Dynamic Channel Limits

Introducing Dynamic Channel Limits

Some account types do not pay a per-channel fee, but we still must effectively manage the utilisation of our network.  To achieve this we use Dynamic Channel Limits that are based on your traffic and, in part, proportional to the available balance you have.

This ensures that customers with a higher spend who manage their account well - and typically have higher volumes of traffic - more channels as they need them whilst ensuring customers whose balance is low reduce the risk of their customers being cut off during a call by maximising the available balance to use for each call in progress.

Balance-Related Channel Limit

When an account balance drops to the threshold level of GBP 100 / USD 170 or EUR 125 a default limit of 30 outbound channels and 3 calls per second will be applied, irrespective of your accounts normal limits.

The channel limit will decrease linearly with the balance to a minimum of 3 channels e.g;

The available number of channels can be calculated by;

Channels = 30 / threshold * balance

The threshold above is dependant on your currency (use 100 for GBP, 170 for USD or 125 for EUR accounts)

Once an account is topped up to above the GBP 100 / USD 170 or EUR 125 level, the pre-configured channel limits will automatically apply again as soon as the balance is updated. 

API Realtime Channel Limits

You can view the limits set on your account, and any dynamic limits that are in effect, at any time via a simple HTTP GET API Call to the following URI ( see the API Documentation for more information )

https://api.simwood.com/v3/voice/ACCOUNTID/limits

Upper Channel Limits

Above the threshold level channel and rate limits will be set at a level that is justified by traffic and technically feasible.  The default for all new accounts is 30 channels but this can be increased upon request via support ticket. 

We are aware that customers can have unexpected traffic bursts, and as a result channel limits can become flexible at times of 100% network availability. Because this relaxation on limits is so dynamic, it is not to be relied on, but instead considered “below best efforts”. For more information, see the blog post: http://blog.simwood.com/2016/07/relaxed-channel-limits/

Per-Trunk Channel Limits

The above limits are per-account and are separate to any trunk-specific channel limit you have set.

Note that all trunks share the account limit, irrespective of their own settings, so if you have a two trunks of 30 channels, but a 30 channel account limit these trunks have a combined limit of 30 channels.