Back room operations key to easing DSL deployment

With millions of access lines providing service to nearly every available market segment, narrowing down the potential customer base for high-speed Internet access service can be a daunting, if not impossible, task. Cutting out non-computer owners and those not using existing services eliminates more than 60% of the market, but how do you market to and sign up the remaining 40%?

Increasingly for large telcos the answer is that you don't. In the early stages of digital subscriber line (DSL) deployment, most operators are looking specifically at the early adopters who don't need much convincing to switch. In fact, some are turning the table on potential users and putting the initial sign-up burden on users, a practice many of those customers approve of-if initial results are any indication.

GTE, Bell Atlantic and U S West have deployed or plan to deploy systems that let potential asymmetrical DSL subscribers sign up for service on-line. More important, on-line sign-up systems are matching users' addresses with telco databases containing lists of locations that can be served with high-speed service. The result is a more efficient system that dramatically cuts down the number of times telcos deploy trucks to unserviceable locations.

"Throughout all our trials, we created a very substantial database," said Parker Blackwell, director of advanced business products and service for GTE. "We're getting 98% accuracy on qualification. We also can set expectations because this is real time."

At GTE, on-line sign-ups are just one part of the digital service testing system aimed at more accurate subscriber qualification and more reliable service once DSL has been turned up. At its core, the system provides a machine interface to other operations support systems. Once a customer subscribes to a DSL service, the system collects status information from network elements and the user's equipment.

And although the company won't release subscriber numbers yet, demand has far exceeded expectations, according Jeff Bolton, director of GTE's ADSL program.

Handling that demand surge is also the goal of U S West's on-line sign-up system. Though not integrated with testing yet, the U S West system will allow a user to sign up for service without speaking to a customer service representative.

"They're really using a front-end system that ties directly into our process," said Mike Rouleau, vice president of marketing for U S West !nterprise Networking. "The initial request goes directly into a database where we've gone in and tested all the lines for things like impedance and decibel loss."

The resulting Web page immediately tells users the status of DSL deployment in their area. In fact, the regional Bell operating company's goal is to give users a page showing exactly what level of service they can get. Under its current plan, U S West offers three varieties of DSL. Its on-line sign-up system will be launched as part of a holiday promotion package.

Bell Atlantic, which recently launched its Infospeed DSL service in the Pittsburgh and Washington markets, also has implemented on-line sign ups as a way of qualifying customers.

Systems such as these not only cut down on wasted truck rolls, but they also put a lot of the power in users' hands, something most early adopters want, according to Rouleau. In its initial rollouts, U S West offers customers the option of having a technician come to the house to install the modem. However, about 40% of its Megabit users are doing a self-installation, following an instructional booklet mailed with the equipment. The company also plans to develop a video that will show users how to install the modem.

SILKNET GOES TO GREAT WHITE NORTH

Silknet Software announced that Bell Advanced Communications will use its eService 98 customer service software to provide support for Bell Canada and BC Tel Interactive's Sympatico Internet service. The package, which is in use in Pacific Bell's Internet service, will be used in the two Canadian telcos' call centers serving 300,000 dial-up customers.

MINDING THE BILLING

MIND CTI released a new version of its Internet protocol telephony/fax billing software. iPhonEX 3, currently in use at Deutsche Telekom, includes support for an Oracle back-end database.