Frequently Asked Questions
After you purchase a RedPort router, most services are included for free. Some Premium services require monthly subscription fees to cover the cost of our servers that support those services. Premium services include
- VOIP
- Prepaid PIN codes for Internet access (captive portal)
- Shared web compression
- XGate Email
All other features/services on the routers are free with purchase of the appropriate hardware:
- Remote (Shore-side) VPN Access
- OBM (control VSAT via FBB connection)
- Firewall
- Blocking by source or destination IP address
- Port forwarding
- Inbound NAT Scheduling
- White/Black list
- Traffic Shaping
- Quality of Service
- Least-cost Routing (preferential port usage)
- Failover
- Load-balancing
- Shared Web-page Caching
- Content Filtering
- Logging and Reporting
You can purchase any combination of the premium services. For example, if all you need is VoIP then that is all you have to purchase.
Optimizer – XGate Client only
wXa-202 – XGate Client, Compression, PIN codes
wXa-30X – Compression, PIN codes, XGate Email
wXa-40X – VoIP
wXa-50X – Compression, Pin codes, XGate Email, VoIP
All the routers support free services. So you can use any of the routers without paying for premium services.
The VoIP routers are all identical except for the number of analog ports.
wXa-400 - sip only PBX with 0 analog ports
wXa-404 - sip PBX + 4 analog ports
wXa-408 - sip PBX + 8 analog ports
wXa-500 – sip only PBX with 0 analog ports, (a wXa-400 and a wXa-303 in one box)
wXa-503 – sip only PBX with 4 analog ports (a wXa-404 and a wXa-303 in one box)
Because each box includes a full PBX, there is no need for analog ports if only SIP, VoIP and soft-phone devices are used.
You can always add analog ports to any of the VOIP products (500,503, 400, 404, 408) by using Cisco PAP2 devices. Each CISCO PAP2 has 2 analog ports and can be placed anywhere on the vessel that has Ethernet access.
You can use a wxa-303 with wxa-40X or a wxa-50X
In-Network means calling any destination that has a WXA-40X or WXA-50X where the monthly "In-Network" fee has been purchased. So if you have a wxa-400 at the office and a wxa-500 on a vessel the vessel can call the office and the office can call the vessel for a flat fixed monthly fee. No termination fees are added to In-Network calls.
This is a VOIP prepaid calling code. These codes are actually dollar-value, but because users want minute-value codes, we have flattened rates so that in effect it’s a 60 minute code to the 389 most commonly called destinations in the world. Additional destinations simply allow for fewer minutes, which the user will know when a whisper tone tells them how many minutes they have each time they dial any destination.
Service providers and ship owners can charge whatever they want for the code, but let’s use an example of a $20 price to the end user. In this case, they can call for 60 minutes for $20, so $0.33 USD per minute, or less than half of most crew calls via Inmarsat. Other destinations are more expensive so the user gets less than 60 minutes.
Prepaid VoIP codes do NOT include the cost of the data service. This is a benefit to the service provider who makes money on selling the data service. It also means that for many customers who have unused data minutes each month, there is no additional data cost to recover.
These are for Data PIN codes for browsing the Internet. Codes can be purchased in three different ways:
1) Per-code basis
2) Unlimited per-router
3) Site License for the service provider, who can offer unlimited service to an unlimited number of users.
This is for Internet access. You can enable the captive portal but not require prepaid data cards. For example you can create username/password combinations that allow users to login before they can access the Internet. This controls who can access the service, but not how much they use it.
If you want metering, e.g.: so a crew member can't use more than 100mbyte then you must purchase PIN codes. The cost of browsing the Internet would be the cost of the card ($10 for 50 mb for example) plus your per MB airtime charge.
The RedPort PBX works just like a powerful office PBX. For example, here at GMN we have 20 phones in the office. Each phone has an extension, such as “201.” Simply dial +1.865.379.8723 and an auto attendant responds: (“Press 1 for sales, 2 for support, or enter an extension.”). Simply enter the extension you want.
You can have up to 8 inbound calls on that one DID.
Yes, we expect you to set the pricing to whatever you want. These samples simply show how you can make a lot of margin and still offer low rates. You purchase at the master reseller price and can round up the prices as you wish.
The products are quite comprehensive. Qualified IT personal is required to set up the equipment. Once the equipment is setup it requires little maintenance. A Cisco certified engineer, would be able to configure the equipment with a 30-minute intro to the equipment.
If you are looking for a simple appliance type one product fits all and blocks everything but web and email then I suggest you look at the wxa-102 and wxa-202. These are end user based products that require little configuration to protect the user from over usage... however... they are quite restrictive and most vessels operators will not be able to use them.
If you have a network on a vessel then by definition you will require some IT personnel with route and network experience and knowledge. Your IT person can manage the network remotely. If your IT personnel do not know what the terms "NAT" or "Subnet", or "Captive Portal", or "Proxy server" mean, then we can provide you with consulting services to aid in the setup and maintenance of the equipment.
No changes are required to the equipment when crew is switched out. You just issue the new crew prepaid data cards and VoIP PIN codes.