How chat works and how customers use the portal

Who does this: Support staff answer; customers use the portal or the Android app
Permission: “Chat with customers (own, assigned and unassigned conversations)” for staff (See every conversation of the ISP (each view is logged) sees every conversation); customers need no permission

Steps

Staff open Inbox. Chats and complaints come in by themselves; filter with Show, chats or complaints, and status, or search Customer, username or subject.
Unassigned conversations are visible to everyone with “Chat with customers (own, assigned and unassigned conversations)”; you also see ones assigned to you or that you started.
Open a conversation, press Take it or Assign (choose Me, a staff member, A role (anyone in it) or Nobody (unassigned)), type in Write a reply and press Enter to send (Shift+Enter makes a new line).
Tick Internal note (staff only) for a note the customer never sees; attach a Photo or PDF; use Insert a saved reply or template.
To start a chat yourself click New chat, enter the 'Customer's username' and a First message, then Start chat (or use Chat in inbox on a subscriber's More menu).
The message reaches the customer's portal at once.
Customers sign in at /portal/login with their Internet username (first time: the internet/router password; they then choose a portal password) and use Messages to pick whom to talk to (Anyone available or a person marked online).
The portal menu has My account, Messages, Bills, Pay, Complaints, Password, plus a WiFi page if their router is linked.
Which staff a customer may chat with is controlled by Roles → Customer roles: Add customer role, rules by package, area or partner, and a per-customer choice on the subscriber page.
Every customer has the default customer role without being given it.

What saRa does

Messages are delivered live (server-sent events) to the inbox, the portal and the Android app, with read ticks (Sent / Seen) and optional sounds (Sounds switch). Row-level security means a customer sees only their own conversations and never an internal note. Everything is stored in saRa's own PostgreSQL; no outside chat service is used.

Good to know

In the portal customers also pay online (JazzCash, bank card through Meezan, and any other gateway the ISP switched on), see bills and data use, and use Quick Pay without signing in at /pay/<isp code>.
Notices (SMS and notices → Notices) show as banners in the portal and app for chosen days.
Sounds for chat pings and notice chimes are per browser (added 7 Nov 2026).