Release

LTE configuration

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LTE
(Long Term Evolution) is the new standard for building wireless networks.
PortaBilling serves as the B/OSS system for LTE services, i.e., it manages
customer data (including unified balance), service configuration details,
product/rate tables, etc.

PortaBilling is integrated with the list of devices
to build the LTE network infrastructure and provide full-scale LTE services.
(Please refer to the Verified devices section of the PortaBilling
Administrator Guide for details.). It can also communicate with other
remote devices for LTE service provisioning via the Diameter protocol.

In this document, the LTE network is deployed using
the HuaweiUGW9811 gateway.

This chapter demonstrates how to configure the LTE
service on the PortaBilling side. We assume that prepaid users receive
5 GB of mobile Internet for a $10 monthly fee. Once the 5 GB is used up,
the service becomes unavailable. If the 5 GB quota has not been completely
used up during the month, the unused portion is added to the following
month’s quota. Additionally, there are different speed limitations for
peak and off-peak periods for users – 10 Mbps and 20 Mbps, respectively.

Checklist

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Use this checklist to check off the operations you have completed while performing the system setup according to the instructions in this chapter. Please be sure to perform all of the operations in the order designated (all of the boxes should be checked), otherwise, the service will not work.

Operation

Done

Enable
the NetAccess service type on the Configuration server

Configure
the Diameter (Gy) on the Configuration server

Create
the symbolic destination NETACCESS

Create
a destination group set. Create a destination group within it.
Include the NETACCESS destination

Create
the LTE service

Add
your gateway as a node on the web

Create
vendor tariff A, which describes your data transfer costs

Insert
a zero rate in tariff A for the “|” (pipe) destination

Create
a vendor

Create
a connection with the Internet Access service type for this vendor
by using tariff A

Create
customer tariff B

Insert
a rate in tariff B for the symbolic NETACCESS destination

Create
the Internet access policy with the required name

Create
a volume discount plan for the Internet service

Define
the quota within the volume discount plan

Create
a subscription

Create
a product

Assign the Internet
access policy to the product

Create
a rating entry: generic node plus Any code access code
plus tariff B

Assign
the volume discount plan and the subscription to the product

Add
SIM cards to SIM card inventory

Create
a customer

Create
an account for this customer. Define the account ID in the required
format. Assign the created product. Assign the SIM card

Configure
the ESPF event handler module

Enable the NetAccess service type on the Configuration server

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  1. On
    the Configuration server web interface, go to the Configurations
    tab.
  2. Clone
    the current configuration.

    Enable the Intrenet access service

  3. In the Configuration Tree, click on the BillingEngine node.
  4. In the Groups panel, select the NetAccess group.
  5. For the Enabled option, select Yes.
  6. Click Save and then click Verify.
  7. Verify the new configuration and click Check/Apply.

Configure Diameter (Gy) settings on the Configuration server

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These
settings are necessary to allow the PortaBilling server and your gateway
(router, modem) to exchange packages via the Diameter protocol.

  1. Go
    to the Configurations tab on the Configuration server.
  2. Clone
    the existing
    configuration.
  3. Select the
    Diameter
    group on BillingEngine and configure the following options
    :

    Configure the diameter protocol settings

     

    • Enabled
      – this enables billing through the Diameter protocol. Select Yes.
    • Origin_Host
      – specify the PortaBilling host.
    • Origin_Realm
      – specify the PortaBilling realm.
    • Leave
      the default values for other fields.
  4. Click
    the Save button and then the Verify
    button.
  5. Verify
    the new configuration and click the Check/Apply button

Create destination

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This step is only required if you have not defined
the necessary destination previously. If not, you will need to create
a symbolic NETACCESS destination.

  1. On
    the navigation menu, select Service catalog, Rate codes,
    and then select Destinations.

    Dashboard

  2. Open the Create a destination panel
    and fill in the destination information:
    • Format
      – select Custom from the list.
    • Prefix
      – type in NETACCESS.
    • Description
      – enter useful information about the service being provided (e.g., Internet
      Access
      ), since this is what your clients will see on their xDR Summary
      pages.

