AsteriskBilling.com - General technical and billing information for VoIP operators using Asterisk PBX.
The purpose of this site is to offer tips and resources regarding billing software for VoIP providers using the Asterisk PBX softswitch.
Finding the right Asterisk billing software can be a challenge, so it is crucial to understand your billing needs prior to choosing software. Make the correct choice and you will have a solution that offers Service Scalability and Call Volume Scalability.
Other issues to consider are License Fees and Support Fees. Making the wrong choice can leave you with a billing software that is too costly to scale, does not support the features you need to scale, is to expensive to maintain, or simply dies as your call volumes increase.
The two general billing scenarios of VoIP billing are prepaid and postpaid. Each has a number of sub-types. The number of supported billing scenarios would increase the billing application's Service Scalability rating.
There are several common prepaid Asterisk billing scenarios:
PIN Based: PIN based prepaid billing allows the user to call a pre-defined number (local or toll-free) and enter their pin (calling card) number to authenticate the call. Their balance is calculated prior to placing the call and the call is dropped when the balance reaches zero. A good Asterisk billing application will handle both the initial orders and refills in realtime, as well as send automated e-mails alerting of their pin numbers, low balances, etc. The Asterisk billing software's user area should display the CDR for the user to review in realtime. On the backend, the billing application should perform provisioning of the prepaid account with Asterisk, as well as offer tools for creating batch pin numbers for wholesale.
ANI Based: ANI based prepaid billing is the same as PIN based billing. The only difference is instead of the user entering a pin number to authenticate, their ANI details are collected and stored within the Asterisk billing application and checked by Asterisk when the call is placed. A good Asterisk billing application will enable different plans to be configured that allow the number of ANI entries to be limited so tiered pricing can be offered based on the number of ANI records the user desires.
DID Based: DID based prepaid billing works the same way as other forms of prepaid billing, but allows the user to purchase a DID so they can use their SIP devices to place outgoing calls and accept incoming calls as well. Their balance is calculated prior to placing the call and the call is dropped when the balance reaches zero. As with the other prepaid options, the user should be able to top-up their balance online at any time.
PIN + ANI + DID : For the best Service Scalability, look for Asterisk billing software that will allow you to offer both PIN and ANI prepaid billing types. Your ability to quickly roll out new VoIP services depends on your billing application, so plan for the future by selecting a billing solution that supports all common billing scenarios.
This is also known as "retail" type billing...
DID Based: With DID based billing, the VoIP provider is acting like a Vonage style service by offering the user a DID in their country and area of choice. A base service charge plus any setup fees for equipment, etc. is charged on the initial signup, and the service charge plus any overage calling charges are billed on a monthly basis.
If you wish to support this billing scenario, look for a Asterisk billing platform that features a user area for automating orders, billing payment, account management, and lets the user view their call records, voicemail, faxes, and advanced calling features online. A good billing solution will offer an administrative area for managing the DID pools and other enhanced Asterisk provisioning options.
Another feature to look for with this billing scenario would be full provisioning of the DID both on Asterisk as well as on the customer's ATA device. Most large VoIP providers use complex systems that unify all their operation so these systems are fully automated.