100
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BROADBAND COMMUNITIES
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www.broadbandcommunities.com
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
TECHNOLOGY
Enhancing Customer Care
Make purchasing broadband services a frictionless activity.
By Pete Koat / Incognito Software Systems
O
perators are redefining the traditional
broadband services catalog as well
as the ways customers subscribe to
service packages. What used to be a tiered list of
bandwidth speeds and data caps is transitioning
to flexible, personalized service options that
subscribers can choose as separate items at any
time. Some call this "à la carte" services.
Instead of making a phone call to a customer
service agent – typically including a period
of waiting on hold while listening to elevator
music – a subscriber can now access an intuitive
self-service portal, select services and have a
technician arrive at the door with the proper
device in hand.
How can operators take this evolution a step
further?
Expediting service purchasing and activation
requires operators to support true zero-touch
provisioning. is requires harnessing solutions
to quickly and accurately provision devices with
the services a subscriber wants without any need
for manual touches from a technician or call
center agent. Ideally, a subscriber should be able
to purchase any gateway device from any third-
party distributor, such as eBay or Amazon, plug
in the device, enter a captive portal, subscribe
to a services package and then have the services
initiated quickly. On paper, this seems simple,
but in reality, operators must consider a number
of technical challenges before they can bring
this scenario to an eager market.
Not all gateway devices are created equal,
and today their differences have a direct impact
on the services a subscriber can receive. With
the dawn of network function virtualization
(NFV), operators can reduce the restrictions
on subscriber services by hosting device
configurations in the virtual plane rather than
within the actual (often limited) device. is
offers a way for operators to enable new services
without having to ensure that a subscriber is
using the latest piece of gateway hardware.
Ensuring device firmware version
compatibility or service capabilities is a
considerable problem for operators that want
to give subscribers more choice over which
gateways they purchase and which services they
select. If a gateway comes from a third-party
distributor, there is absolutely no way for an
operator to predict what version of firmware the
device will have installed when it's connected to
the network.
A proactive device firmware solution that
enables operators to roll out new services can
help tackle this challenge. Operators can preload
their provisioning solutions with out-of-the-box
device information, including multiple firmware
upgrade paths. As soon as a gateway connects to
an operator's network, the provisioning solution
communicates with the device to establish which
firmware version is currently installed and then
automatically updates and reboots the device,
ensuring compatibility.
Realizing true zero-touch provisioning
requires operators to create intuitive captive
portals for new users entering their networks.
ese portals should include a way for users
to create an account, select flexible services
from an à la carte services catalog and then
enter billing details, including a term of
service. Once the payment is authorized, the