      Create a destination

  3. Click
    Save.

Create a destination group set

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For
this scenario, you will need to create a quota by using the volume discount
plan. Creation of a volume discount plan requires a destination groups
set. A destination groups set contains destination groups. A destination
group contain prefixes (e.g., 1206) and/or special destinations (e.g.,
NETACCESS). For the current case, we need to provide access to the Internet,
therefore to create a destination group with the special NETACCESS
destination. To do this, proceed with the following steps:

  1. On
    the navigation menu on the left, select Service catalog, Rate codes
    and click Destination group sets.

    Dashboard

  2. On
    the Create destination group sets panel, fill in the required information:
    • Name
      – type in a descriptive name for the destination
      group set (e.g., Internet Access).
    • Type
      – leave the default type Regular.

      Create a destination group set

  3. Click
    the Save button to save the destination group set.

Define a destination group

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Now
you need to create the actual destination group.

  1. After
    saving a destination group set, the Destination group page opens.
  2. On
    the Create destination group panel, type in the destination
    group name and provide a short description.

    Create a destination group

  3. Click
    the Save button to save the destination group.

Now
you need to add the NETACCESS prefix to the just created destination
group.

  1. To
    do this, on the Destination group
    page, click the default All destinations group.

    Assign prefix to destination group

  2. On
    Search filters panel specify the parameters (e.g., format, prefix,
    country
    ) to find the required destination in the list and click Apply
    filters.

    Assign prefix to destination group

  3. On
    the Destination list panel select the prefix you want to include
    (NETACCESS) in the destination group and click Assign to group.

    Assign prefix to destination group

  4. Select
    the destination group (Internet Access) and click Assign.
    The selected prefixes will be added automatically to the destination group.

    Assign prefix to destination group

Create the LTE service

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Services provide a way to define how charges are calculated
(e.g. whether customers are charged based on the time they stay online
or by the amount of data transferred) and how these are then presented
on the invoices.

  1. On
    the navigation menu go to Service catalog
    and select Services.
  2. Open
    the Create service panel and fill in the required information:
    • Name
      – a short descriptive name for this service that will be used in select
      menus and shown on the customer self-care pages. Type LTE into
      this field.
    • Type
      – select Internet access.
    • Rating
      base
      – select upload+download (kilobytes).
    • Base
      unit
      – select kilobyte.
    • Billing
      unit
      – select megabyte. This will be shown on statistics pages
      and on invoices.
    • Base
      ratio
      – type 1024.
    • Usage
      charge
      – select Yes here.
  3. Click
    Save.
    Create a service

Create a node

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This step is only required if you have not previously
configured your gateway in PortaBilling. In that case enter your gateway
as a node. PortaBilling requires key information about your network equipment,
such as IP address, Node ID, etc.

  1. On
    the navigation menu, select Infrastructure, then Billing data
    sources
    , and click Nodes.
  2. On
    the Create node panel, fill in the node details:
    • Name
      – a short descriptive name for this node (e.g., LTE Node).
    • Node
      ID
      – specify the node ID; it must include the origin host defined
      on the customer’s gateway (in our example node.huawei.com).
    • IP
      – the IP address of your gateway.
    • Manufacturer
      – select Huawei.
    • Type
      – select UGW9811.
  3. Click
    Save.

    Create a node

  4. On
    the Communication with billing section use
    the slider to enable Communication with billing and fill
    in the node details:
    • Client
      protocol – select Diameter from the list.
    • Realm
      – specify the gateway’s realm. It is used to identify the node in Diameter
      messages.
    • POD
      server
      – use a slider to enable interaction with this server. The
      system will send a special command to this server if an account runs out
      of balance, exceeds its data transfer limit, or expires. The POD server
      will then terminate the LTE session(s) opened by this account.

      Enable comunication with billing

  5. Click
    Save.

tipsTIP: PortaBilling
is also capable to communicate with other remote gateways via the Diameter
protocol. In this case, select PortaOne
from the Manufacturer and Generic from the Type lists
to configure your gateway as a node.

