Laurence Zwimpfer

JUMP modem supplies

In a perfect world, partners should never run out of JUMP modems. We monitor your stock of unallocated modems (cell F4 in your Google Sheet) and when this drops to 5, we courier a new box of five modems. You can always check in column AB of the Google Sheet to find the date when modems have been couriered. The delivery is normally overnight in the North Island and 2 days for the South Island; the date we record is the date they leave Wellington.

In a not so perfect world, when partners allocate a modem and fail to record the family name in columns B and C, our automatic trigger doesn’t fall to 5, and so no further modems are dispatched. If partners find they are having to always request further supplies, it could be that modems have been issued but not recorded. It is helpful if you check your modem stocks from time to time to see that the number you are holding matches the number in cell F4. If not, let us know the IMEI numbers of the modems you are holding and we can mark out the others.

We don’t live in a perfect world, so this cunning plan to automatically replenish your supplies will not always work, in which case you are welcome to contact us at sparkjump@diaa.nz to order further supplies.

Kawa of Care Glitch when using Internet Explorer (IE) browser to send JUMP forms

Every day, there’s something new to learn. Today, with Dunedin Library’s Anne Buck’s assistance, we went on a detective hunt to find out why Kawa of Care forms being completed by Dunedin JUMP families were not reaching us, nor were families receiving a copy. To cut a long story short, we discovered that Kawa of Care forms completed using an Internet Explorer (IE) browser were disappearing into a cyber black hole, but when the same forms were completed using Edge or Chrome, everything worked as they should. We subsequently discovered from the Kawa of Care form designer that Firefox is an OK browser as well but IE is definitely not (we didn’t ask why, we were just happy to have a diagnosis for the problem).

It appears though that some of the forms were reaching Spark Foundation’s system, which meant we were able to recover these without having to ask the families to fill them in again, but others seem to have disappeared for good.

So the moral of this story is to not use IE browsers for completing Kawa of Care.

Please continue to enter the family’s name and date of issue in your Google Docs JUMP register for every modem issued. If partners don’t do this, we have no way of knowing that the modem has been issued if we don’t receive the Kawa of Care.

Watch out for the “86” IMEI trap!

A number of families, when completing their JUMP Kawa of Care online form, are falling into the trap of repeating the leading “86” in the IMEI number. These two digits auto-fill in the Kawa of Care form and there is no need for families to re-enter “86”. When families do enter it, they are unable to enter the last two digits of the IMEI number, as the field is limited to a total of 15 digits. This makes it difficult, and at times impossible, to uniquely identify the family’s modem.

To mitigate this problem we have recommended to Spark Foundation that the auto-fill feature is removed, but until this happens can you remind families when completing their Kawa of Care not to enter the leading “86”. One other thing you can do to help is to always enter the family’s name in columns B and C of the Google sheet (yellow shaded columns). We can then advise Spark Foundation of the correct IMEI.

Glen Innes reaches 200 JUMP Signups

Today marked a special milestone when Glen Innes Library reached 200 JUMP signups (and today isn’t over yet!). In recent months, they have consistently topped the country for the number of sign-ups each month. Glen Innes Library supports one of the lowest socio-economic communities in New Zealand, so maybe this high demand for affordable internet is not all that surprising. It has been recognised for 20 years that families living in low socio-economic are less likely to be connected to the internet and a new survey by Network for Learning (N4L) has revealed that this is still the case. The survey found that at one in six of the poorest schools less than a quarter of the students had home access to the internet.

But this achievement is also a result of the commitment of staff at Glen Innes Library, all of whom have been trained to help families set up their JUMP modems. So, every day of week, people are turning up at the library to sign-up for JUMP. Nearly half of the sign-ups (48.5%) are the result of a referral from a friend; another 41% find out about JUMP when they visit the library.

The top 10 JUMP delivery partners are:

Glen Innes Library, Auckland 200

Masterton Library 187

Whanau Resource Centre, Pukekohe 147

Linwood Library, Christchurch 106

Whangarei Library 98

Kaitaia Library 78

Whanganui Libraries 77

Rotorua Library 74

Ngai Tai o te Awa, Whanganui 67

Timaru Library 60

TechMate, Christchurch 60

Faulty and Returned Modem Processes

Spark Foundation and Skinny are currently reviewing their processes for the handling of faulty and returned modems. While all the details are still being worked through, Skinny has requested that all faulty and returned modems be reported to them using their 0800 number (0800 475 4669).

All JUMP families should be encouraged to call the Skinny Helpdesk whenever they encounter a problem with their modem. Helpdesk staff will carry out a remote test if possible and provide advice to families about how to fix the problem, or in the case of a faulty modem, families will be asked to return the modem to the place where they set it up.

When families bring in their faulty modems, or even ones they no longer require, it is important to check with the Skinny Helpdesk that the modem has been de-linked from the family’s account before attempting to register a replacement modem using the same email address. Another option is for families to set up a new account using a different email address.

Families must also complete a new Kawa of Care when receiving a replacement modem.

The part of the process still being discussed is what JUMP delivery partners do with returned modems; Skinny would prefer a collection scheme, where modems are held by delivery partners until the end of each month, and then returned using a pre-paid courier pack. In the meantime, partners are asked to continue completing the modem return form, and set aside the modems until courier return instructions are received.

