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.

Types of Voice Calling

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:

• Outbound Calling – A call that originates from the customer’s presence on the CPaaS platform and terminates to another user. Outbound calling is supported in the various countries for termination to over 200 countries internationally.
• DID Inbound Calling – A call from a user that terminates to the customer’s presence on the CPaaS platform using a DID number from IntelePeer or the customer’s telephony provider. Inbound DID’S are available from IntelePeer in various countries and allow users in over 200 countries to reach them. Number availability can be found here.
• Toll Free Inbound Calling – A call from a user that terminates to the customer’s presence on the CPaaS platform using a Toll Free Number from IntelePeer. Toll Free Inbound Calling is supported in various locations. Toll Free Numbers are unique to each country and can only be used for calls that originate in each specific country. Calling from specific countries is only supported on Toll Free Numbers within the originating country. IntelePeer may not support number acquisition from every country. Number availability can be found here.

Atmosphere® Voice Overview

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.

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:

• Validate critical port information. Port orders must have valid account information that was registered with the original telephony provider upon initial service activation with them. This includes information such as Address, Company Name, Customer Name (Verified approver), and Billing Telephone Number (BTN).
• Request the Customer Service Record (CSR) from their current carrier and ensure a current bill copy is available.
• Larger porting orders with 100 numbers or more or tied to multiple existing accounts are considered “projects” by original telephony providers and may take up to 45-75 days to complete. For port orders with multiple accounts, each account (with its corresponding information) must be separated and identified, with each account submitted separately. Customer and partner should ensure each accounts and corresponding information are correct.
• Identify specific phone number(s) to be ported; it may be different than what is on the account.
• Identify and confirm Billing Telephone Number (BTN); there may be multiple on the account.
• Determine if you want to disconnect the remaining numbers on the account or keep them active? This will normally require the customer to contact their current carrier to get any issues cleared up like a new BTN.
• Determine if there is a PRI, does the customer want it disconnected?
• For cell phone numbers there is an account and PIN (normally last 4 of SSN) required.

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.

• Porting after 4:00 p.m. on Fridays is not recommended because if an issue arises, there may not be any support available to resolve them.
• On the scheduled day of the port, depending on whether the port is designated as an auto port or coordinated port, IntelePeer will send an email to the invited participants for coordinated ports confirming readiness to port the numbers; when the ordering organization confirms they are ready IntelePeer will begin the porting.
• Porting takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.
• While IntelePeer makes every effort to prevent issues on the day of the port, success is dependent on the original telephony provider’s cooperation because they retain control per Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations.
• Instances where the certain numbers have not been released from the original telephony provider have occurred; this can cause delays ranging from several hours to several days.
• When the porting is complete, IntelePeer will make test calls to confirm success; upon successful porting, the ordering organization will be notified that the order has been completed and the test results will be provided.
• If the ordering organization requires a conference bridge, one will be provided upon request via response to the meeting invitation at any time leading up to the port.

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:

• If, in a given month, more than 20% of outbound calls made are 6 seconds or less, IntelePeer may charge an additional fee of $0.01 for every call over 20%.
• If, in a given month, more than 10% of inbound calls received over your toll free product(s) are 6 seconds or less, IntelePeer may charge an additional fee of $0.01 per call.
• If, in a given month 10% or more of the calls received over your toll free product(s) are incomplete, IntelePeer may charge an additional fee of $0.05 per call.
• If, in a given month any calls are determined to be “Traffic Pumping” as defined by the FCC (https://www.fcc.gov/general/traffic-pumping), IntelePeer may charge an additional fee of $0.05 per minute for all calls determined to be Traffic Pumping.
• Collect and Payphone charges may be passed on to the customer