South Africa’s fibre Internet consumers will experience smoother line transfers if service providers adopt recommendations in the latest version of ISPA’s “Fibre Network Operator (FNO) and Internet Service Provider (ISP) Best Practice Recommendations” document.

Currently, some FNOs and ISPs handle line transfers well, but others are not paying attention, the ISPA says.

High-speed broadband is increasingly delivered to Internet consumers across fibre optic cables or “lines” connecting homes and businesses. ISPs provide the services that enable consumers to access the Internet via these lines. This fibre line will sometimes need to switch from one ISP to another – this is referred to as a “line transfer”. It may happen because the ISP is providing a poor service, but mostly happens because someone moved or because an ISP or customer provided the wrong address, or simply because the FNO is not tracking all the locations where they have infrastructure.

Regardless of the reason for a line needing to change ISPs, FNOs are often asked to activate a service for one ISP when a different ISP is already linked to that line. An FNO or ISP might also confuse two similar addresses and the wrong client is disconnected from the line.

Historically, ISPA and SA’s regulatory authorities have received persistent complaints relating to line transfers. Consumers regularly complain about the process being slow, involving penalties and incorrect customer disconnections among other systems-related issues.

ISPA is South Africa’s official Internet Industry Representative Body (IRB) and Version 3.2 of the ISP Best Practice Recommendations document – developed over the past three years –  specifically addresses this noted consumer pain point.

A number of practical guidelines of value to both FNOs and ISPs in pursuit of smoother line transfers and better customer service in general are provided.

The document notes the importance of line information ideally being made available via centralised Web-based portals. This self-service approach would negate the need for many line-related queries to be logged with FNOs and customers being ping-ponged between call centre agents who are unsure of how to handle such situations.

The latest V3.2 document contains detailed guidelines relating to line migrations. For reference, ISPA provides an FNO best practice checklist:

• Do double check the address for any migration or new installation.
• Do offer multiple services over the same fibre line if technically feasible.
• Do not have unnecessary notice periods for line migrations.
• Do distinguish between activation fees and installation fees for line migrations.
• Do cover the possibility and consequences of line transfers in agreements with ISPs.
• Do provide an indication of the number of previous migrations of a particular line.

For ISPs, ISPA recommends always double-checking the address for a migration or new installation.

When it comes to managing disputes over lines, it is further recommended that, “unless there is a process in place to resolve conflict resulting from line migrations, the new customer at a location may be unfairly blocked from obtaining a service. However, an FNO must also be cautious about summarily terminating an ISP’s access to a line, since this could place the FNO in breach of their service agreement with that ISP.”

If there is a dispute, the FNO should keep both ISPs informed of the status of a migration and attempt to resolve it well before the migration date.

FNO best practice checklist:

• Do inform ISPs when a dispute arises over a fibre line.
• Do provide a thorough and reasonable process for resolving line transfer requests that may be disputed.

ISP best practice checklist:

• Do seek clarity from customers when line migration disputes arise.
• Do not use a customer billing dispute as a reason to dispute a line migration.
• Do cooperate with FNOs to speedily resolve any line migration dispute that is preventing a customer from obtaining a service.

ISPA’s most up-to-date Best Practice Recommendations have been developed following consultation with both ISPA’s members and with some of the FNOs who are not members of the Association.

“This document is tangible evidence of the commitment of all parties to deliver ubiquitous, fibre-based Internet to consumers as well as more responsive customer care,” says Sasha Booth-Beharilal, ISPA chairperson.

ISPA notes the guidelines will be regularly revised and updated based on additional industry and consumer feedback.