So many things can go wrong during a business telephone or internet service installation. The choice is yours, you can go through the process alone, relying on your carrier representative to work through all the possible issues, or engage a telecom consultant, who has worked hundreds of installations. Telecom consultants employee Project Managers, who are experienced professionals and aware of all the possible pitfalls and what steps to take to avoid them.
Top Ten Telecom Installation Problems, Part 2
Lines not tagged:
There can be hundreds of lines in a phone closet. If a phone company tech activates a group of lines but doesn’t “tag” or identify them, it can be awfully difficult for your vendor to locate them and complete the installation. Getting a phone company technician back out to the site can be a struggle, so this could delay an order for hours and cost you money. The last thing anyone wants to do is pay their phone vendor to wait for the phone company tech to reappear and identify the lines he or she installed earlier.
Incumbent rejects porting request:
This could be a last gasp effort by the telecom company losing your business to derail an order. They can reject a phone number porting request for a number of reasons, including your business name is slightly different than what appears on their bill, all the phone numbers aren’t accounted for or anything else they can think of. Usually, every time a porting request is rejected the order is automatically delayed 10 business days. Any delay requires you to reschedule your phone and IT vendors. If this happens more than once, it can become a hassle. Some customers become frustrated and cancel their orders.
Local loop doesn’t get installed:
Even if one of their competitors is providing the service, the incumbent phone company technician installs the local loop. Your order can’t be completed until the local loop is installed. If you order a service from one of the phone company’s competitors and then one of the phone company’s techs shows up with a service order, you might get confused and turn them away. I’ve had more than one customer do just that. Delaying the install of the local loop creates a domino effect and everything is delayed.
Six Reasons to Use a Telecom Agent
PIC code doesn’t get added to a line or lines:
Every phone line needs to be assigned a Primary Interlata Carrier (PIC) code or any long-distance calls made from the line will be subject to Casual Billing, which can be mega expensive. Learn from our telecom experts, why casual billing occurs and how you could deal with it. If a business has a multitude of phone lines, it’s not uncommon for a few to fall through the cracks. The prime time for something like this to happen is during a transformation from one carrier to another.
Tech no shows, arrives early or late:
If you’re at home and the phone company technician is running late, you watch some TV, snack on some nachos and everything is okay. If you’re a business and outsource your phone and IT work, those are two entities that you need to schedule around your installation. If the phone company tech is late, you’ll end up having to pay your vendors to sit around and wait. If the phone company tech is early, there won’t be a handoff and your vendors might have trouble completing their work.
Next week, part 2.
for immediate service or fill out theform and we’ll be in touch right away.