FAQs

Yes, we collaborate with our customers and offer custom development when they request new features to be added to PortaSwitch/PortaBilling in each release.

You may also be interested in creating an integration or data pipeline automation specific to your deployment, such as transferring data from PortaBilling to your accounting system. These are typically implemented using PortaOne Workflows. We can help you either by delivering this as a professional service or by providing the required training and templates so that you can do it in-house.

To initiate a feature request process, please contact PortaOne Support.

When our customer sponsors a Feature Request (FR), it is prioritized so we can focus our development resources on what is most important to our customers. Once the feature is developed, it is included in the next Maintenance Release (MR), along with other customer-requested features. The combined code is thoroughly tested to ensure everything functions properly. This MR is then distributed to all PortaOne customers, ensuring consistent software behavior, unified documentation, and standardized support.

While other customers gain access to features you’ve requested, you also benefit from numerous features requested by other PortaOne customers.

We release new features with every Maintenance Release (MR) upgrade, following an agile development schedule that delivers an MR every 7 weeks. This approach ensures that the number of changes in each release is manageable, making the update procedure quick and minimizing the learning curve for our customers.

In addition to new features, every MR includes enhancements to improve functionality, system stability, and bug fixes. You can find more information about our agile product development here.

We are also implementing functionality for integrating with external platforms, such as payment processors or phone auto-provisioning, via Add-on Mart. Its new modules and features can be deployed immediately, without being tied to a specific MR or requiring your PortaSwitch system to be updated.

Our software is deployed and successfully used in a variety of markets and scenarios worldwide. PortaOne has issued approximately 2,000 licenses to over 500 clients in 100+ countries on five continents. Our customers are distributed by location as follows:

• ⅓ in Europe with customer concentration in the UK and Benelux;
• ⅓ in North America (both Canada and the US);
•  ⅓ in the rest of the world, with a strong presence in Africa (10+ countries).

To explore specific success stories of individual customers, visit our website.

PortaOne’s corporate headquarters is in Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver, Canada. Additionally, we have staff working remotely from different countries worldwide, such as Ukraine, the United States, Spain, and Czechia. PortaOne currently has about 200 employees.

The following tasks and types of assistance are charged by the hour as professional services.

Please contact our sales team to discuss rates or to request a quote.

Custom Reports and SQL Queries

• Creating custom reports
• Creating custom SQL queries
• Troubleshooting custom reports and complex SQL queries

Complex Network Infrastructure Administration

• Bonding - the process of combining two or more network interfaces into a single, unified connection to increase the overall data transfer speed
• Setting up VPN services (excluding cases related to cloud systems setup)
• Complex routing (such as source-based routes)

Dedicated Engineering Assistance for PortaBilling API

• Providing guidance on API methods, data structures
• Converting your vision of what an external app should do into a detailed description, including which API methods to use and in what sequence they should be called
• Troubleshooting
• App examples / Proof of Concept (PoC) scripts

Managing the PortaBilling Database Schema or Data

• Updating multiple entries, such as all customers created during the last year, by creating scripts using the PortaBilling API or SQL queries.

Repairing Customer Modifications*

• Repairing or troubleshooting customer-made database or code modifications that caused data inconsistencies or violated data integrity.

*Please note that engineering time for repairs may be billed as a professional service if, during troubleshooting, it is determined that the data inconsistencies or data integrity violations were caused by customer-made modifications.

Remote File Storage Administration

• Creation and management of custom access, multipath configuration of network file storage, mounting points, etc., for backups and other purposes.

CDR Import Configuration

• Data mapping, writing custom logic, troubleshooting, and fixing custom code, adding new logic to custom code, etc.

Migration services

• Pre-migration analysis, Dual Version migration, Zero-downtime update
• Server or VM replacement

Invoice layout design

• Creating custom invoice templates or changing the layout of existing invoice templates.

Sure, the PortaBilling platform can be used for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), and Mobile Virtual Network Enablers (MVNEs) that provide voice, SMS, data, IoT, and M2M services.

PortaBilling functions as both a Business Support System (BSS) and an Online Charging System (OCS), enabling you to manage SIM/eSIM card inventory and product catalog, maintain subscriber database, automate service provisioning, and perform real-time charging and payment collection for the services you provide.

