Faults caused by Chorus - end user customer experience

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Faults caused by Chorus - end user customer experience - thoughts to improve

ascroft

396 posts

Ultimate Geek

#289913 8-Oct-2021 11:53

Hi.

I wonder if the likes of a Chorus could do more around taking action from proactive fault monitoring.

My last two fibre faults have been caused by Chorus "hands in the network" - likely breaking something whilst provisioning other customers.

My only path is to go to the ISP but surely Chorus should be able to detect the fault in their network. Frustrating for the end user.......

This time:

- the tech gets booked for the next day pm via the ISP (hot spotting off my phone in the meantime)

- they call me and ask if I have been digging anywhere - I say no - and its at your end so go and check the FAT etc

- they call me and tell me its now working and I was right

Thoughts

This is not a great customer experience - I do wonder how many faults are caused by Chorus rather than end users? I bet it's the greater proportion.

What I would prefer to see is:

- Chorus are proactive around network faults - their logging tools will detect this (or should) Why are end customers expected to detect their faults?

- Chorus email the end user directly and ask if they are aware of the fault and have they done anything that could cause it (digging etc.)

- Depending on the response, Chorus direct the end user to their ISP, or send a tech to their end of the network to sort it and confirm with the end user when fixed.

Mark Ascroft

common sense is not very common

Linux

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#2791754 8-Oct-2021 11:57

You need a managed connection then

aseni

52 posts

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#2791760 8-Oct-2021 12:03

ascroft: Chorus are proactive around network faults - their logging tools will detect this (or should) Why are end customers expected to detect their faults?

Imagine the fun it would be for the monitoring team receiving an alert every time an end user reboots their ONT or there is a power outage? 😬

boosacnoodle

963 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2791801 8-Oct-2021 14:07

Linux: You need a managed connection then

This is an absurd response. Many other utilities are providing "condition monitoring" as a service these days. Heavy equipment operators, power line companies, even car manufacturers. Hardly unreasonable.

chevrolux

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#2791804 8-Oct-2021 14:18

boosacnoodle:

Linux: You need a managed connection then

This is an absurd response. Many other utilities are providing "condition monitoring" as a service these days. Heavy equipment operators, power line companies, even car manufacturers. Hardly unreasonable.

Not for ~$45/month they aren't!

I think OP has just had bad luck and just needed a vent. Just because one connection has gone down twice, doesn't mean the other one million connections have had the same uptime issues.

chevrolux

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#2791815 8-Oct-2021 14:29

ascroft:

- the tech gets booked for the next day pm via the ISP (hot spotting off my phone in the meantime)

- they call me and ask if I have been digging anywhere - I say no - and its at your end so go and check the FAT etc

- they call me and tell me its now working and I was right

As someone who has done faults on the national network (albeit in the copper days), the worst thing you can do is listen to know-it-all home owners who think they know what the fault is. Best to just follow normal fault finding process and check everything.

Linux

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#2791823 8-Oct-2021 14:53

boosacnoodle:

Linux: You need a managed connection then

This is an absurd response. Many other utilities are providing "condition monitoring" as a service these days. Heavy equipment operators, power line companies, even car manufacturers. Hardly unreasonable.

Not absurd if you want that type of service then get a managed connection ' Pay for it '

cisconz

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#2791830 8-Oct-2021 15:14

aseni:Imagine the fun it would be for the monitoring team receiving an alert every time an end user reboots their ONT or there is a power outage? 😬

The ONT's have "Dying Gasp" so this should not cause any alerts

Hmmmm

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MadEngineer

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#2791837 8-Oct-2021 15:32

(TIC)

If Chorus proactively fixed their own network how would they bill for anything?

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Wellingtondave

156 posts

Master Geek

#2791922 8-Oct-2021 18:55

boosacnoodle:

Linux: You need a managed connection then

This is an absurd response. Many other utilities are providing "condition monitoring" as a service these days. Heavy equipment operators, power line companies, even car manufacturers. Hardly unreasonable.

There's another thread on this too.

Seems like some easy customer service wins isn't at the forefront for a lot of these people.

tdgeek

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#2791948 8-Oct-2021 19:35

boosacnoodle:

Linux: You need a managed connection then

This is an absurd response. Many other utilities are providing "condition monitoring" as a service these days. Heavy equipment operators, power line companies, even car manufacturers. Hardly unreasonable.

If FB and IG etc get taken down, it happens. Power companies have power cuts, a colleague had that happen the other day. Car manufacturers have recalls.

If you got a managed connection, you will be fine. It wont stop the fault but you will get a credit (which will help offset the large bill)

tdgeek

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#2791949 8-Oct-2021 19:37

chevrolux:

Not for ~$45/month they aren't!

Really? I thought $45 a month would give ne a Govt and FBI guaranteed connection? :-)

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#2792040 9-Oct-2021 08:13

Accidents happen unfortunately.

For a standard residential connection, proactive monitoring is fairly tough.
Given fibre world is a heck of Alot more defined, but I spent a few years with a team for an ISP, developing logic to automatically do what your saying.

Truth be told, it was a mess. So many pitfalls.
Dying gasp on the onts is cool. It is generally fairly good. Can sometimes be inaccurate though.

Chorus's relationship is with your provider, not you. It's a bit of a sticky situation to be overreaching to a customer without going via the provider.
Same for the techs completing the work. Normally they are contractors to chorus.
I've heard many horror stories about their pay structure, and assuming that's still the case... Techs often can't really 'afford' to sanity check everything past their usual reviews.

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

richms

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#2792172 9-Oct-2021 12:19

You really have to wonder why they dont use the wifi radio, or put something more task correct like lora into the ONTs to let them communicate status out to other nearby ones that are still online so they have total visibility to see that the ONT is still powered up but has lost fiber link, or has bad power levels or whatever.

Richard rich.ms

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2792173 9-Oct-2021 12:29

tdgeek:

If you got a managed connection, you will be fine. It wont stop the fault but you will get a credit (which will help offset the large bill)

I used a VM provider a few years ago that had an absurdly good uptime policy, especially considering I was only paying a few dollars per month for their service.

I think they were allowed an hour of downtime, after which the credit piled up quickly. At the time, I was with a wireless provider and after an outage due to a hardware failure at the tower. I sent them details of what the VM provider offered, and they agreed it was reasonable. I got a few months of Internet for free as a result. Residential connection, no uptime guarantee, just acknowledgement of their fault and customer service.