1.4.6 Retail clients
- Former user (Deleted)
This type of clients encompasses all of the services which are targeted to individual users. They can be grouped as below, based on the method of access criteria:
- Direct SIP calling
- residential phone services, users make calls from a hardware endpoints (IP phones) or PC softphones
- mobile VoIP, calling from softphones running on smartphones or tablets
- Via access number
- PIN or PINless calling cards service (often called a Call through), users dial the PSTN access number from regular phones and then enter the destination number to which connection is realized through VoIP
- Callback – there are many flavors of this service, the principle is that a user triggers the callback through various non-VoIP methods such as SMS, missed call or through http request. Once the callback has been triggered the system initiates a VoIP call to both the user who requested and to the requested destination number or an IVR scenario.
Retail clients are stored in the voipswitch.clientsshared table.
Adding new account
In retail services the accounts are usually created through a sign up process directly from the softphone clients or the web portal with the use of the web APIs which will be described in a dedicated chapter. Still however you may want to add an account manually using the VSM.
The minimal set of information you have to provide include:
- Login – the main reference to the account, must be unique in the whole system.
- SIP password
- Currency
- Tariff
Web/Mobile client password same as SIP password checkbox when ticked use the same password for SIP and to access the Portal or log in to the voipswitch softphones.
The other fields are optional. Once the account is created you will see it filtered in the clients table. Click on the row to open the edit view showing all the account properties are organized in four tabs:
- General
- Profile
- Advanced
- Services
The General tab comprises the authentication and billing information.
On the right there are three buttons Save, Cancel and More. When you click on more a menu appears with additional commands.
Authentication
The retail client type supports the following authentication scenarios:
- SIP digest authentication – when a client makes a call from a SIP endpoint, the system uses login and password pair as authentication credentials.
- PIN authentication - when a client enters digits via DTMF (tones), after connecting to the access number. The system checks if there is a matching PIN in the accounts table.
- ANI (CallerID) authentication – when connecting through an access number, the system checks the FROM header and compares its user part with the numbers defined in the TODO
Note: PIN is an optional field and should be used only with two stage dialing services. The field is located in the Services tab.
To change or check the password click on the password button or go to the More menu and click on Reset password command. The dialog window combines both SIP and web/softphone passwords (if the option to use separate web access passwords is enabled).
The login and SIP password pair can also be used for logging in to the VUP or to the voipswitch generic softphones. This can lead however to security issues when a client’s credentials get stolen. To prevent it you should apply a policy where clients receive only the portal and softphone access passwords which are different than SIP passwords. The latter are never revealed as the endpoints are configured automatically through the provisioning server.
When adding a new client the option Web/softphone client password same as SIP password is ticked by default. Uncheck it and a new input field will appear.
If you want to set the web/softphone password for an existing account use the Reset password function.
Note: To make the system work with the separate passwords go to the Settings/System/General menu and in the Authentication section tick on the Use web/softphone passwords checkbox.
To maintain an adequate security level clients' passwords should not contain login or any easy-to-guess data.
DIDs – SIP trunks
A DID is a phone number which can be reached from PSTN networks, it is also called a SIP trunk. It can be a geographical or toll free number. A call sent to a DID is routed from a PSTN gateway or DID carrier to voipswitch and from there to the client which owns the DID. The details of DIDs implementation are broadly described in the DIDs chapter.
In the client account panel, the table DIDs lists all virtual phone numbers assigned to the client with their details as country, area, setup fee, periodic charge and next payment date.
DIDs can be ordered directly by the client from the softphones or from the user portal. You can do it also on the client behalf from the VSM. Adding new DID opens a wizard dialog which helps you make a purchase. The associated costs will be deducted from the account balance.
Services
The services tab is only present in the retail client type. It comprises of options related to add-on services.
Calls recording
Record calls when on the system will be recording every call made from or to the client. The recording is made by voipbox which then stores the recorded conversations in files.
Call through (PIN and PINless)
Calling through an access numbers section allows to define the authorized caller IDs for the calling card PINless services. In the PINless services calls are authenticated by the caller ID i.e. the user part from the SIP FROM header. In this field you can add phone numbers which belong to the client, they will be authorized for making calls through the access numbers. This option is also provided in the VUP where clients can manage their authorized numbers themselves.
Another option for authentication in the Call through services is by PIN. When a client connects to the access number the system will ask him for entering PIN.
Quick calling
This feature allows clients to define the destination number which will be connected automatically by the system when only the client calls the paired access number. Authentication in this case is through the caller ID.
It is similar to the regular Call through services with the difference that the client is not asked for entering destination phone number. The user experience is like he made a regular call without any intermediary systems. Just instead of the destination number he dials local number.
Before the client can use the service he has to create mapping between the destination numbers and the access numbers given by provider. If a provider offers for example ten different access numbers the user will be able to map ten different destination numbers.
Depending which access number he will dial the system will immediately initiate a call to the destination.
Clients can define the mapping themselves from the VUP.
TODO diagram