http://intrameta.com/ They are a vendor member and good guys. I've talked to them (David Wilson got us hooked up) quite a bit. It sounds like they have a nice system. But the costs are higher than I can justify at this point and last I talked to them they didn't have a billing mechanism in place.
marlon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charles Wu" <[email protected]> To: "WISPA General List" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2009 7:58 AM Subject: Re: [WISPA] ISP billing/management software. > Hi Marlon, > > In no particular order, here's a list of some of the more popular ISP/WISP > billing packages that we see in the market > > Platypus/Tucows > PowerCode > Rodopi > BillMax > Freeside > Emerald / IEA Software > > Every package has their strengths and weaknesses -- ultimately, it comes > down to personal preference and business processes to see what's a best > fit > > Whatever it is that you end up with...be sure to check out ip pay > (www.ippay.com) for your back-end payments =) > > -Charles > > P.S. -- in all seriousness -- QuickBooks does a really good job of hosing > merchants (especially ISPs) on their payment processing -- we actually > just helped another ISP/WISP pay for a new billing system with the $400 / > month we were saving when they switched from QuickBooks Merchant Services > to IP Pay > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Marlon K. Schafer > Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2009 9:52 AM > To: WISPA General List > Cc: [email protected]; Odessa Office 509-982-2181 > Subject: [WISPA] ISP billing/management software. > > Hi All, > > I just got a notice that Quickbooks is going to REQUIRE an upgrade in > order > to continue to keep sending out bills via email. And we have all of 1 > month > or so to get it done.... I HATE Intuit and would like to replace them. > > Here's the work flow in our office. > > New customer calls in. > Fill out signup sheet with all needed customer data. > Assign static ip to customer. > Enter customer billing info into Quickbooks. > Enter all customer data into Access. > Enter customer username and pass into RADIUS. > Enter customer email account(s) data into email server. > Enter customer data into Postini (if they purchase the filtering). > Type customer signup sheet info into word doc and store in customer > folder. > Generate installation work order. > Fill out check list showing what steps have been completed. > > This has worked nicely in the past and "only" takes about 30 minutes to > accomplish. But now we're growing too fast and have gotten too big to > maintain this. Between tech support calls etc. the office manager is > having > to bring in extra help. It's only a day per week and it's good for there > to > be two people there at least part of the time. No one should work alone > all > of the time. Plus, if she wants to take some time off she will have > someone > trained in the basics so we'll likely need to keep some extra help around > no > matter what. This mechanism also gives us a lot of double checks, > redundant > data points etc. With Access and Quickbooks we can run a very nice mix of > reports etc. > > We do NOT have a customer trouble ticket mechanism other than the file on > them. We don't track customers on a per call basis. That's not too bad > because we're still small enough that we can normally remember problem > customers. > > This would probably be a good time to change everything though. > > In my perfect world, I'd have a billing system (that handles all of the > taxes for different communities etc.), trouble ticketing, auto server > configuration AND deconfig. I'd want good reporting capabilities. > > I've looked at some of the commercial systems out there, but at $1 or more > per month per sub for a full blown system I'd rather keep putting that > money > into the local labor pool. > > Freeside looks pretty good but I don't do programming or server admin work > in-house. I don't mind hiring someone to set it all up etc. and to take > care of the server. But it has to be an affordable solution too. > > What are people using? Do you like it? > > If you had it to do all over again, what would you do? > > Vendors please feel free to hit me up. > marlon > 509.988.0260 > Or talk to Apryl in the office 509.982.2181, she'll know more about what > she > does day in and day out. > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! 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