https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Master Agents
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • MSSP Insider
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • Apply Now
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Channel Educational Series
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
    • Channel Convergence
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Content Resources
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2021 MSP 501
    • Circle of Excellence
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Master Agents
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • MSSP Insider
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • Apply Now
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Channel Educational Series
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
    • Channel Convergence
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Content Resources
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2021 MSP 501
    • Circle of Excellence
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

Telephony/UC/Collaboration


Phone Plus Prepaid: PoSA on the Move

  • Written by Tara
  • November 30, 2002

Posted: 12/2002

PoSA on the Move

By Tara Seals

IMAGINE
LANDING AT NEW YORK City’s La Guardia airport in the snow. You collect your
luggage, rush outside, huddle against the chill wind and hop into a cab. You
can’t wait to check into the hotel, unpack, get warm and call home … only,
your cell phone doesn’t work on this side of the Mississippi, and who wants to
pay those $25 hotel surcharges? Fortunately for you, your cabbie can help you
out by selling you a point-of-sale activated (PoSA) calling card right there in
the warmth of the taxi.

The new wireless PoSA technology is
from Radiant Telecom and is based on Comstar Interactive Corp.’s "Charge
Anywhere" wireless credit card processing solution, which has been
integrated with Radiant’s technology. The new solution potentially widens
prepaid card distribution to taxi drivers, tow-truck operators, flea market
attendants, delivery drivers and anyone else that works "in the field"
and could use some extra cash.

On-the-go businesses that cater to
potential consumers of prepaid cards can sell prepaid long-distance, wireless,
Internet, dial tone and bankcard products without having to stock inventory or
deal with the cash-flow concerns that come with reselling live product. These
distributors simply carry a stack of blank, valueless cards, paying nothing up
front. When a customer wants to buy, he or she swipes the Radiant card through
the Charge Anywhere device and assigns it a value on the fly, earning a
commission in the process.

"New technology is
significantly reducing distribution costs associated with prepaid
products," says Radiant’s vice president of strategy, Apurve Mehra.
"We have seen tremendous interest from credit card independent sales
organizations, taxicab and delivery businesses looking to capitalize on the
prepaid explosion."

The solution uses the Cingular
Wireless network to carry transactions with encryption, Research in Motion’s (RiM)
850/950 BlackBerry devices and the Comstar "sled," which is a card
reader that connects to the serial port connector on the BlackBerry device. The
package fits in the palm of the hand.

"The BlackBerry was developed
for the mobile professional who needed remote access to his desktop or corporate
e-mail," says Ken Racioppi, a sales executive at Comstar. "This device
has a 386 chip in it, so there’s a lot more you can do with it besides send and
receive e-mails."

Comstar’s Charge Anywhere program
was developed to transmit credit card transactions and to complete approval
process in a few seconds. Typically, a limousine driver whose passenger wants to
pay by credit card would slide the card and capture the information, then either
call it in or take it back to the shop and key it in to a pad later in order to
get an approval code.

"And you pay a higher rate when
you do that because the card’s not present, so there’s a lot more room for fraud
and charge back when you do that," says Racioppi. With Charge Anywhere, the
limo operator can swipe the card and get the approval code at the same time.

The custom application that Radiant
works similarly, but instead of approval codes, it receives activations and PIN
numbers.

"It’s
all automated — no worries about calling it in or making sure you have enough
$10 or $20 cards on you," says Racioppi. "You can just activate the
card through our device, request the denomination you would like it to be, and
once you swipe it through, Radiant will send back the four-digit PIN so the card
is ready immediately."

Comstar may market the application
to other prepaid companies. "We haven’t talked about exclusivities with
Radiant, so this is something we could offer out to any prepaid calling
platform," says Racioppi. "[The proposition is] you can activate cards
with a lot of that back office cut out of the equation."

The device preserves the
functionality the BlackBerry offers, so distributors also can send and receive
e-mails, maintain an address book, schedule and appointments, and use a
calculator.

For the credit card side, Comstar
offers a back-end reporting system, the transaction manager, which also may be
adapted for the prepaid card application.

For example, if a limousine operator
deployed 20 of the devices to his or her drivers, the operator could go to a Web
site with a secured user name and password and see every transaction as it is
happening, cross-referenced by driver. The operator can take that data and
export it to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and generate reports to help dole out
commissions.

