prospects. Most of the options in these fields exist for information purposes only but their data can be put into an invoice.
"First Name", "M.I" and "Last Name" can be also put into the "Caller Name" option described above.
The fields related to emailing ("E-Mail", "CC" and "BCC") are used to send invoices and to email alerts such as "Low balance" notifications.
Payments
Preferred Method - a preferred payment method that will be selected by default when an Account opens the "Make Payment" page on his portal.
Min. Amount - the minimum amount that is required as payment.
Payment Currency - the currency to be used for making a payment.
On Payment - the action to be carried out after making a payment. "Restart Billing" means to start a new billing period.
Maintenance
Action - an action to apply against the selected Account. "Debit" decreases the balance. "Credit" and "Add funds" increases the balance.
Currency - a currency to use while making a payment.
Amount - an amount of payment.
Notes - a field to put some notes that will be tied with the payment and later visible in Web reports. The maximum length of this field is 256 characters.