How To Get the Most Out of Your Telecom Provider’s Online Portal

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Are you using your telecom provider’s online portal?  Do you know what your login and password is?  Do you even know if your provider has a portal, or what it does?  If you answered no to any of these questions, you probably are not taking full advantage of your telecom provider’s online portal.  It’s a powerful tool that can save you time, provide useful information, and give you a window into your network’s performance.

Most major telecom companies (AT&T, CenturyLink, XO, Verizon, etc.) have online portals that let customers open and track trouble tickets, download and analyze your bills, and see network or long distance utilization reports.  These carriers also offer a wide variety of portal training opportunities – see the handy links section at the end of this blog to get started.

Here are some common problems and solutions to help you get the most out of your telecom provider’s online portal:


Problem #1
: The person with the top level login is no longer with the company.

Solution #1: This is easily remedied by the contacting the carrier.  Call your sales account team, and ask them how you can get administrative access to the portal.  Don’t have a sales account team?  Call the customer care number on your bill and ask them how to begin the process to get access to their portal.  Once you have the top level administrative login for your company, you can add users and give them access to the various tools as you see fit.  For instance, AP can have a login that only allows them to access billing statements.

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Problem #2: The telecom provider’s online portal doesn’t seem to have much to offer.  I wish I could do _____.

Solution #2:   Some portals require separate functions to be set up individually by request (billing, network utilization, trouble tickets.)  You also may need to have individual accounts manually added to the portal in order to be able to access them.  Contact the support number for the portal for instructions, or, (you’ve heard this before) lean on your sales account team for support.

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Problem #3: I have access to my telecom provider’s online portal, but I don’t know how to use it.

Solution #3: Many online portals have Quick Start Guides, and some even have video and scheduled instructor led training.  It is worth taking a few minutes to hunt around on the website for these resources (or checkout the helpful links at the bottom of this blog).  Once again, if needed the portal support team or your sales account team should be able to point you in the right direction.

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Problem #4: My telecom provider doesn’t have an online portal.

Solution #4: This is true, some smaller carriers have not spent the resources needed to provide an online tool for their customers.  Make sure you let them know this is a priority for you, and the next time you are considering a change in network, make having a robust online portal a decision making factor.

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Problem #5: My network support team would like to get service outage notifications.

Solution #5: Most portals will give you the option to designate outage notification to recipients of your choice.  Some of the more sophisticated portals will allow you to list multiple names, different ways of reaching that individual and the time of day they are available.  Tip: if you have a group email box that includes members of your network team, use that as the primary notification recipient.  That way you ensure all team members are made aware of outages as they take place.

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Problem #6: My network team needs to be able to access tickets after hours via a mobile device

Problem #6: The online portals for the best known carriers are able to be accessed via cell phone, tablet and other mobile devices.  Some have special mobile login web pages, others detect the mobile device and display content appropriately.  Note: not all portal functionalities are available on the mobile version – for instance graphic heavy tools that display network performance may not be available on to use on mobile devices.

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In summary, a good sales account team should make sure you are fully set up and trained on their online portal.  If not, it’s worth taking the time to do some research on your own 1) to find out how to get access 2) what tools are available for your network and 3) to make sure you and your staff are trained to use your telecom provider’s online portal to its full potential.

FAQs and Helpful Links

AT&T

  1. AT&T Portal Access
  2. AT&T FAQs
  3. AT&T Portal Training
  4. AT&T Mobile device access

CenturyLink

  1. CenturyLink Portal Access
  2. CenturyLink Portal Registration
  3. CenturyLink Portal Training
  4. CenturyLink Mobile device access *

CenturyLink mobile access is the same URL as regular access- the site will detect your mobile device and adjust content accordingly.

XO Communications

  1. XO Communications Portal Access
  2. XO Communications Portal Registration
  3. XO Communications FAQs: Download the XO Business Center Quick Start Guide at the bottom of this page
  4. XO Communications Training
  5. XO Mobile device access

Renodis is the only firm in America providing professional management of businesses communications infrastructure. As a pioneer in its field, Renodis is committed to providing objective service that empowers clients to reduce the Total Cost of Telecom™, free up valuable IT and Executive resources, future-proof their technology, and gain more time for core business initiatives. Contact us to learn more.

September 09, 2013 / Jennifer Snyder
Telecom Guide
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