Create a vendor tariff

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To create the required tariff, follow the following
steps:

  1. On
    the navigation menu on the left, select Service catalog and click
    Tariffs.

    Dashboard

  2. On
    the Create tariff panel, fill in the tariff details:
    • Name
      – a short name for the tariff object (e.g., Vendor LTE tariff);
      this is the name you will see in select menus.
    • Currency
      – choose the currency in which the vendor charges you.
      The currency
      for the tariff may be chosen only once and cannot be changed later.
    • Service
      – select the LTE service.
    • Applied
      to
      – choose Vendor in the Applied to select menu.

      Create a tariff

  3. Click
    Save.

Enter rates for the vendor tariff

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  1. Open the “Vendor LTE tariff” and click Rates.
  2. On the Add rate panel, fill in the rate details:
    • Rate code – type in the ‘|’ (pipe) destination.
    • Rating mode – select Flat rate.
    • Rounding – leave the default “1” value for this example.
      See more info on the Rounding option in the UI help.
    • Unit price – price per billing unit (in this example, per megabyte). If you don’t intend to calculate costs, specify zero “0” rate for this vendor tariff.

      Add Rates

  3. Click Save.

Create a vendor

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This step is only required if you have not entered
vendor information to the system before.

  1. On
    the navigation menu, select Infrastructure, then select Vendors.
  2. On
    the Create vendor panel, fill in the vendor details:
    • Name
      – type a short name for the vendor object (for example, LTE Vendor).
    • Currency
      – leave the base currency.
    • For Opening balance and Billing
      period
      fields leave the default values since this symbolic vendor
      is created only so that the system will function properly.

      Add a vendor

  3. Click
    Save.

Define a connection

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  1. On
    your vendor’s panel (LTE Vendor), click Connections.
  2. On
    the Create connection panel, fill in the connection details:
    • Description
      – type in a short description for this connection (in this example LTE).
    • Service
      type
      – select Internet access.
    • Tariff
      – select the vendor tariff you created earlier.
    • Node
      – select the LTE node which you previously added as a node.
    • Capacity
      – in the Capacity field specify the maximum number of sessions
      you anticipate handling on this gateway in the near future. This parameter
      is only used for correctly scaling the load graph for the connection.

      Define a connection

  3. Click
    Save.

Create a customer tariff

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In the given scenario, users are charged via subscription.
Therefore, we create this tariff as supplementary object to create a product
later on.

To create the tariff required, follow the next steps:

  1. On
    the navigation menu, select Service catalog and click Tariffs.
  2. On
    the Create tariff panel, fill in the tariff details:
    • Name
      – type in a short name for the tariff object; this is the name you will
      see in the select menus.
    • Currency
      – select the currency in which you will charge your customers.
    • Service
      – select LTE from the list.
    • Applied
      to
      – select Customer as this tariff will be used to charge
      your customers.
    • Managed
      by
      – select Administrator only here.
      Create a customer tariff
  3. Click
    Save.

Enter rates

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  1. Open the "Customer LTE tariff" and click Rates.
  2. On the Add rate panel, fill in the rate details:
    • Rate code – type in the NETACCESS destination directly or select it from the list.
    • Rating mode – select Flat rate here.
    • Rounding – leave the default “1” value for this example.
      See more info on the Rounding option in the UI help.
    • Unit price – price per billing unit (in this example, per megabyte). Specify $0.001 for this example.
      The price must be higher than 0. This ensures that a session is disconnected once the Internet quota has been used up.

       

      Add rates to customerr tariff

  3. Click Save.

Create a service policy

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Data access policies are typically configured in PCRF
(Policy Control and Charging Rules Function) within LTE networks. These policies define such
settings as bandwidth, QOS, etc.

According to the current scenario,
you need to provide Internet service with 10 Mbps speed for peak time
and 20 Mbps speed for off-peak time. To do this, create a policy in PCRF,
e.g., Golden, and specify the necessary values. Next, create
an Internet access service policy with the same name (Golden) in
PortaBilling. Once a new account is created in PortaBilling and this
service policy is assigned to it, ESPF provisions data to PCRF (matching
the service policy assigned to the account in PortaBilling and the service
policy created in PCRF by name). Once the user connects to the network,
access to the Internet is provided according to the Golden policy
(the speed values specified in the PCRF policy are used).

