Activate subscribers

About activating subscribers

What happens when you activate a subscriber?

  • An active subscriber can send and receive traffic over the operator's network as soon as the network operator activates it. Depending on the subscriber's rate plan, this may include data, SMS, or voice traffic.
  • An active subscriber can start to generate billable events as soon as the network operator activates it.
  • After you activate a subscriber, it moves from the Inventory to the Subscribers > Active page.

How long do activations take?

The Connectivity Management platform does not activate subscribers directly. When you activate a subscriber in the platform, the platform sends an activation request to the network operator, and the operator fulfills the request. Activation times may vary by network operator.

Operator Activation time Notes

Telus

  • Up to 48 UK business hours

  • Subscribers using this operator must be activated using the US instance of the Connectivity Management platform.

How to activate subscribers

Note: When you activate multiple subscribers, you can choose one rate plan per operator for them. If you want to activate subscribers from one operator with different rate plans, you need to activate them separately.

1. Go to the Activate page.

2. Select the subscribers you want to activate. There are two ways to select the subscribers you want to activate:

  • If you want to activate a large number of subscribers, you can create a CSV file and upload it.

Format of the CSV file:

ICCID, Nickname, Tag(s)

  • The subscriber's ICCID is mandatory, nicknames and tags are optional.
  • Divide each subscriber with a line break, use only one line per subscriber.
  • Do not wrap the values in quotation marks.

  • Nicknames have a maximum length of 191 characters.

Example: 

ICCID Nickname Tags
8944122000000000001, Device 1, London Office, Building 1

Note: When naming your CSV file, make sure that the file ending is ".csv". The file ending is case sensitive, do not use capital letters.

  • If you only want to activate a few subscribers, you can enter them directly in the text field.

Add subscribers to the text field

There are different ways to add subscribers to the text field:

  • If you only want to activate subscribers from one operator, you can select them from the Inventory page:

1. Go to the Inventory page.

2. Select the View Stock button for the operator you want to activate subscribers for.

Result: You see the Available Stock modal.

3. If you only want to activate a single subscriber, select the Activate button for that subscriber.
If you want to activate multiple subscribers, select the check boxes next to all the subscribers you want to activate and select the Bulk Activate button.

Result: The Activate page opens. The text field for manually activating subscribers is populated with the ICCIDs of the subscribers you have selected.

  • If you want to activate subscribers from different operators, you can select them from the Recently Added Stock section on the right hand of the Activate page. This will add the subscriber's ICCIDs into the text field.
  • If you know the subscribers' ICCIDs, you can enter them manually in the text field.

Optional: Add nicknames and tags for subscribers

Once you added the ICCIDs to the text field, you can add nicknames and tags for them by typing them into the text field.

Format for subscribers in the text field

ICCID, Nickname, Tag(s)

  • The subscriber's ICCID is mandatory, nicknames and tags are optional.
  • Divide each subscriber with a line break, use only one line per subscriber.
  • Do not wrap the values in quotation marks.

  • Nicknames have a maximum length of 191 characters.

Example: 

ICCID Nickname Tags
8944122000000000001, Device 1, London Office, Building 1
Info:

In both cases, you can add nicknames and tags during the activation.

Nicknames and tags are optional identifiers that you can add to your subscribers to organize them.

You can add nicknames and tags directly while activating subscribers or after the activation. You can always edit nicknames and tags after the activation.

Nicknames

The nickname of a subscriber is an optional custom identifier that helps you to differentiate between subscribers more easily. You can use nicknames to organize subscribers. The platform displays nicknames in the user interface, on reports, and in invoices. Each subscriber can only have one nickname.

Example: 
You have a subscriber in a CCTV camera on Main Street. You assign the nickname "Camera Main Street" to the subscriber to make it easier to recognize to which device this subscriber belongs.
Tags

A tag is a user-defined subscriber property that you can use to organize subscribers. For example, you can use tags to organize subscribers by project, network, and location. A subscriber can have as many tags as you need.

Example:
You have 500 subscribers in your office in London and they all belong to a specific project. You assign the tags "London office" and "Project 1" to all 500 of them.

Result: If you uploaded a CSV file, the platform validates its format and you get an error message if there are issues with the format.

3. Select the Continue button.

Result: You see the Configure your subscribers page.

4. Select the rate plan for the subscribers.

5. Select the Activate Subscriber button.

Result: You see the Review page. You see a notification that the subscribers have been activated successfully. You can now see the subscribers under Subscribers > Active.

Note:

In some cases, network operators can take from 48 to 72 hours to process activation requests.

Once you have activated your subscribers, you need to enter the subscriber's APN settings into your device to enable it to connect to the network.

Connect your device to the network

A device needs two components to be able to connect to the network:

  • The subscriber in the device needs to be active
  • The device needs the subscriber's Access Point Name (APN) settings

View a subscriber's APN settings

If you know the subscriber's ICCID, or MSISDN you can use the Search bar. Otherwise, you can select a subscriber by following these steps:

1. Select Subscribers from the main navigation.

2. Select a status from the main navigation to see a list of all subscribers with that status.

3. Select the subscriber from the list.

Result: You see the Subscriber Details page for the selected subscriber.

4. Select the Network tab.

Result: You can see the APN settings in the Authentication Details section.

Enter a subscriber's APN settings into your device

1. Turn the device off.

2. Insert an active subscriber into the device.

3. Turn the device on.

4. Look up the subscriber's APN settings in the Connectivity Management platform.

If you know the subscriber's ICCID, or MSISDN you can use the Search bar. Otherwise, you can select a subscriber by following these steps:

1. Select Subscribers from the main navigation.

2. Select a status from the main navigation to see a list of all subscribers with that status.

3. Select the subscriber from the list.

Result: You see the Subscriber Details page for the selected subscriber.

4. Select the Network tab.

Result: You can see the APN settings in the Authentication Details section.

5. Enter the APN settings into your device.

Note: How you configure a device's APN settings differs depending on the device. Consult your device's documentation to find out how to configure its APN settings.

6. Verify that the subscriber's status is online.

1. Use the Search bar to search for the subscriber using its ICCID or MSISDN.

Result: The platform displays the subscriber's Details tab.

2. Refer to the subscriber's status.

Result: If the subscriber has connected successfully, the platform displays its status as Online.

Result: If the subscriber is shown as online, the APN settings are configured correctly, and the device can now access the network.