Speed Test Voucher Delay

Families who complete a speed test when they get home and enter the results into the speed test form are sent a complimentary $10 JUMP voucher. There is a temporary delay in sending these vouchers, while we await new supplies. This currently affects over 50 families who have sent in speed test results since 1 May 2019. We are aware that some families have been asking about when they can expect their voucher; all we can advise them at this stage is that they should receive this before the expiry of their first $10 – 30 days after activating their modems.

New batch of complimentary JUMP vouchers ready for distribution

We have received the latest batch of complimentary $10 JUMP vouchers, thanks to the generosity of Spark employees (through the Spark Give payroll scheme) and the Spark Foundation. Spark employees in the Spark Give scheme nominate the regions of the country they would like to support and we distribute the vouchers accordingly.

JUMP delivery partners have the discretion to distribute the vouchers as they see fit – the aim being to support families who can benefit the most.

According to our records, a number of partners have not yet distributed all their vouchers from the previous quarter. This could simply be because the Gsheet records have not been updated, but we are reluctant to issue further vouchers if previous ones have not yet been issued.

So this is a request to all partners who are holding complimentary JUMP vouchers – please make sure your GSheet record is up to date no later than Tuesday 12 February, when we expect to make the next allocation. All you have to do in the ‘Vouchers’ tab of your GSheet is add the names of the families you allocate vouchers to in column A, and the date and number of vouchers allocated to each family in columns I and J(for the new allocation). If you have forgotten to keep a record of who you have allocated vouchers to, I suggested you enter “Jump Families” as the name and the total number allocated to date in column H. Cell B2 records the total number of vouchers allocated to you and the number unallocated is automatically reported in Cell B1.

Stunning JUMP Achievement by Glen Innes Library

Our congratulations to Olivia Bender and the team at Glen Innes Library. They signed up a total of 38 families during January, making this a new record for a single partner in one month. While most of New Zealand has been on holiday, we were delighted to see 39 of our partners were signing up new families to JUMP, achieving a monthly total of 150 new connections. In January 2018, we had 22 active partners and between them they issued 65 modems. So this is a giant leap forward. If we keep this up, we can easily reach 2000 new connections for 2019, but our goal is ten times this – 20,000!

As at the start of this year, there were 108 active JUMP delivery partners, with another 31 in the pipeline. If every partner connected four families a week, we can easily achieve 20,000! Olivia has demonstrated that she can connect nearly 10 families every week, so do let us know how we can help all our partners achieve this.

Credit on returned JUMP modems can not be transferred

When families return a faulty JUMP modem, some ask about transferring remaining credit on the faulty modem to their new modem. As the credit is directly associated with the SIM card in the modem, any remaining credit does not transfer to the new modem (which has a different SIM card). Families will receive a new $10 30GB credit when they are allocated a new modem, so we think this should more than compensate them for any loss of credit on their old modem.

Modem returns and resets

There has been some confusion about the processes for dealing with:

modems being set up for families who are then unable to activate them because they can’t remember their email password to complete the final step of the setup process or they already have a Skinny mobile phone account;
modems returned because they are faulty;
modems returned by families because they are no longer required.

Scenario 1: New Jump family, first time sign-up

If anything goes wrong during the set-up process, you should contact the Skinny Help Desk by phone:

Ring 0800 4 SKINNY (0800 754 669) Select 9 for Help; 2 for Broadband and 3 for Jump

The Help Desk will be able to delete any registration details that have already been entered, so that you can start the process again. Or in the case of a family with an existing Skinny mobile account, help recover any forgotten passwords.

Scenario 2: Family returns a faulty modem and wants a replacement

Partners should complete the online Modems Return form with details of the fault reported by the family. Skinny will then arrange for a pre-paid courier bag to be sent to the partner for the return of the modem.
The family can be provided immediately with a replacement modem. This needs to be activated on the Skinny Network (steps 2.1 to 2.5 in DS29 Spark Jump Stepping UP module) and the family must complete a new Kawa of Care.
Partners must then send an email to the Skinny Helpdesk (support-team@skinny.co.nz) requesting that the faulty modem be de-linked from the family’s account and the new modem linked to their account. You should provide the following details to Skinny:
- the family’s name and email
- current home address
- the modem Broadband number (the one starting with ‘0204’), for both the faulty modem and the new one issued
Partners should then update their Spark Jump Register by entering the family name and date the new modem has been issued.

Scenario 3: Family returns a modem, no longer required

Partners should complete the online Modems Return form (also linked from cell F2 in the Partner Jump Registers) explaining that the modem has simply been returned. Skinny will then arrange for a pre-paid courier bag to be sent to the partner for the return of the modem. Please include all the items returned by the family, i.e. modem, power supply, ethernet cable and packaging.
Skinny will arrange for the modem to be de-linked from the family’s account, refurbished as required and reloaded with 30GB of data. These modems will then be added back into the new modem supply chain.

There appear to be ongoing delays in sending out courier bags for the return of modems – we are continuing to follow this up with the Skinny team. Please advise us (sparkjump@diaa.nz) if you do not receive a courier bag within 10 days of submitting a Modems Return form.