To create an Internet access policy in PortaBilling,
follow these steps:

  1. On
    the navigation menu, select Service catalog and click Service
    policies
    .
  2. On
    the Create service policy panel, fill in the Service policy
    details:
    • Name
      define a name that matches the speed policy on the network side (e.g.,
      Golden)
    • Service type
      – select Internet
      access.
    • Managed
      by
      – choose Administrator only here.
  3. Click
    Save.

    Create an Internet Access Policy

  4. On
    the Access policy panel, type any values into the table’s fields;
    the billing engine will ignore them and instead use the speed defined
    on the network side.

    Edit the Internet Access policy

  5. On
    the Attributes panel, adjust your service provisioning based on
    the specifics of your gateway.
  6. On
    the Hotlining panel define conditions on which your users will
    be redirected to the hotline portal:
    • If
      account is out of funds
      – select this
      option to redirect end users if their traffic quota or balance are insufficient
      for accessing the Internet.
    • If
      account is suspended or blocked
      – select
      this option to redirect end users whose accounts are blocked, suspended
      or expired.
    • Captive
      portal URL
      – specify your hotline portal address.

      Configure hotlining

  7. Click
    Save.

Create a volume discount plan

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Quota is assigned via a volume discount plan. To do
this, proceed with the following steps:

  1. On
    the navigation menu on the left, select Service catalog, then Bundles
    and click Volume discount plans.

    Create a volume discount plan

    Configure the volume discount plan

  2. On
    the Create discount plan panel, fill in the volume discount plan
    details.
    • Name
      – a short descriptive name for this volume discount plan (e.g., Quota
      for LTE
      ).
    • Currency
      – select the currency in which you charge your customers.
      The currency
      for the volume discount plan may be chosen only once (at creation) and
      cannot be changed later.
    • Apply
      discounts to
      – leave the default value here Individual combinations
      of Services/Destination Group.
    • Destination
      group set
      – choose the destination group set you created in the previous
      steps.
    • Destination
      group lookup type
      – select Same destination as rate here.
    • Managed
      by
      – choose Administrator only here.
    • Description
      – specify an extended discount description.

Please consult the Volume Discount Plans section
in the PortaBilling
help
a description of the parameters available here.

Define an Internet quota

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  1. While
    on the Edit discount plan panel, click the VDP configuration
    link.
  2. On
    the Create volume discount group panel fill in the following information:
    • Type
      – select Quota.
    • Service
      – select LTE here.
    • Volume
      measured
      – as the discount levels will be based on the total amount
      of transferred data, choose Service used, megabyte. For more details about
      different discount level options, see the PortaBilling
      Administrator guide
      .
    • Destination
      group
      – select the destination group from the list that this discount
      will apply to (Internet Access in our example).
    • Reset
      threshold counters
      – select Monthly.

      Define an Internet quota

  3. Click
    Save. You are redirected to the quota configuration panel.
  4. On
    the Thresholds configuration panel, configure the following:
    • Peak
      period thresholds
      – specify a threshold value here.
    • Use
      separate thresholds for the first off-peak period
      – enable this option
      if you have specific threshold values for off-peak periods.

tipsTIP: To configure
quota schemes for off-peak periods, refer to the Creating
a service with multiple off-peak periods
handbook.

Quota configurations

  1. On
    the Advanced configuration panel, configure the following:
    • Split
      xDRs
      if a session spans over several rating periods – when
      a session spans several rating periods (e.g., covers both peak and off-peak
      periods) it is divided into portions and two xDRs (for each period) can
      be created. Our scenario does not include this condition, so leave this
      checkbox unselected.
    • Prorate
      thresholds for first usage period
      – enable this option to prorate
      the quota threshold according to the number of days remaining in the first
      usage period after the volume discount plan has been assigned.
    • Allowed
      number of rollovers
      – if at the end of the month there are unused
      megabytes, they will be rolled over to the next month. Select the number
      of rollovers from the list.
    • Internet
      access mode when quota is exhausted
      – select Blocked. With
      this option selected, once the quota is exhausted, the subscriber no longer
      has access to LTE service.

