Atmosphere® Voice allows our customers to use the Atmosphere® SmartFlows on our IntelePeer CPaaS platform to connect with landline, mobile and VoIP devices from all over the world, including customers’ IVR trees, automated messages, call queues, or agent telephones. This documentation outlines the general functionalities of Atmosphere® Voice and other product-related details.
Atmosphere® Voice service supports multiple types of voice calls. Below you will find a listing of different call types supported by the Atmosphere® Voice on our CPaaS platform:
Since it’s usually easier to visualize how phone calls work we will start with a few examples. These examples are based on the typical business calling process.
TRADITIONAL CALLS
Standard outgoing phone call:
An outgoing call made from within the business will generally go to a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) first. The PBX manages all the different extensions that a business has and routes calls to that business’ voice provider. The provider then routes calls across the PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network), which is a large collection of connections between different providers that allows the call to be delivered to the called party, regardless of what voice provider that party may use.
Standard incoming phone call:
An incoming call works the same way as an outgoing call, except in reverse. A customer places a call to a business and that call gets routed over the PSTN to that business’ voice provider, who then routes that call to the business’ PBX. The PBX then routes the call to the correct extension and the user assigned to that extension.
VOICE CALLS
Unlike standard voice calling, Atmosphere® Voice calls allow users to control routing, trigger events with other apps and services, and integrate additional functionality like AI.
Atmosphere® Voice outgoing phone call:
An outgoing call made with Atmosphere® Voice is initiated from the CPaaS platform, utilizing IntelePeer applications such as Atmosphere® SmartFlows and Engage. With Atmosphere® Engage and SmartFlows, call execution can be tailored based on segment information, time zones, and more. From there, IntelePeer then hands the calls off to a telephony partner to complete the call. Now the information exchanged during the call can be captured and trigger actions such as sentiment analysis, SMS, Chat, email, and much more.
Atmosphere® Voice incoming phone call:
An incoming call that utilizes Atmosphere® Voice gets routed from the caller to the IntelePeer Atmosphere® Communications Platform (CPaaS). These calls can then be associated with Atmosphere® SmartFlows to execute call trees and different actions based on a multitude of options (i.e. trigger SMS, send email, update a customer record, etc.). A business user can now completely control the inbound call flow, routing, and information exchanged during the call to act on that information.
Atmosphere® Voice Calling Billing and Rating
Atmosphere® Voice calls may be rated differently based on the endpoints of the call. Below you’ll find a matrix that outlines some of the details on how Atmosphere® Voice is billed, service areas, and other pertinent details.
Outbound Calling (Place calls) | ||||
Product | Service Area | Charge Type | Initial Billing Increment (seconds) | Subsequent Increments (Seconds) |
Outbound | United States Contiguous 48 States, Hawaii, Canada | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
Outbound Alaska | Alaska | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
Outbound International | Various countries (See Footprint) | Per Minute | 30, Mexico is 60 | 30, Mexico is 60 |
Inbound DID (Receive Incoming Calls to Assigned Numbers) | ||||
Product | Service Area | Charge Type | Initial Billing Increment (seconds) | Subsequent Increments (Seconds) |
DID | All Incoming Calls | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
International DID | Various Countries (See Footprint) | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
Toll Free Calling (Receive Incoming Calls to Toll Free Numbers) | ||||
Product | Service Area | Charge Type | Initial Billing Increment (seconds) | Subsequent Increments (Seconds) |
Toll Free | United States Contiguous 48 States | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
Toll Free Hawaii | Hawaii | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
Toll Free Alaska | Alaska | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
Toll Free Canada | Canada | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
Toll Free Puerto Rico | Puerto Rico | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
Toll Free Guam | Guam | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
Toll Free Saipan | Saipan | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
Toll Free US Virgin Islands | US Virgin Islands | Per Minute | 6 | 6 |
International Toll Free | Various Countries (See Footprint) | Per Minute | 30 | 6 |
Based on the coverage of our underlying telephony partners, IntelePeer may not be able to support all areas and there may be restrictions or requirements for porting and service in some areas. Please see our service availability pages for information on service availability, restrictions, and requirements.
Number Portability Within the United States
To better serve our customers, we support the ability to transfer your current numbers from your telephony provider to our telephony partner for that area. This process varies by telephony provider and as such we want to provide you with what you need to ensure a smooth porting process.
On average, 85% of port orders with the correct account information are completed within 15 business days or on the customer’s requested date. However, there are a few things you can do to help make the porting process as easy as possible:
Please understand that the porting “clock” does not start until the original telephony provider releases the numbers. If an order is rejected, the original telephony provider cancels the order on their side and requires our telephony partner to resubmit the order, restarting the process. This will cause us to take longer than 15 business days. Normally, this rejection or the port date (FOC) is received within the first 5-7 business days after the port order is submitted to the original telephony provider. Porting statuses are not regularly provided to IntelePeer by the original telephony provider and its partners so updated statuses may not be available for at least 5-7 days.
What to expect when a confirmed port date is received – Firm Order Commit (FOC)
If the port order is accepted by the original telephony provider, a port date – also known as FOC date (Firm Order Commit) is communicated to our customers/partners to schedule the actual port on the day(s) on or after the FOC date.
The ordering organization will receive a meeting invitation from IntelePeer to reserve a time during the day of the port; this should also be forwarded to any key stakeholders not included in the original invitation.
The ordering organization is free to propose a new time that better fits their schedule; IntelePeer will make every effort to accommodate. If the order is in a geographical area that has auto-porting capabilities, the meeting invitation will contain that information and the expected time frame to completion.
Expectations for the day of the port
Standard porting hours are 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mountain Time, Monday through Friday. However, Mondays are blocked off in IntelePeer’s portal to protect its customers as Monday porting can be prone to problems. Porting in some cases can be accommodated outside of these standard hours with an additional fee and must be requested at least 48 hours in advance.
Exceptions
On rare occasion, a confirmed port date has been obtained for the same day. In these instances, IntelePeer will confirm with the ordering organization that they are ready to proceed porting immediately.
If the ordering organization is not able to port that day, IntelePeer will facilitate as best as possible the rescheduling with both the ordering organization and the carrier. If this cannot be done, IntelePeer will work with the ordering organization on options to ensure their numbers to not go out of service.
Toll Free Porting
Once the toll free port order is placed, it takes between 2 to 5 business days to get the numbers released to our telephony partner or to receive the rejection. Once the numbers are released, the numbers have not ported yet; rather our telephony partner has control of the numbers to port at will. IntelePeer will reach out to the customer/partner to schedule the date and time for the port. The port must be completed within 30 days or the numbers may be dropped and become non-functional. If the port order is rejected, the process is the same as above and the customer may need to work with the original telephony provider to obtain the correct information.
Number Portability Outside the United States
Porting lead times vary by country, averaging around 15 days, but could be as long as 60 days. There also may be additional requirements depending on the country in which you are ordering service. You can refer to our international portability guidelines for more information.
Additional Fees & Surcharges
Depending on the volume, duration, quality, and/or destination/origination location of Atmosphere® Voice calls that a customer sends over the IntelePeer Atmosphere® Communications Platform (CPaaS), there may be additional fees that IntelePeer incurs to serve this traffic. These charges are passed on to the customer. We want to be transparent and aware of these charges so that you can plan accordingly.
Your traffic may be subject to additional fees outlined below: