Usage Groups

Usage Groups are a key component in managing BGAN and BGAN M2M devices, they enable you to send email alerts as usage thresholds are crossed, and also suspend devices. Usage groups are only used to alert or suspend on individual devices. They are a shared function that can be applied to one or more devices, enabling you to create a usage group for a specific scenario and then apply it to all of your devices.

Usage monitoring can also be applied on Agreements (shared plans) and has its own usage functionality which is explained {}

Usage processing and alerting

Usage is processed as it is received from our network partners and if a usage thresholds are reached then actions are performed to alert defined users. Email alerts are sent based on three possible options:

• Warn (a warning email is sent to the recipients)
• Critical (a critical warning email is sent to the recipients)
• Suspend (the device is suspended and an email is sent to the recipients)

NB: The suspend option also suspends the device.

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Usage is not realtime

Usage is feed to us via our network partners on varying schedules. We aim to ensure that usage is kept up today and processed within 6 hours but can take up to 24 hours. Therefore, their could be occasions when a device is alerted, and subsequently suspended immediately and additional usage charges are still incurred.

It is strongly recommended that you set usage groups that warn you allowing you to take action to avoid unnecessary costs.

An example of the warning email is shown below. The email will be sent from [email protected] and therefore it is recommended that you update any SPAM filters and whitelist this address.

Recipients

Email alerts are sent only to authorised users on Cloudloop. For each threshold in a usage group you can select which user accounts are notified via email.

At the moment it is not possible for you to create your own users on your account. Please email the support team at [email protected] and they will be happy to configure additional users for you, we just need there name and email address.

Thresholds

Thresholds represent the point at which a notification is sent or a suspension action is taken, once a usage limit has been passed. Usage thresholds can be set as Bytes (Data Used), Seconds (For Voice and Data Calls), or as Money (The total monetary value of usage fees).

Creating a Usage Group

To create a usage group click the 'add' icon, and type a name for your usage new usage group and then click create.

You will then be taken back to the Usage Group Summary page, then click on the name of the newly created usage group. In this example Ireland.

Select the Thresholds Tab and then define your first Threshold, and the action you wish to take once the threshold as passed. In this example we will warn when we reach 10MB, and notify all users on the account.

You can then set additional thresholds as required. In this example we will also suspend a device that spends over £20.00 by using the Money option, and notify just Jack on the account.

Applying a Usage Group to a Subscriber.

To apply a usage group to a subscriber you can either do this on activation using the set-up wizard, or by editing the subscriber from the BGAN: Subscribers page.

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Usage Groups - Batch Update

Unfortunately, you currently can't batch apply a usage group to a set of subscribers. If you need to update a lot of subscribers with a new usage group then please contact the support team at [email protected] who will be happy to help you.