      Quota configurations

  2. On
    the Notifications configuration panel, configure the following:
    • Notify end user when:
      • Remaining
        peak period quota is, megabyte
        – define the warning threshold value;
        the end user will be notified when their remaining traffic approaches
        a discount threshold.
      • Peak
        period quota is exhausted
        – enable this option if you want to notify
        the customer when the quota threshold is crossed. If no email is specified
        for the subscriber, notification will be sent to the customer whom the
        subscriber belongs to.

        Quota configurations

  3. Click
    the Save button.

Create a subscription

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According to the current business scenario, end users
are charged a defined monthly amount of money via subscription. Therefore,
you need to create a new subscription plan.

  1. On
    the navigation menu, select Service catalog and click Subscription
    Plans
    .
  2. On
    the Create subscription panel, fill in the required information:
    • Name
      – name of the subscription plan that will be used on the Admin interface.
    • Subscription
      name visible to end user
      – provide the name of the subscription plan
      that your customers will see on their self-care interfaces and invoices.
    • Currency
      – indicates which currency is used for pricing information. A subscription
      plan can only be applied to a product, account or customer using this
      same currency.
      The currency
      for the subscription plan may only be chosen once and cannot be changed
      later.
    • Managed
      by
      – select Administrator Only.
    • Subscription
      charges applied
      – select In advance, to apply subscription
      charges to the account/customer balance during the first days
      of the billing period.
    • Periods
      in advance
      – specifies for how many periods advance charges should
      be made. Type in 1.
    • Activation
      mode
      – defines when the subscription will be considered active (and
      charges will begin to apply): either simply from the date it is entered
      into the system, or you may postpone it until the date when the customer
      actually uses the account for the first time. Select Upon the account’s
      first usage
      .
    • Activation
      fee
      – the value charged for every new subscription upon startup. Leave
      this field empty to waive the activation fee.
    • Monthly
      fee
      – specify the fee value that will be applied to your customers
      every month.
    • Can be applied more than
      once

      select this checkbox to assign the same subscription multiple times to
      one account. You can only use this option when you are adding a new subscription
      plan. For new subscriptions, the Can be applied more than once
      option is off by default (so that subscription charges are not applied
      multiple times for the same account).
  3. Click
    Save.

    Create a Subscription

  4. On
    the Subscription plan panel, click General configuration.
  5. On
    General configuration panel, you can configure the following
    options:
    • Issue
      credits for the days when
      – here you can choose under which conditions
      to issue credits for a subscription fee.

      Customers may not have access to the service due to suspension, block, account expiration,
      or lack of funds. To exclude charges for the days when no service was
      provided, a subscription fee is charged in full and then credits are issued
      for the days when no service was available. By default, credits for a
      subscription fee are issued under all conditions: the account was expired,
      the account or customer was blocked, the customer was suspended, or no
      funds were available (the balance of a customer or an individual account
      reached the credit limit or ran out of available funds).
      Clear the checkboxes if you want to charge the subscription fee for these days.

    • Skip
      credits, charge in full
      when one or several
      conditions are set to issue credits for a subscription fee, you can skip
      credits for the first, last, or/and regular billing periods by selecting
      the corresponding checkbox.
    • Description – you can specify an extended description for this subscription plan.

       Subscription plan general configuration

  6. Go to Fees panel and fill in the required information:
    • Round
      up to
      – leave the default value unchanged if you want to calculate
      charges with the maximum available precision; otherwise, see the PortaBilling
      help
      for more details about setting up rounding.
    • Activation
      tax transaction code
      – specify the internal tax transaction code from
      the list. PortaBilling will use this code to extract taxation codes for
      EZTax, Avalara, GST or SureTax taxation plug-ins and send them for tax
      processing for services covered by a subscription activation fee.
    • Monthly
      fee
      – click  image038 icon to select a specific
      billing period the periodic fee value will be defined for.

      timesaver You can manage the periodic fee value for different billing periods. When another billing
      period is selected in the Show rates for dropdown list, the Periodic
      Fee
      field is populated with auto-calculated fee values (e.g., if a
      $10.00 periodic fee is defined for customers with a monthly billing period,
      a $2.33333 periodic fee will be applied to customers with a weekly billing
      period, etc). Of course, you may change the actual values afterwards (e.g.,
      make weekly billing more expensive by setting the fee to $3.00).

    • Prorate
      fee for the partial billing period
      – when a customer signs up for/cancels
      a subscription in the middle of a billing period, you can charge either
      a prorated or full periodic fee. By default, customers are charged a prorated
      fee based on the number of days the subscription is active during the
      first/last partial billing period.
      • First
        billing period
        – select the checkbox to charge a prorated fee for
        the first billing period. Clear the checkbox to charge customers a full
        periodic fee, no matter when they activate their subscription.
      • Last
        billing period
        – select the checkbox to charge a prorated fee for
        the last billing period. Clear the checkbox to charge customers a full
        periodic fee, no matter when they cancel their subscription.
        If
        you set up the non-prorated (full) fee, credits may still be issued for
        the days when a customer cannot use the service due to service suspension,
        block, having exceeded credit limit, etc. (credits are issued according
        to the Issue credits for the days when and
        Skip credits, charge in full options
        configuration).
    • Usage
      tax transaction code
      - specify the internal tax transaction code from
      the list. PortaBilling will use this code to extract taxation codes for
      EZTax, Avalara, GST or SureTax taxation plug-ins and send them for tax
      processing for services covered by the periodic subscription fees.
    • Minimum
      subscription period
      – time (in months) during which the customer must
      keep the subscription plan active in order to avoid penalties. Leave this
      field empty to create a subscription plan that can be closed at any time.
    • Early
      cancellation penalty
      – if the subscription
      is cancelled earlier than the minimum subscription period, a one-time
      fee is applied. The following options are available:
      • Fixed
        – a fixed charge is applied without taking
        account of when the subscription was cancelled.
      • Remaining
        subscription charges
        – the charge will
        depend on when the subscription was cancelled.
    • Cancellation
      tax transaction code
      – specify the internal tax transaction code from
      the list. PortaBilling will use this code to extract taxation codes for
      EZTax, Avalara, GST or SureTax taxation plug-ins and send them for tax
      processing for services covered by the subscription cancellation fee (e.g.,
      administrative costs). Define periodic fee
  7. Click
    Save to save the Subscription plan.

Create a product

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Accounts for specific products will be issued for
accessing your Internet services.

  1. On the navigation menu, select Service catalog and
    click Products.
  2. On the Create
    product
     panel, fill in the
    product details:
    • Name
      type in a short name for the product object; this is the name you will
      then see in the select menus.
    • Name visible to end users – specify the name of this product
      that your customers will see on their self-care interface.
    • Product type – select
      Main product here.
    • Currency
      choose a currency the product will be priced in.
    • Managed by
      select Administrator only here, since we are setting up a service
      without the involvement of resellers.
    • Account default
      ACL
       – choose an Access Control List (ACL) for accounts with this
      product assigned. ACLs control which objects end users can access to and
      which actions they can perform.
    • Account role –
      select Mobile to associate this product with mobile subscribers.
  3. Click Save.

    Create a product

Included services

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Define which service types are included in the product.
A service type is a description of the physical service provided to end
users.

To add a service type:

  1. On
    your product’s panel, click Services.
  2. On
    the Services panel, click Add a service.
  3. In
    the Select services to add dialog box, select LTE and Mobile
    network provisioning
    services and click Add.

    Add services

Service configuration

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Define the default values of the service attributes
for all the accounts that this product will be assigned to.

  1. Go
    to the Internet access configuration page and configure the following:
    • Session limit –
      use a slider to
      enable the option to define
      a specific number of simultaneous
      sessions.
    • Access policy –
      use a slider to
      enable the option to define an Internet
      access policy and set different bandwidths for different times of day.
    • Internet access policy –
      select the access policy you have created earlier (e.g.,
      Golden).

      Internet access configuration

Usage charges

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The rating list has two functions: it defines permitted
access points (nodes and access numbers) and specifies which tariff should
be used for billing in each of these points.

  1. On
    your product’s panel, click Charges, then click Usage charges.
  2. On
    the Usage charges panel, click Add.
  3. Fill
    in the required information:
    • Service
      – select LTE.
    • Node
      – select the LTE node.
    • Access
      code
      – leave this field empty.
    • Tariff
      – select the tariff that applies to your customers when they use the LTE
      service.
    • Overdraft
      protection
      – to configure overdraft protection for this product, consult
      the Configure Overdraft Protection Section within the Product section
      in the Overdraft
      protection configuration
      handbook.
  4. Click
    Save.

