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Teddy Boom
k kudos Received
Premium Member
join:2007-01-29
Toronto, ON

Teddy Boom to Rykan11

Premium Member

to Rykan11

Re: [rCable] Waiting on Provisioning

I have to say, I'm having trouble finding a solution that makes sense.. I've always known modems needed to 'rest' between accounts, to let Rogers system get updated and avoid rejected orders. For my customers, that was easy.. Just put the modem at the bottom of the pile

Alternative 1:
I'm semi-serious about a modem exchange service.

Like, you are switching ISPs, so you contact me with your modem make/model. I send you a new MAC/Serial for a different physical modem.

When your activation date comes along (or better the day after) you contact me to check if the replacement modem is active. If active, you come and swap old for new and all is done. If not active... it could be messy.

I'd charge $10, just like the firmware flashing. You'd have a physically different modem, but I would not be able to provide any warranty because it is coming from some other customer--eventually somebody will be upset by that. I'll need to get a couple more DCM475/76 modems to get things rolling.

And the thing about all this is, it is still a huge hassle for everybody, and it ends up costing too much..

Alternative 2:
Maybe Vmedia has the right answer on this one, but the real cost is pretty high..
$5 modem swap fee
$15-20 shipping (two directions)
A lot of time and hassle for customer and company alike

So, ya...

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

A lot of problems there teddy boom ...

THe majority of modem "swaps" are modem "upgrades" e.g. from D2 to D3 ... so you end up with a heap of D2 modems! :-(

Second is Rogers do from time to time seem to provision modems (particularly for TPIAs) on a regional, head-end, CMTS and even node basis. For TPIAs that's so they can route properly.

So they may provision the modem for your client's CMTS, but it doesn't work at your location. Rogers checks it out and finds it's not there, or worse scans the network for the MAC/CSN and finds it at your place and terminates that modem as unusable on Rogers.

Teddy Boom
k kudos Received
Premium Member
join:2007-01-29
Toronto, ON

Teddy Boom

Premium Member

Of course it would only be a like for like exchange. No model flexibility at all. I'd just have a buffer of 4-6 modems of any given type so that people could always be changing MAC and Serial when they change ISP.

Not that I think it would work..

TypeS
join:2012-12-17
London, ON

TypeS to Teddy Boom

Member

to Teddy Boom
said by Teddy Boom:

Alternative 2:
Maybe Vmedia has the right answer on this one, but the real cost is pretty high..
$5 modem swap fee
$15-20 shipping (two directions)
A lot of time and hassle for customer and company alike

So, ya...

Start can actually do something like that but it's still different from VMedia's approach. Customers transferring over can rent a modem from Start for 1 month and then swap to their own modem once they know for sure it's been confirmed to be released.

Costs incurred by the customer would be:

1 x $5 modem rental
$10~15 to ship rental back to Start.

$15~17 may be worth it to some to avoid being caught in limbo between transfers.

rocca
Start.ca
Premium Member
join:2008-11-16
London, ON

rocca

Premium Member

Our online signup page now makes that exact recommendation when the customer selects a 'bring your own modem' and 'is currently active with another isp' during the signup process.