Introducing prepaid billing method on 1oT Terminal

Today, we’re bringing you a major update to 1oT’s billing logic - 1oT Terminal now supports prepayment. This new feature allows you to pay for your services in advance, making it even easier to stay connected.

Think of it as an alternative to the traditional postpaid payment model. With the prepayment feature, customers can transfer money to their Terminal account beforehand, and the correct amount is automatically deducted from the account's credit balance whenever there is a billable event.

In addition, prepayment gives the customer a better overview of their monthly expenses, because the customer is responsible for setting the credit cap. This is a great protection against additional charges that might occur if IoT device malfunctions and consumes a large amount of data, or sends thousands of SMS messages in a short period of time.

Let’s dive into how it works on 1oT Terminal.

The functionality of prepayment

The prepayment option is available for all 1oT’s customers on their “Company settings” page. When deciding to switch over to the prepaid model, the customers can choose between the two billing options going forward:

• Automated payments by credit card or a PayPal account - the set amount will be charged automatically and added to the Terminal account. Additionally, this enables the option to set up an automated balance renewal for when the credit left in the account gets below the set threshold.

• Manual invoice - the user receives a prepayment invoice from us every month. Once the invoice is paid, the selected amount will be automatically added to the user’s Terminal account balance.
  

Next up, the customer has to customise their preferences:

• Set up the initial prepaid balance to be added to the account immediately. Keep in mind that the set amount can’t be lower than the current month’s ongoing balance.
• Set a percentual threshold for alerts. That way you will be notified whenever the credit balance drops below the set limit.
• Option to automate the credit balance renewals. By choosing this option, 1oT will charge the respective amount automatically from the credit card/PayPal account when the balance drops below the threshold.

However, if the prepaid balance were to run out, the SIMs will be automatically set to “OFFLINE” status, meaning they’re disconnected from the network. In that case, our customer will be automatically notified via an in-platform notification and an email. The email also includes a link to Terminal for easy access to credit renewal. Once the payment is received, all SIM statuses are restored automatically to their former state.

It’s important to note that with the introduction of a prepaid model, nothing changes concerning prices and invoicing. The agreed pricing remains the same and our customers will still receive a monthly invoice for the services. The change only entails the payment method that our customers can use for paying for 1oT’s services.

Our goal is to make IoT connectivity as simple as possible, and the introduction of a prepaid model helps to remove another step in managing SIMs and connectivity.

For further questions, our Sales team will be happy to assist at sales@1oT.com.