Overlapping Subscriptions

This page explains how Overlapping Subscriptions work.

What is an Overlapping Subscription?

An overlapping subscription exists when two subscriptions are concurrently active in the same unit. The first subscription is attached to what we call the "primary unit." The second subscription is "overlapping."

How Do I Enable Overlapping Subscriptions?

You may enable overlapping subscriptions for an entire Network Operator, an entire Venue, or just a single unit.

When you enable overlapping subscriptions as a network operator, all venues in your environment will have overlapping subscriptions enabled.

When you enable overlapping subscriptions for a venue, all units in that venue will have overlapping subscriptions enabled.

When you enable overlapping subscriptions for a specific unit, only that unit will have overlapping subscriptions enabled.

How to Enable Overlapping Subscriptions for a Network Operator

How to Enable Overlapping Subscriptions For a Venue

How to Enable Overlapping Subscriptions For a Unit

What Happens When Overlapping Subscriptions are Disabled?

When overlapping subscriptions are disabled, a subscription cannot be added to a unit that already has an existing subscription. If a user is attempting to sign up via the Shopping Cart, that unit will not appear in the list of available units.

What Happens When Overlapping Subscriptions are Enabled?

When overlapping subscriptions are enabled and a subscription is added to a unit with an existing subscription, VAULT will create a temporary unit and assign a VLAN from the Resident Devices VLAN Ranges, if a VLAN in that range is available. If a VLAN in that range is not available, the subscription will not be added. This might occur if every VLAN in that range is statically assigned to a unit, for example.

The user being added as the overlapping subscription will remain in the temporary unit with the temporary VLAN until the subscription in the primary unit has been removed. At that time, the overlapping subscription will be moved to the primary unit and assigned to the primary unit's VLAN. The temporary unit will then be removed, and the VLAN will return to the pool of available VLANs.

Why Would I Want to Enable Overlapping Subscriptions?

Enabling overlapping subscriptions is beneficial when you don't want any barriers to a user being added to VAULT.

For example, if you are offering your products on a retail basis where subscribers sign themselves up for service using the Shopping Cart, you want to ensure that any unit a user attempts to sign up for is available.

A potential challenge that may occur in this scenario is rare, but you should be aware. If a user is 1) in an overlapping subscription, 2) physically inside the unit, 3) connects a wired device to a wired port, and 4) attempts to communicate between that wired device and a wireless device, then they will be unable to do so. This is because the wired unit is likely configured to the static unit's VLAN, while the wireless device is placed on the temporary VLAN. This is a rare situation with a lot of "ands," that need to occur. If this happens, the subscription in the primary unit should be removed so the overlapping subscription will migrate to the primary unit.

Why Would I Want to Disable Overlapping Subscriptions?

Keeping overlapping subscriptions disabled is beneficial if you want to ensure data accuracy in VAULT.

For example, if you are offering your products on a bulk basis where subscribers are primarily added by a Venue Administrator, you may want to ensure that the old subscriber is always removed from the unit before a new subscriber is added.

Overlapping Subscriptions may not be used with a RealPage connected property.

How Long Does it Take to Shift a Subscriber From a Temporary VLAN to the Primary Unit's VLAN?

VAULT will make the shift immediately. However, due to caching of network equipment, it's possible that the network will still assign the user to the temporary unit's VLAN. A best practice in this case is to ensure that the subscriber disconnects all devices from the network for 30 minutes, so their PSK has no activity during that time, allowing the network to reset it's cache.