FAQ - VAR Help

Getting Started

How do I connect to the VAR Web portal?

How do I setup my VAR account?

How do I connect my commercial website with the Signup and Web portal?

Can I customize the customer Web portal with my branding?

How do I change the Web portal interface language?

How do I change my password?

Where do I manage customer accounts?

How do I prevent customers from making calls to certain areas?

How do I modify my service offering to customers?

How can I get phone numbers for my customers?

How do I configure and manage my phone system?

Customer Accounts

Where do I manage customer accounts?

All customer accounts are managed from the Customers page where you can:

1. Create and delete accounts - companies and professionals.
2. Manage account settings, call restrictions and subscriptions.
3. Send an email to a customer containing credentials, subscription details or a message.
4. Manage the account status of  accounts (Free Trial, Pending, Production, etc.)
5. Directly access an account to perform support tasks.
6. Export a list of customer accounts to a PDF or CSV file.
7. Import a account from a third-party messaging system (i.e. Google or Microsoft) or phone system (i.e. BroadSoft).
8. Sort, search and filter the list of customer accounts.

Can I directly access the account of a customer?

Yes. As a VAR Administrator, you can access a customer's account without needing the customer's access credentials. This is useful for service inquiries and customer support. See Directly Access a Customer Account for details.

Can I see a customer's access codes (credentials)?

The VAR Administrator cannot see a customer's password, however he can directly access a customer's account when needed. In addition, he can email credentials to a customer who requests it.

How do I change or reset a customer's password or PIN?

It is not recommended for a VAR Administrator to reset the password of a customer account. If the password reset is requested by a customer who forgot or lost their password, then it is recommended to ask the customer to use the Forgot PIN? function at the login screen. They will get their account credentials including username and password by email.

To reset the customer account password:

For Company accounts:

• From the main menu, click Customers then select the Companies tab to view the list of multi-user accounts.
• In the column titled Company Name, click the name of the account requiring new credentials.
• Go to Settings > Administrator's Account section > Change Password button.
• Enter the current account password, then the new one twice.

For Professional accounts:

• From the main menu, click Customers then select the Professionals tab to view the list of single-user accounts.
• In the column titled User, click the name of the account requiring new credentials.
• Go to Settings > Profile > My Profile section > Change my Phone PIN link.
• Enter the current account password, then the new one twice.

Can I email credentials to a customer?

Yes. The Web portal allows you to email the account credentials to a customer as required. See Customers > Email Credentials to Customers for details.

Can I send an email to a customer via the Web portal?

Yes. The Web portal allows you to send email messages to customers as required. See Customers > Email Messages to Customers for details.

Can I email the subscription details to a customer?

Yes. You can email account subscription details (service packages and options) in a PDF document to customers. See Customers > Send Email Subscription Statements to Customers for details.

Can I link customer accounts together?

Yes. You can link several accounts together into a single organization. This feature is useful for companies that have several independent affiliates (branches or subsidiaries) that need to communicate as if they are part of the same organization. The benefits of affiliating accounts is to have a common employee directory with internal extension dialing. This account affiliation feature is managed in the customer accounts options. See Customers > Account Affiliation for Company or Professional accounts for details.

Can I prevent customers from modifying their account settings?

Yes. The Web portal enables you to prevent a customer from changing their account settings in situations where such action is needed. This restriction does not limit the customer's ability to use the Evatel services. This feature is managed in the customer account options. See Customers > Restrictions for Company or Professional accounts for details.

Can I offer promos to my new customers?

Yes, the System Administrator can make available to you certain promotions for your new subscribers: first month free, 20% discount on the first 6 months, etc. You can ask your System Administrator to activate the promotion of your choice.  

Can I offer free trial periods to my new customers?

Yes but only for the accounts that you create manually. During the last step of the manual account creation, you can choose to create the account in Production or in Free Trial mode (See Create Customer Account for details).

How do I change a customer subscription?

Although customers have the ability to modify their own subscription, you can also change customer subscriptions as needed. To view and edit a customer subscription, go to the Customers page and click the   Packages icon corresponding to the customer. See Manage Account-Specific Packages for details.

Can I reactivate a canceled account?

You need to contact the System Administrator for details on the specific account to reactivate. The system retains the data from canceled subscription for a certain period of time after which the data is sent to archives. 

Can I create two accounts with the same name?

Yes, you can create several accounts with the same name. The system will assign a unique Customer Account Number (CAN) for each customer. The CAN is displayed in the Customers page.

Call Restrictions

How do I prevent customers from making calls to certain areas?

Call Restrictions are the set of rules to allow or disallow outgoing calls to a specific country, regional code or destination. For example, you can allow users to make overseas calls, but exclude specific countries.

Call restrictions can apply to all customers (Call Restrictions in the main menu) or can be customized for each customer account (Customers in the main menu). See Call Restrictions for details.

Subscription Packages

How do I modify my service offering to customers?

The Packages page is where you manage your service offerings including bundled packages, options, devices and service fees. The page lists only the packages that the System Administrator enabled you to offer to your customers. You cannot add or modify services. Only the System Administrator can.

To manage customer-specific packages, go to Customers. See Manage Customer Packages for details.

Phone Numbers

How can I get phone numbers?

Customers can order phone numbers directly during signup and on their Web portal (See Add a Smart Number in the user help. In such cases, the system automatically provisions the phone numbers (DIDs) in the customer account.

As a VAR Administrator, you can also add phone numbers one at a time or import several numbers at once from a text file (.txt) where each line contains one telephone number in the TAPI (E.164) format (example: +1 (514) 555-1212 for a Montreal number and +44 7979-123456 for a UK number). Phone numbers containing letters (example 1-800-COMPANY) are ignored.

What happens to a phone number if the customer account is closed?

When a customer account is closed, all its phone numbers are returned to your pool of available DIDs. For details on what happens when the system closes an account, see Delete Customer Account.

How do I setup a customer IP device to use my services?

When a customer orders an IP telephone device, follow these 2 steps to to prepare its deployment:

1. Add the device into the customer account inventory (You need the device MAC address for this): 
   • From the main menu, click Customers then select the Companies or Professionals tab to view the list of company or professional accounts.
   • Click the name of the customer who need the IP device.
   • Click Devices in the main menu then click New and fill the new device form including its name, its MAC address and the customer account where it belongs (in the Companies or Professionals lists). 
     You may also send the new SIP Device's MAC address to the customer for self-configuration.
2. Have the device preconfigured before shipping to automatically connect to the FTP site in order to get its specific user parameters. This configuration step is done on the device itself either by your customer deployment team or by your device supplier. The information needed to setup new devices to connect to your network can be found in the IP Phone Boot Setup. This information includes the FTP site URL and the customer FTP account credentials (Username and password).

Where can I find information on the phone system used for voice communications?

Open the Settings page from the main menu and go to the  Default Phone System and Telephony Providers section to view the information about the phone system (PBX) and the default inbound and outbound telephony provider used for your customers' voice communications.

Where do I specify my customer support phone number?

Open the Branding page from the main menu and go to the Technical Support section to view and edit your customer support phone number and email. See Technical Support for details.

VAR User Settings

How do I change my Web portal language?

Open the Settings page from the main menu and go to the Administrator Account section to view and change the language of your Web portal interface. See VAR Account Language for details.

Where do I change my business address?

Your VAR business address is configured in the General Information section of your VAR Settings page. See VAR Address for details.

Where can I specify my email address?

Your VAR email address is configured in the Administrator Account section of your VAR Settings page. See VAR Account Email for details.

Where can I change my password?

You can change your VAR password in the Administrator Account section of your VAR Settings page. See VAR Password for details.

Where can I set the technical support email and phone number?

You can specify a technical support email and phone number where customers can get help and support on how to configure, use and troubleshoot your Evatel services. You don't have to use your own user email and phone number for technical support. You can use different emails and phone numbers for each use. 

To specify your customer support email and phone number, go to the Technical Support section of your VAR Branding page. This email and phone number will be displayed on various pages of the Web portal. See VAR Technical Support for details.

To specify a phone number for the System Administrator to communicate with you about your VAR account, go to the Administrator Account section of your VAR Settings page. See VAR Account Phone Number for details.

Where do I specify my customer support phone number?

Your customer support phone number is configured in the Technical Support section of your VAR Branding page. See VAR Technical Support for details.

Web Portal

How do I login for a Web session?

How do I logout from my Web portal session?

How do I change my password?

You can only change your VAR password from within your Web portal. Therefore, you need your current password to change it. If you lost your password and wish to retrieve it, go to the Web portal login page and click the Forgot PIN? link. See Login to Web Portal for details.

To change your VAR password after logging into the Web portal, see Change VAR Password. 

How do I connect my commercial website with the signup process?

You can find everything you need to integrate your commercial website with your Evatel signup and Web portal. Go to the Appearance and Branding section of your VAR Branding page to find your VAR Secure Keys for Companies and Professionals Signup sites and a link to access the VAR Signup Portal and Custom URLs where you find instructions on how to integrate your signup and login features on your company websites. The code needed to offer a login dialog box to your customers is also provided in the VAR Signup and Login Integration Guide.

Can I customize the branding of my Web portal?

Yes. You can personalize the appearance of your Web portal with your logo, favicon and theme colors. The Web portal branding can be configured in the Appearance and Branding section of your VAR Branding page. See VAR Web Portal Branding and Display VAR Favicon for details.

Can I offer live chat services in the Web portal?

The Evatel platform includes a live chat feature to interact directly with customers who need support. This feature is available in the Live Chat section of your Settings page. Before activating Live Chat, contact the System Administrator for instructions on how to deploy the chat software. See Live Chat for details.