    Add usage charges

Charges

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On the Charges panel you can define special
pricing such as volume discounts, regular payments such as subscriptions,
and set up overdraft protection.

  1. To
    access this panel, click Charges on your product’s panel, then
    click General info.
    Overdraft protection
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    • Use
      the slider to turn on/off overdraft protection. For obvious reason,
      turning off overdraft protection is not recommended for general use
    Recurring charges
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    • Subscription
      – to bundle the required subscription with the product, select previously
      created LTE subscription plan from the list of subscription plans
    Volume discounts
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    • Default
      discount plan
      – to bundle the required quota with the product, select
      previously created Quota for LTE volume discount plan from the
      Default discount plan list.

      Configure Charges

  2. Click the Save button to save the Product.

Enter SIM cards into the SIM card inventory

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Refer
to the Enter
SIM Cards into the SIM Card Inventory
section of the MVNO service
provisioning
handbook to find out how to add SIM cards
into the SIM card inventory.

Create a customer

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A customer is an owner of accounts. Customer contact
information is used for distributing account usage information, Internet
access statistics, invoices, etc. You usually need to create one customer
per each retail prepaid LTE user.

  1. On the navigation menu, select Sales, then select Customers.
  2. On the Create customer panel, fill in the customer details:
    • Name
      – type a short name for the customer object; this will be used on the
      web interface.
    • Balance
      control
      – select Prepaid in this field.
    • Currency
      – choose the currency in which this customer will be billed.
    • Available
      funds
      – the amount of funds available
      for the customer to spend on services.
    • Business
      model
      – a business model defines what type of service is to be provided
      to the customer. Select Mobile for this customer.
    • Customer
      class
      – customer class allows you to define a policy for automated
      payment collection. By choosing a specific class here the customer will
      automatically inherit all of the class properties (grace period, invoice
      template, etc.). Select the previously created customer class.
    • Billing
      period
      – choose a billing period for the customer. A billing period
      defines the frequency of invoicing for this customer.
    • Billing
      period time zone
      – choose a time zone in which customer’s billing
      period will be closed and invoices will be generated.

      Create a customer

  3. Click
    Save.

Create an account

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Create an account for each device that has a unique
SIM card.

  1. On
    your customer’s panel, click Accounts.
  2. On
    the Create an account panel, specify the account’s details:
    • ID
      – you can type in the user’s mobile phone
      number manually or provision it from the DID inventory.
    • Account
      role
      – select Mobile.
    • IMSI
      – click on image048 IMSI
      icon and select one of the available SIM cards from the SIM Card Inventory
      dialog box.
    • Product
      – select the LTE Product here.
    • Activation
      date
      – the date from which the account is usable.
    • Type
      – select Credit for your postpaid Internet users.
    • Balance
      control
      – select Subordinate from the list.

      Create an account

  3. Click
    Save to create an account.

Enable the external systems provisioning framework

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ESPF (External Systems Provisioning Framework) is
the event handler framework for provisioning service configuration and
for account management operations done in PortaBilling to the mobile
carrier’s core. It consists of events that are processed by handlers –
special Perl modules. The events processing results are sent to the carrier’s
core.

At this moment, PortaOne can provision data to the
following equipment:

      • Adax
        (AricentHSS handler)
      • Aricent
        (AricentHSS handler)
      • Greenisis
        (Kleos::HSS and Kleos::PCRF handlers)
      • Huawei
        (Huawei::HSS and Huawei::PCRF handlers)
      • NetNumber
        Titan HSS (Titan::HSS handler)
      • Yate
        (YateHSS handler)
      • ZXUN
        by ZTE (ZXUN::HSS and ZXUN::SPR handlers).

For detailed instructions on how to configure ESPF handlers, please refer to ESPF configuration handbook.

To integrate your PortaBilling
system with other equipment, the handlers
can be individually developed for you. For assistance, please contact
our support team by submitting a request to support@portaone.com
and provide the necessary documentation.

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