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Creating a service with multiple off-peak periods

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This chapter shows you how to use off-peak periods to create different rates for different times of the day or week, and also how to apply different discounts based on time period. For more information on off-peak periods, please refer to the Rating individual calls section.

In the example that we use in this chapter, we assume that the goal is to set up a product that will provide calls to Germany with:

  • 100 free weekend minutes.
  • 200 free night minutes.

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.

The checklist below assumes that you have already configured the basic SIP service according to the instructions provided in Basic residential VoIP service handbook.

Operation

Done

Enable off-peak periods on the Configuration server

Create first and second off-peak periods on the Tariff Management page

Define different rates for the first and second off-peak periods

Add off-peak quotas to the volume discount plan

Enable off-peak periods on the Configuration server

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You have to enable the second off-peak period feature by activating the MultiOffPeakPeriod option via the PortaSwitch Configuration server web interface. It is  located in the PortaSwitch > Web Cluster > Tariff group.

 

Enable off-peak periods

  1. Click the Save button and then the check_apply Verify button.
  2. Verify the new configuration and click the check_apply Check/Apply button.

Define off-peak periods

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Off-peak periods are defined per tariff as shown on the sequence of screenshots in this section. We will define two off-peak periods:

  • weekends (from the midnight of Saturday until the midnight of Monday) as the first off-peak period, and
  • night hours (from 9 PM until 8 AM) as the second off-peak period.
  1. On the navigation menu on the left, select Service catalog and click Off-peak periods.
  2. On the Create off-peak periods panel, specify the following details:
    • Name – type a short name for the off-peak object;
    • Managed by – select Administrator only here.
  3. Click Save.

    Add off-peak periods

  4. On the Edit Off-peak periods panel that opens, select one of the three options in the Use off-peak rates if session field depending on when you want the call to start and/or finish.

    Configure off-peak

  5. Go to the Off-peak period intervals panel and click Add.

    Add off-peak period intervals

  6. On the first page of the dialog window, enable the Select whole day option as we are setting weekends as the first off-peak period. Click the Continue button.

    Select whole day option

  7. On the second page disable the Select all days option and choose Sunday and Saturday from the list. Click the Continue button.

    Select all days option

  8. On the third page, enable the Select all months option and click the Finish button.

    Select all months option

  9. Now you need to define the second off-peak period (from 9 PM until 8 AM during working days). Click the Add button.

    Define the second off-peak period

  10. On the first page disable the Select whole day option and specify 21:00 in the Start time field and 08:00 in the End time field. Click the Continue button.

    Specify the time interval

  11. On the second page disable the Select all days option and choose all the days except Sunday and Saturday from the list. Click the Continue button.

    Disable the Select all days option

  12. On the third page, enable the Select all months option and click the Finish button.

    Enable the Select all months option

    Check the parameters and save

  13. Click Save.
  14. On the Tariff list panel, choose the tariff (SIP Subscribers) for which you want to set up the off-peak period created.
  15. On the tariff panel, click General info and select the previously created off-peak period in the Default off-peak period field.

    Set the default off-peak period

  16. Click Save.

Define rates for off-peak periods

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tips You can define different rates for the first and second off-peak periods on the Rates page. Select the Separate peak/off-peak rate option and select the off-peak period from the list. Insert prices for the first and second off-peak intervals into the two pairs of adjacent fields (0.2 and 0.08 on the screenshot) located below the fields where you define per-minute prices for the first and next intervals:

Specify the off-peak prices

PortaBilling will then check whether the call fits into the first off-peak period; if it does, the price for the first off-peak period will be used. If the call does not fit into the first off-peak period, then the second off-peak period will be checked and that corresponding price will be used if the call fits into this period. Otherwise, peak rates are applied.

Define quotas for off-peak periods

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Now we will add different quotas for the off-peak and second off-peak periods to the volume discount plan created previously.

  1. On the navigation menu on the left, select Service catalog, then Bundles and click Volume discount plans.
  2. Click on the discount plan that you want to edit.
  3. Click VDP configuration and select destination group you want to apply off-peak quota to.
    You can edit discount plans only when they are not in use (not assigned to any product, account or customer).

     

    Define the values for the peak and two off-peak periods

  4. On the Thresholds configuration panel, define the values for the Peak and two Off-peak periods.

    Define the off-peak thresholds

  5. Click Save.

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