"We’re getting there with the
Radiant application, still in production with it. It makes it an all-in-one
solution," says Racioppi. "Charge Anywhere is a solution because it’s
more than the sled and the software and the BlackBerry."

Radiant provides prepaid products to
more than 300,000 retailers selling Radiant’s products within the United States,
says the company. It may be adding many more to its ranks, including Comstar
salespeople.

Tags: Agents Telephony/UC/Collaboration

Related


  • Judge and Gavel
    Judge: Charter Must Pay Windstream $19 Million for 'Egregious,' Deceptive Mailer
    The judge said Charter "intentionally and wrongfully" interfered with Windstream's customer contracts and good will.
  • Business handshake
    Ujet, Peerless Network Enter Master Agent Agreements with PlanetOne, Intelisys
    Ujet’s channel partner program supports strategic business partnerships, master agents and integrators.
  • Merge road sign
    Agents Voice Concerns, Hopes for Master Agent Consolidation
    Subagents weigh in on how mergers and acquisitions could impact them long-term.
  • Cloud on mobile devices
    AT&T Adds Mobile Cloud PBX to RingCentral-Powered Collaboration Solution
    The carrier has been partnering with RingCentral around unified communication for several years.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Convergence in the Channel: Is It Happening, and What Does This Mean for MSPs?
  • T-Mobile 5G Network to Augment Lumen's Edge Computing Platform
  • AireSpring Partners Get Additional Support from Axis, Star2Star, TPx Vets
  • The CF List: 20 Top UCaaS Providers You Should Know

Galleries

View all

AT&T, Comcast, Cisco, Microsoft, 8×8 Unveil New Products, Services

April 15, 2021

Industry Perspectives

View all

How Tech Is Transforming Public Safety–and the Implications for Channel Partners

April 15, 2021

Exercising Your Organization’s Data Loss Recovery Abilities

April 13, 2021

Why MSPs Need to Shift from Cyber Security to Cyber Resilience

April 13, 2021

Webinars

View all

What to Look For: 2021 Threat Report

April 22, 2021

Health Care and SD-WAN: A Seller’s Guide

April 27, 2021

How MSPs Can Leverage SOCaaS to Improve Security & Grow Revenue

May 4, 2021

White Papers

View all

Carbonite Data Protection and Cyber Resilience

April 15, 2021

Top Tips: How Resellers Can Leverage Rackspace to Enhance Customer’s Cyber Security Protection with Microsoft 365 Security

March 30, 2021

Top Tips: Optimize Your Microsoft 365 Investment with Rackspace Technology

March 30, 2021

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

November 1, 2021 - November 4, 2021

MSP Summit

November 1, 2021 - November 2, 2021

Channel Evolution Europe

November 30, 2021 - December 1, 2021

Videos and Fastchats

View all

5 Reasons Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Is Important

Five9 Shares Insights on Implementing a DE&I Strategy

April 13, 2021

FASTCHAT: How Fortinet Reduces Complexity Through Networking, Security

March 31, 2021

Strong Customer Experience Needs Strong Partner Experience

December 22, 2020

Twitter

ChannelFutures

RT @alysfitz: 67% of respondents reported burning out since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. We need to do better to support #WomenInTech, especi…

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

RT @AllianceofCW: #ACW members Mayka Rosales-Peterson and Raquel Wiley were elected to @ChannelFutures' #Diversity, #Equity, & #Inclusion B…

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@ZiplyFiber rolls out agent #partnerprogram. #networking dlvr.it/RxmM4K

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

New #Microsoft #SurfaceLaptop4 is an incremental update with an improved CPUs webcam, speakers and dual mics.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@okta hires @InsightEnt vet as global channel chief. #cybersecurity dlvr.it/RxmM20 https://t.co/ImWRZp2qHt

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

These technology trends are transforming #public safety @GetWirelessLLC #firstresponders #cloud #connectivity #IoT… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 15, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@intel has appointed 24-year Intel veteran Dawn Jones as chief diversity and inclusion officer (CDIO) and vice pre… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 15, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@Allied_MR: @F5, @FireEye, @IBM among leaders in rapidly expanding global #cybersecurity market.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 15, 2021

MSSP Insider

Business advice for MSSPs and news from the broader security channel.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X