Automatic suspension and reconnection

The full sequence

This is the workflow worth testing on any system you evaluate, including this one, because every vendor claims it and the detail is where they differ.

• A subscription approaches expiry and the customer gets an SMS reminder.
• The subscription lapses. The account is disabled on the router — a PPPoE secret, a hotspot user or a static lease, depending on the service.
• The customer pays by M-Pesa.
• The payment is matched and the subscription extended.
• The account is re-enabled on the router, and the customer is back online within seconds of the callback.

Why it matters more than it sounds

Manual disconnection is where small ISPs lose money quietly. Nobody forgets to collect from a customer who pays. What gets forgotten is the customer who did not — and every weekend where twenty lapsed subscribers stay online is revenue that was never going to be invoiced. Automatic suspension is less about convenience than about closing that leak.

It runs on a schedule you do not watch

Expiry checks run on a timetable rather than when someone remembers. That means a subscription that lapses at 2am on a Sunday is suspended at 2am on a Sunday, and a customer who pays at 2am on a Sunday is reconnected then too.