Telephony and connectivity overview

Telephony and connectivity answers four questions about every customer site: which lines and phone services it has, whether they are up, how good the calls are, and what the calls cost and how they are billed. It is a module of its own that you switch on when you need it.

What it does#

The module has two halves.

Connectivity and phone systems

• An inventory. Every site's lines (FTTP, FTTC or SoGEA, leased lines, 4G and 5G, Starlink, cable) and phone services (hosted and on-premises phone systems, SIP trunks, Teams Phone, analogue and ISDN lines), with supplier, circuit ID, speeds, fault line, backup line and contract dates. See Lines and phone services.
• A site probe. One device at each site watches the lines from inside, so a fault on the LAN, at the ISP or further out on the internet is told apart, and a failover to the backup line is seen as it happens. The server also checks each line and phone system from outside. See The site probe and outside checks.
• Outages and SLA. Every outage is recorded with a likely cause, each month's availability is set against the contracted SLA, and a fault can be raised with the supplier with the facts already filled in. See Outages, SLA and raising a fault.
• Phone systems and call quality. Connect a customer's phone system to see its trunks, extensions, licence and backups, and see an estimate of how calls sound over each site's line. See Connecting a phone system and Call quality.
• Alerts. Line down, a site on its backup line, packet loss, trunks down and more, with sensible defaults. See Telephony alerts.
• The call pop-up. A page your phone system or softphone opens with the caller's number, showing who is calling, their open tickets, alerts and devices, with a ticket logged from the call in a few keys. See The call pop-up.

Call billing

• Call records come in from files, email, a file server or an API, into one list. See Call records and sources.
• The number plan reads every number and gives each call a destination class. See The number plan and destination classes.
• Rate cards and bundles say what a carrier charges you and what your customers pay. See Rate cards and bundles.
• Rating prices every call and shows charge, cost and margin. See Call rating.
• Call charges go on the customer's invoice with an itemised call bill. See Call charges on invoices.
• Usage shows margin, the most-called numbers and bundle use, and warns about unusual spend and toll fraud. See Call usage and toll-fraud alerts.

Call billing is part of the MSP edition. The connectivity and phone system half is in both editions.

Switching it on#

1. Check that your licence includes Telephony and connectivity.
2. Open Settings > Modules and switch on Telephony and connectivity. See Modules.
3. Give the right people access. The module has its own permission, Telephony and connectivity, with a view level (to look) and a manage level (to add lines, connect phone systems, import, change prices and raise faults). Set it in Settings > Roles and permissions. See Roles and permissions.

While the module is off, its pages say Telephony and connectivity is switched off with a link to Modules. Someone without the permission sees Connectivity is not available to you.

Tip: The setup helper has a Telephony and connectivity section that asks the few choices the module needs and checks that sites with devices have their lines recorded. See Setting up telephony and connectivity.

Where the pages are#

A line and a phone service each have their own page, opened from any of these lists.

Home has two blocks for the module, Sites on backup now and Trunks down, and TV dashboards have widgets of the same names.

What needs your own account#

Most of the module works from what you record and what the agent measures: the inventory, the site probe, the outside checks, outages and SLA, the estimated call quality, alerts, and call billing from files, email, a file server or your own integration.

Some parts read a system that belongs to you or your customer, and need you to connect it:

• 3CX, Yeastar and Teams Phone. You connect the customer's own phone system with credentials you create on it (or, for Teams Phone, with the tenant's consent). Until then the phone service shows what you entered by hand. See Connecting a phone system.
• The call pop-up opens when your phone system or softphone opens its address with the caller's number. You set that up in your own phone system or softphone, from the address Tenvara gives you. See The call pop-up.
• Any other phone system is watched with standard checks (SIP OPTIONS from the site probe, SNMP and syslog), which need those switched on at the phone system.
• A carrier's file server or webhook needs the address, sign-in or signing secret the carrier gives you.
• Supplier contract dates on a line come from the supplier contract you link to it. See Supplier contracts.

A sensible order#

1. Switch the module on and give your team the permission.
2. Record each site's lines and phone services, or import a supplier's circuit list.
3. Choose a site probe for each site.
4. Connect the phone systems you look after.
5. Review the alert defaults.
6. For call billing: add call record sources, check the number plan, add a cost card and a sell card or plan, then let rating and the invoice run do the rest.