Expiry and payments

A static customer’s IP is allowed online until their subscription expires. This page covers how they pay, what happens at expiry, how to follow up on customers about to lapse, and the SMS messages ISPMan can send them.

How static customers pay

Each static customer has a Pay to account number (the Account column in the list and on their page). They pay into it through your payment methods, for example M-Pesa. When a payment arrives it renews the subscription for one period of their package, and the IP is allowed online again if it was blocked.

Other ways to get them online:

STK Push on the customer page sends a payment request to their phone. The amount is their special price if they have one, otherwise the package price.
Renew or Connect now grants time directly, without taking a payment.

Static payments appear with your other payments: in Received Payments on the home dashboard, under Payments → Received, and on the payment’s own page, which show the static customer, their package and router. Each customer page also lists their recent payments. See Payments.

What happens at expiry

When a subscription ends, ISPMan tries to renew it from the customer’s balance. If there’s enough, it is renewed for another package period. If not, the IP is blocked until they pay or you renew them.

Disconnect and Deactivate on the customer page end the subscription straight away and block the IP.

The Expiring page

Statics → Expiring (/dashboard/statics/expiring) lists customers whose subscription is ending soon or has just lapsed. It opens on Expiring Today. Switch between Expiring Tomorrow, Expiring in 3 Days, Expiring This Week, Expired Today, Expired Yesterday, Expired 3 Days Ago and Expired This Week. The buckets use your ISP’s time zone.

Use it as a daily call or reminder list. The same chips are on the main customer list.

Installation fees

Settings → Installation Fees sets a one-time fee for new static customers. Turn on Require an installation fee for new static customers to pre-fill it on the add form. The fee is charged once with the first package payment, on top of the price. You can change or clear it for an individual customer when adding them.

SMS for static customers

ISPMan can text static customers at key moments. You need an SMS template bound to each event.

Templates

In Comms → SMS, open your templates. The Static Events group has:

Event	When it’s sent
Static Welcome	When you add a new static customer from the dashboard form (not from a CSV import).
Static Expiry Reminder	Before the subscription expires, at the alert times chosen on the customer’s package.
Static Expired	When the subscription has expired.
Static Payment Confirmation	When the customer’s payment is received.
Static Thank You (renewed)	When the subscription is renewed from the customer’s balance.

Templates can use static customer variables, for example:

Variable	Fills in
`STATIC_ACCOUNT_NUMBER`	The “Pay to” account number.
`STATIC_IP_ADDRESS`	The customer’s fixed IP.
`STATIC_PAID_UNTIL_DATE`	Expiry date.
`STATIC_TIME_REMAINING`	Time left, for example “1 day, 6 hours, 30 minutes”.
`STATIC_PACKAGE_NAME` / `STATIC_PACKAGE_PRICE`	Package name and the customer’s price.
`STATIC_TOTAL_DUE`	Price plus any unpaid installation fee.
`STATIC_SELF_SERVICE_URL`	Link to the customer’s self-service page.

The template editor lists every available variable. When a template is about static customers, the preview fills it in from one of your real static customers.

Settings

SMS Settings has two switches for statics:

Static Payment Confirmation: send the payment confirmation SMS.
Static Expiry SMS: send expiry reminders and expired messages.

Welcome and thank-you messages go out as soon as their template is bound.

For more on templates, sender IDs and SMS credit, see Communication.