The billing system you choose touches every shilling your ISP earns. Here is what to check before you commit.
1. Where does the money go?
Payments should land in your account, not someone else's first. Ask how M-Pesa settles. With Purple Router, customers can pay through your bank with no Paybill needed, or through your own Paybill with your Daraja keys. Either way the money settles straight to you.
2. Can expired customers pay?
When a PPPoE plan expires, the customer has no data. If the only way to pay is from the M-Pesa menu with a Paybill and account number, many will call you instead or not pay at all. Look for a payment page that opens automatically for expired customers on your network, and SMS payment links that work with no data.
3. Is RADIUS built in?
With central RADIUS, accounts live in the billing system, not on your routers. One login works on any router, plans and IPs apply automatically, and nothing is lost if a router fails.
4. How hard is it to link a router?
Linking a MikroTik should take minutes. In Purple Router you paste one WireGuard script into the terminal, and you can lock down WinBox, API, SSH and web access so they only work through a secure tunnel.
5. How is it priced?
Per-customer pricing grows every time you connect a home. Per-router pricing does not. Purple Router Standard is KES 1,000 per router a month with unlimited PPPoE customers.
6. How do you move your customers?
Ask how migration works and whether customers have to change anything. With Purple Router, customers keep the same PPPoE logins and expiry dates, with no downtime.
7. What support do you get?
Check support hours and who helps you set up. Purple Router support is 24/7 by email, and every new ISP gets an engineer for setup.
8. What is live, and what is promised?
Ask which features work today and which are planned. A trustworthy vendor marks the difference clearly.
Want to see a billing system built for Kenyan ISPs? See how Purple Router works.