Adsl Service In Area example essay topic

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS / PROPOSALS Customer unable to receive ADSL service in area. The problem that many customers are unable to receive ADSL service is a huge problem, which can result in the loss of millions of dollars and even lawsuits by customers not being able to receive service. As of today, Bellsouth can only provide service to about 59% of customers that request ADSL service; this is by far a very low percentage for a product offering. Due to such low percentile, we suggest that Bellsouth should place more resources into engineering. The first step should be to collect information to determine which are the areas with more ADSL service desire. This information can be collected by customer placed orders either by operator or orders placed via the. fast access Internet site.

All service orders should be divided into wire centers, then two distinctions should be made; orders processed and orders that were placed but cannot receive the service because is not available in area. The second step would be to study the service orders and determine which are the areas in Miami that require critical engineering work. With the help of the Pareto chart, we can determine which are the most critical areas that the company needs to focus. Orders that cannot be released for service should receive first priority for implementation of ADSL equipment.

These two pieces of data should help Bellsouth target the areas with no service and the areas that have a tremendous growth. Engineering should study area properly to determine which is the best equipment solution for area. Over-sizing and under-sizing capacity of equipment is always a concern due to the factor of money. Another area of concern in Bellsouth ADSL is the lack of communication between constructions and engineering. Both departments will have to work more as a team instead of two different departments.

This will expedite any problems in construction in which the engineer has to revise or re-due the work. ADSL DOWNTIME We found a series of problems related to the downtime of ADSL. We feel that most problems are due to the inexperience of the many groups that handle ADSL service. The recommended action to solve the problem with downtime is in one key word, which is "training". Proper training the Bellsouth ADSL workforce will eliminate most of the problems related to downtime.

The technicians that do the installations of the service need intensive training in central office equipment, personal computers, how to install software and hardware. The purchasing team needs very good training on the equipment performance of the equipment they buy. They also need to communicate with the central office technicians and get their input of their needs before they purchase equipment. The third problem, which is with customer support, is a nightmare that two members of our group have personally experienced. This is a problem that will require a bit more of coordination and training to make it a successful tool. The customer support group does have a checklist that they use with every customer that calls and a log that details every call, which is very good.

However, they do not have computers that communicates with the computers of the central office, their system only have basic information when something is wrong at a particular central office. We would recommend for Bellsouth to install computers that talk to the computers of the central office and determine if the service of a particular customer is having problems. Many times customers call to say service is down to have a service technician tell then that they are experiencing problems in such an area. However, many times the problem has nothing to do with such other problem, it was a simple problem that could have been resolved with the proper communication channels yet that customer spent a few days without service. This would automatically fix the 48-hour hold that is currently placed on trouble tickets and would provide the customer with a more detail response to the problem. Secondly, communication between service support technicians and central office techs would have to be establish so between the two groups, can try to attack the problem.

This would either fix or eliminate problems at the central office. If the problem has not been fix, technical support would contact the customer and schedule an appointment to have a Bellsouth technician come to the customer's house. HOW TO PROVIDE ADSL SERVICE IN TIMELY MANNER We feel that the company can do many things differently to be able to provide ADSL service in a timely manner. Bellsouth should not keep orders hanging around in the system for more than a couple of months. Growth in areas should be well monitored to prevent areas from running out of service. A database should be kept that will monitor all changes in areas and send a flag to project managers when ADSL cabinets begin to run low in resources.

We also feel that areas with a high concentration of orders should receive first priority to be completed. The engineers need to keep track of every job they engineer from start to the point that is operational. This would eliminate problems in which some equipments are in place but not functional. Such an action would make the engineer responsible for the full operational ADSL equipment. INSTALLATION AND COORDINATION PROBLEMS The problem of installation and coordination is another problem the company can easily solve with a little of coordination.

Many missed or late appointments have cause many customers to be very upset. Due to the fact that installations can sometimes be prolong due to problems such as improper signals or hardware conflicts. For such reason, we came up with solutions to try to ease on the problems that technicians experience on the field and by doing such, helping cut time on installations and be able to meet most appointments on time. Most installation problems occur outside a customer's house or connections at the central office.

Being that, we feel that Bellsouth should send technicians out to p reinstall the service a day before the appointment is due. The tech would make sure that there is a proper connection & signal from the central office to the outside terminal that lies very close to the customer's house. Such a procedure would eliminate about 60% of troubles that causes delays while installing ADSL. Part of the installation procedure is to installing an internal ADSL modem in customer's computer.

Such a procedure causes internal hardware conflicts and it also causes delays in the process. We recommend that companies such as Bellsouth should create a partnership with companies such as Dell, Compaq and IBM so that computers come equipped with internal ADSL modems. Another recommendation to solve coordination problems would be to ask customers questions as they order the service either online or by the operator. Questions such as: As to what type of computer they have? What type of windows does the computer run on? This would help the technician to take the proper tools to proceed with such an installation.

These recommendations would make installation procedures much quicker and create fewer headaches for the customer as well as Bellsouth technicians. IMPLEMENTATION PLANS. Send technicians to training before the introduction & implementation of new services... Concentrate on wire centers with greatest demand...

Place solutions that will maximize profit... Establish better communication between departments... Pre-installations of orders a day before... Create partnership with companies such as Dell, Compaq and IBM so that computers come equipped with internal ADSL modems.