Posted on: 6th October 2022, by Magrathea
Welcome to the latest edition of the Magrathea Newsletter, combining news from Magrathea and around the industry.
CCUK Awards 28th September 2022
It was with great pleasure that we sponsored and attended the CCUK Awards on the 28th September. It was a lovely opportunity to network, socialise and take a breath to celebrate the hard-work that goes into being a success in the telecoms industry. Please see https://www.magrathea-telecom.co.uk/comms-council-uk-awards-2022/ for more details on the worthy winners. Congratulations to everyone.
Introducing our new Porting Portal
We are pleased to announce the launch of our new Porting Portal and corresponding API. After extensive testing with a few ‘early adopter’ clients we have received feedback that the portal is intuitive and easy to use but just in case you can access a guide here https://mdh-dev-web-01.magrathea.net/wp-content/uploads/Porting-guide-v7.1-2.pdf. The API guide can be found here https://mdh-dev-web-01.magrathea.net/wp-content/uploads/PortingPortalAPIGuide-3.pdf
Improvements over the previous version are some helpful features such as automatically calculating the earliest possible porting date and the addition of notes allowing you to more closely track the progress of your porting orders. We have also included a number of improvements on the admin side meaning our team can use their time more effectively with monitoring and chasing the more tricky porting orders.
We are reaching out to our clients to give them access to the new portal but if you are keen to get going and haven’t been contacted yet do get in touch and we will set you up a login. We hope to have contacted everyone this month with a view to withdrawing the current portal late November.
Video tutorials for our client self service tools
Our new series of brief videos showcasing our client tools have been very popular so far. Here are reminders of the links to two of the videos which we hope you will find helpful. If you would like more details about any of these client tools and how they can help you manage your Magrathea accounts, please contact support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk
Introduction to our Client Portal – https://www.magrathea-telecom.co.uk/introduction-to-our-client-portal/
Introduction to our Numbering API – https://www.magrathea-telecom.co.uk/introduction-to-our-numbering-api/
UK and Ireland, origin based surcharging
The introduction of origin-based surcharging to UK mobile and UK geographic numbers was extended to include calls to UK 08, 09 and 03 and Irish mobile calls in September 2022. These changes threw up some challenges for all in the industry but these seem to have all settled now.
For more information and answers to some of the questions we have been asked most often about the introduction of surcharging, please see this document: https://mdh-dev-web-01.magrathea.net/wp-content/uploads/Guidance-for-UK-and-Ireland-Surcharging-September-22-1.pdf
We have a few options to help you manage your surcharge able calls. You can choose to:
Block all calls where a surcharge would apply
Block all calls where a surcharge of more than 5p per minute would apply
Allow all calls, regardless of surcharge value
By default, all customers will have the 5p per minute cap option on their account, unless you request one of the other options.
Key points to remember:
If you only ever send your calls with a valid UK Network Number then you don’t need to worry about this, those calls are unaffected.
If you send calls to us with an international network CLI, from a country that appears in the surcharge list, then you will be surcharged as per our rate sheet.
If you send calls to us with missing, invalid* or incorrectly formatted Network Number then you will be surcharged as per our rate sheet or risk calls being blocked.
*Invalid includes UK numbers that have not been assigned for service.
Porting Workshops
We are planning on running some more of our half-day Porting Workshops these can be run both virtually and in person.
All clients who would like to increase their knowledge portability in general and the Magrathea porting portal are welcome to join us. We will cover a background of the industry portability process as well as how to recognise and submit different port order types via our new porting portal. We will cover all of the order types and porting scenarios and the common rejection reasons. Our hope is that increasing knowledge in all of these areas will make the porting process run more smoothly for all sides. If you are interested in attending one of these workshops, please register your interest with porting@magrathea-telecom.co.uk.
Mag-Net
We have had great feedback on our Mag-Net service since it was launched. Mag-Net is based on our longstanding Chargeable Number Translation product and gives you the ability to control the behaviour of incoming calls real-time, using only HTTPS commands. Utilising this greater level of interoperability with our network, this tool is ideally suited to any Communication Provider who needs to have full control over call processing without the overhead of telephony switching equipment or in-house telecoms specialists.
Once a number is assigned to Mag-Net this allows complex call control systems to be designed your side, without needing anything more advanced than a webserver and a basic scripting language like PHP. As well as allowing you to instantly request routing changes, respond to live key presses or play messages, Mag-Net also tells you when calls begin and end so you can create your own call records and statistics.
The call for technology that supports more flexibility for increased homeworking has driven an increased appetite in the industry for solutions like Mag-Net. If you would like more information or to test the service, please drop an email to support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk
Number Packages
We offer a complete range of UK and Irish numbers; including geographic numbers, freephone numbers, NGCS and VoIP numbers. Numbers are provisioned and managed via our APIs, all our numbers have the option to be delivered to you or your client over SIP or IAX2, or via our added value services such as fax to email or voicemail to email.
On our standard deal, geographic (01 and 02) numbers are charged at 50p per number per month with a minimum commitment of £100 per month. We also offer our ‘Low Start’ Numbering Package where customers can take up to 100 geographic numbers available for £180 per quarter. There is no time limit on how long you can stay as ‘Low Start’. 03 numbers are available at no charge to customers on either of these geographic packages.
There are no monthly charges for NGCS, 05 or 07 numbers. Outpayments available can be viewed on our NTS Schedule, which is available here: https://mdh-dev-web-01.magrathea.net/wp-content/uploads/Annex-Schedule-2-UK-NGN-Outpayment-Rates-v4.0-2.pdf
If you are interested in taking numbering services from us, or adding different number types to the numbering you already take, please contact our support team who will be very happy to help.
Restricted Tariff options
Our Restricted Tariff options offer you the ability to limit the destinations that can be dialled through your outgoing calling account. There are two options to limit the destinations you can dial by pence per minute on both the standard and gold route plans – you can choose either 3p per minute or 15p per minute as a restriction.
These changes can be made via our Client Portal or RestAPI, if you are not already using one of these tools or you cannot see the new feature down the left hand side of your Client Portal home screen, please contact us on support@magrathea-telecom.co.uk and we can very quickly arrange for you to have access to these tools, or to adjust your level of access so that you can use this feature.
As always here at Magrathea we appreciate your comments and feedback, if there is anything you would like to contact us about, or you would like to opt out of receiving future newsletters, please email info@magrathea-telecom.co.uk