PortaBilling can integrate with 3G, 4G/LTE, and 5G networks, exchanging data with various MNO core mobile network elements, such as HLR, HSS, P-GW, and PCRF. PortaBilling supports the following protocols to perform real-time authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA):

• In 4G/LTE networks: Diameter protocol is used (Diameter Gy for real-time charging of data sessions and Diameter Ro for real-time charging of voice calls and SMS/MMS).
• In 3G networks, where Diameter is not available, CAMEL protocol is used. PortaBilling can perform real-time charging through CAMEL using a CAMEL to Diameter gateways supplied by our technology partners.
• In 5G networks, authorization and charging are performed through the Nchf ConvergedCharging interface, which uses modern REST APIs based on HTTP protocol, unlike the traditional 4G Diameter-based interfaces. PortaOne offers an Add-on Mart adapter module to facilitate online charging in a 5G network via the API.  Additionally, you can implement content-based charging by integrating PortaBilling with the Policy Control Function (PCF). This integration is a part of PortaOne Workflows and allows PortaBilling to pass the info about new and depleted quotas to PCF via the Nchf SpendingLimitControl interface.

Please find FAQs dedicated to mobile services here.

PortaBilling can integrate with network equipment or external applications and collect real-time charging data using traditional telecom protocols for authorization and charging (AAA), such as RADIUS and Diameter.

For legacy equipment that does not support these protocols, or when charging data is provided by third parties (e.g., roaming vendors), CDRs can be imported into PortaBilling from files in TAP3, CSV, fixed-width, or generic XML format (adjustments to specific structure of XML document may be required). PortaBilling will process them and apply charges for customer service usage.

It is also possible to perform AAA from the network equipment or applications that use HTTP/REST web protocols using the Charging API module accessible via the Add-on Mart. This module allows you to:

• Connect modern applications that use HTTP REST API to PortaBilling for service authorization and charging, eliminating the need for traditional telecom protocols like RADIUS or Diameter. This simplifies integration with external platforms, such as video streaming platforms, as it can be built using HTTP REST API, which is widely used and familiar to most developers.
• Enable real-time charging in 5G networks through the Nchf ConvergedCharging interface based on HTTP REST APIs.

Yes, PortaOne offers PortaPhone – a cloud softphone that includes a mobile app for Android and iOS, as well as a web dialer that can be launched in any web browser.

PortaPhone supports the popular softphone features, including:

• Calling features
  • Voice and video calls
  • Call hold and resume
  • Attended and unattended call transfer
  • Voice calls to external (off-net) numbers
  • Call recording
  • Call history
• Messaging and collaboration
  • Instant messaging
  • Group chats
  • Sending SMS directly from the softphone
• Contact management
  • Corporate directory
  • Favorite contacts
• Other features
  • Push notifications to ensure customers receive calls or messages even when the softphone app is inactive (running in the background but not actively in use) or closed.
  • Multi-language support (English, Italian, and Ukrainian are currently available). You can add other languages by providing PortaOne with a translation file.

To offer this softphone to your cloud PBX customers, you’ll need to subscribe to the PortaPhone module in Add-on Mart Marketplace. You can brand the mobile app and publish it under your company name on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Additionally, you can embed sign-up pages or other custom content, such as special offers, directly into PortaPhone.

Yes, you can use PortaBilling's real-time charging capabilities to charge customers when they purchase pay-per-view content on an external website. For example, if a customer decides to watch a football match for $5, funds are immediately withdrawn from the customer’s prepaid balance upon service activation.

Most web-based services, including pay-per-view content platforms, use HTTP REST APIs for authorization and charging and do not support traditional telecom protocols such as RADIUS or Diameter. You can implement the integration with such external services via the HTTP REST API using the Charging API module. To start using this module, subscribe through the Add-on Mart Marketplace.

To automate data synchronization between PortaBilling and a CRM or accounting system – such as automatically creating customer records in PortaBilling when a deal is closed in the CRM, or importing invoices generated in PortaBilling into the accounting system – you can integrate the CRM/accounting system of your choice with PortaBilling using the PortaBilling API.

Alternatively, you can use PortaOne Workflows, a low-code/no-code Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), to integrate with a CRM/accounting system through ready-to-use connectors, eliminating the need for extensive development. You can use existing PortaOne integrations as a template or configure your own.

If you need a CRM integration that allows end users to initiate calls directly from the CRM and link incoming calls with contacts, PortaOne partners with PressOne to offer a web dialer compatible with CRM systems like HubSpot and Zoho. This feature is available by subscription to the corresponding Add-on Mart module (currently, PortaPhoneCRM – Hubspot and PortaPhoneCRM – Zoho modules are available).