Frequently asked questions
Short answers with a link to the page that explains each topic in full. For error messages and failed calls see Troubleshooting.
Rates and routes
Section titled “Rates and routes”How do I upload a vendor’s rate deck?
Section titled “How do I upload a vendor’s rate deck?”A vendor’s price list is a Termination Route. Open Vendors → Termination Routes, click Routes in the row of the vendor’s set, then Upload, and map the columns of the vendor’s file in Map CSV Columns. See Termination routes.
What happens to existing prices when I upload a new price list?
Section titled “What happens to existing prices when I upload a new price list?”It depends on the Action of each row. A adds a rate and closes the open-ended rate of the same prefix at the new activation date, so CDRs keep the price they were rated with. U and S change a rate in place by id or by prefix; dates in the past cannot be changed. AS updates the prefix if it exists and adds it otherwise. D deletes. Use A with a future Activation Date for regular price changes. See Activation and expiration dates.
How do I show more decimal places for prices?
Section titled “How do I show more decimal places for prices?”Prices are stored with full precision; the panel only rounds them for display. Raise Display Precision in System Management → System Parameters → Web Interface, Security. The precision of the stored call cost is a separate setting, Cost Decimal Precision, on each tariff and vendor. See CDR call cost rounding.
How do I price interstate and intrastate calls differently?
Section titled “How do I price interstate and intrastate calls differently?”Enable Local Calling on the tariff or the termination route and give the rates an Area/State Name with local prices. See Local calling.
Why does a change to rates or routing not apply immediately?
Section titled “Why does a change to rates or routing not apply immediately?”The call engine caches tariffs, rates, routes, termination routes, routing groups and DIDs. Changes reach it within about a minute, longer after a large upload. Wait before you test with Test Dialplan. See System cache.
Routing
Section titled “Routing”How do I split traffic between connections by percentage?
Section titled “How do I split traffic between connections by percentage?”Add Weighted Distribution to the Routing Policy of the routing group and give each entry a Weight. The share of an entry is its weight divided by the sum of all weights: 20, 30 and 50 give 20%, 30% and 50%, and so do 40, 60 and 100. Weights that add up to 100 are the easiest to read; 35, 45 and 85 do not mean 35%, 45% and 85% but about 21%, 27% and 52%.
The split is random per call and has no memory, so 100 calls do not divide exactly 20/30/50; the proportion holds over many calls. See Weighted distribution.
What do the 1xx and 2xx timeouts do?
Section titled “What do the 1xx and 2xx timeouts do?”They limit how long the switch waits for a connection before it tries the next one. The 1xx Timeout on a route is the wait for any provisional response such as 180 Ringing or 183 Session Progress and detects dead gateways; the 2xx Timeout is the wait for the answer. Both run from the moment the INVITE is sent, together with the connection’s Reply Timeout, and the first to expire wins. The last entry of a routing group uses the group’s Final 2xx Timeout. See Call timeouts.
How do I set up tech prefixes?
Section titled “How do I set up tech prefixes?”There are three places, depending on the direction:
- From a customer. A CLD Translation Rule on the account’s Authentication Rule adds or strips the prefix of calls from that source. A prefix added here must exist in the tariff’s rates and in the termination routes of the routing group.
- From a registered device. The CLD Translation Rule on the account applies to calls of the account itself.
- To a vendor. The CLD Translation Rule and CLI Translation Rule of the vendor’s Connection add the vendor’s prefix just before the INVITE is sent, so your rates and routes stay prefix-free.
The rule s/^/53872#/ adds the prefix 53872#, s/^53872#// removes it. See Number translation.
How do I give one customer different prices or routes by CLI or by prefix?
Section titled “How do I give one customer different prices or routes by CLI or by prefix?”Add an Authentication Rule per case with Incoming CLI/ANI or Incoming CLD/DNIS patterns, and set its own Tariff and Routing Group under Advanced Parameters. See Route and price calls by CLI or CLD.
Quality
Section titled “Quality”What are ASR and ACD?
Section titled “What are ASR and ACD?”ASR (answer-seizure ratio) is the share of call attempts that were answered, as a percentage. ACD (average call duration) is the total duration of answered calls divided by their number, in seconds or minutes.
Low ASR means many attempts that use capacity but earn nothing; low ACD usually means call-centre traffic. Typical ACD is several minutes for retail traffic, about five minutes for wholesale and one to two minutes for call centres; very short ACD traffic is hard to place with vendors. The switch itself does not change ASR: it reflects your customers’ traffic and your vendors’ quality. Reports → ASR/ACD Reports shows both per caller and per vendor. See Understanding ASR and Reports.
Authentication
Section titled “Authentication”Can an account call with a CLI that differs from its VoIP login?
Section titled “Can an account call with a CLI that differs from its VoIP login?”Yes. By default a registered device that sends a CLI different from its account name is rejected with 403 Authentication Failed. Check Trust Caller Info on the Advanced tab of the account to let it send any CLI. Use it only for accounts you trust, since the CLI is then whatever the device sends. See Accounts.
Why do I get “Another Authentication Rule with conflicting parameters exists”?
Section titled “Why do I get “Another Authentication Rule with conflicting parameters exists”?”Authentication rules must be unique across the switch: another account already has a rule with the same Remote IP Address, Incoming CLI/ANI and Incoming CLD/DNIS. Search for it with My Customers → Account Lookup, then make one of the rules more specific. See Authentication.
CDRs and logs
Section titled “CDRs and logs”How do I see the SIP log of a call?
Section titled “How do I see the SIP log of a call?”Open the call in Reports → Call Records (CDRs) and copy its Call-Id from Call Details, or click the chevron of the row and use Extract SIP Log. Then open Tools & Debugs → SIP Logs Viewer and search by the Call-ID. See SIP Logs Viewer.
Why are old CDRs missing?
Section titled “Why are old CDRs missing?”CDRs older than the Archive All CDRs in period of System Parameters → Backup, Data Retention are moved to the archive, and those older than Purge All CDRs in are deleted. Archived CDRs can be restored by support. See System parameters and Archive CDRs.
Currencies
Section titled “Currencies”How do I change the base currency of an environment?
Section titled “How do I change the base currency of an environment?”Base Currency is set in My Preferences of the root customer and can only be changed in an empty environment, before the first tariff, service plan or account exists. Afterwards keep the base currency and trade in other currencies through Exchange Rates, or ask support to reset the environment. See Exchange rates.
Support and operations
Section titled “Support and operations”How do I move my installation to new hardware?
Section titled “How do I move my installation to new hardware?”Open a request with support. The support team installs the software on the target server, replicates your data, and switches over at a time you agree on; the old server keeps processing calls until then. See Requirements.
Why keep a support and maintenance contract?
Section titled “Why keep a support and maintenance contract?”Because hardware fails, new vulnerabilities are found in the software and the third-party packages it uses, and only the three most recent major versions receive fixes. A valid contract gives you 24/7 help with outages, security updates as they are released, and upgrades before your version leaves support. See Supported versions.
Where are commissions for resellers and account managers configured?
Section titled “Where are commissions for resellers and account managers configured?”Either through a second price layer for a reseller customer, or with a Commission Agent on the account or customer form. See Commission models.