Updated Modem Return Form to replace old forms on 20 April 2022

An updated Modem Return form is being introduced from the start of business tomorrow (Wednesday 20 April). This replaces the three previous forms used by delivery partners for modem returns, i.e.

(1) Skinny Jump Account Delinking & Modem Reprovisioning – Delivery Sites & Care Use Only – originally developed for modems that were returned mainly because they were no longer required and could be remotely de-linked from customers’ accounts and rest, ready for re-issue.

(2) Faulty Jump Modem returns – originally developed for modems that had been remotely tested by Skinny and customers were advised that the unit was faulty and should be returned to a nearby Jump partner. We have recently consolidated this form with the standard Delinking Form above.

(3) MOE Modem Activation and Returns – originally developed for modems issued by the Ministry of Education.

The new consolidated form is to be used by Jump Delivery Partners when they receive any Jump modem returned by a customer or if they require a particular Jump modem to be re-provisioned for any other reason. The Skinny Care Team may also use this form when a customer reports they have a modem but there is no coverage or capacity at their address.

The purpose of this new consolidated form is:
(1) to make it easy for Delivery Partners to get a modem de-linked from a customer account and then reset in a timely manner, so that it can be re-issued. This form provides a direct communication channel to the Skinny Support Team who are responsible for delinking any Skinny Jump accounts and resetting modems. Jump Delivery Partners should never call the Skinny Care Team on the customer 0800 number, as this Helpdesk team is not able to delink accounts or reset modems.

(2) to recognise modems issued as part of a special Jump Plan – MOE, CIENA or RED CROSS – and ensure these are recovered or correctly re-provisioned.

(3) to record customer details for the collection of unwanted modems or at locations where there is no network coverage or capacity.

The information provided in this form authorises the Skinny Support Team to delink an account and reset the modem. Faulty or defaced modems that are not suitable for re-issue are to be marked as “faulty” in the form and this triggers a response from the Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa (DIAA) team to send a courier bag to recover the modem for repair or recycling.

Once the modem is reset, an advice note is sent to the Delivery Partner at the partner email entered at the end of the form.

Ministry of Education letter to families with students on MoE subsidised programme

The Ministry of Education has recently sent a letter to households with school students who received a fully-subsidised Jump service during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns. The letter explains that the offer has been extended for the 2021 school year until December 2021.

Some of these letters have been inadvertently been sent to households who did not require the modem and have already returned it as part of a recovery programme that we have assisted the Ministry with. Please explain to these families that there is nothing they need to do. They will not receive any further letters from the Ministry.

Families who still want to activate their modems are encouraged to contact a nearby Jump partner for assistance. If they bring their modem to you, please support them in the same way that you would for any other new Jump customer (only in this case there is no need to supply a modem).

Families who no longer require the modem are encouraged to return it to a nearby Jump partner; please accept the modem and complete the online MOE Modem Activations & Returns form; we will send you a courier bag to return it to us.

Modem returns: a new year and a new Google form – just what you are waiting for!

You might think that Google rules our lives and you might not be that wrong. Certainly for us at DIAA, we simply couldn’t manage programmes like Skinny Jump without Google forms and Google Sheets.

And so, let me introduce you to a new Google Form – MOE Modem Activations and Returns. This is to be used by public Stepping UP partners whenever a customer returns a modem that was supplied by the Ministry of Education (MoE) during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns. When schools were required to close as part of our national response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Education made a herculean effort to ensure that students were able to continue their learning from their homes. This involved providing internet connections to households with students, where there were no existing connections. Families were offered a fully subsidised connection for 6 months, which was subsequently extended until the end of February 2021.

Some families received modems that they didn’t need, while others never got around to activating their modems. As the subsidised period comes to an end, the Ministry expects that some families may not wish to retain their internet connection and are seeking assistance from our Stepping UP partner network to recover unwanted modems. We know that some partners have already been receiving these modems.

Families are being encouraged by the Ministry of Education to return any unwanted modems to a nearby Stepping UP partner and we (DIAA) will provide prepaid courier labels for these to be returned to us.

For families who have not yet activated their modems, they can still do this until 31 January 2021 and receive a 6-month subsidy, but time is running out on this option. If you receive any requests for assistance to activate modems supplied by the Ministry of Education, you can help by directing families to the relevant ISP – see list below. Of course if you are a Skinny Jump partner and a family needs help activate their Jump modem, you can use the same procedures as for any other Jump connection.

Ministry of Education – subsidised internet connection providers and modem types:

  1. Vocus (Slingshot) 0800 892 843: Netcom device (NF18s), TPL link modem
  2. MediaTribe (Bryte) 0800 890 105: D Link modem
  3. Spark (fixed line) 0800 733 033: Akadian or Huawei Smart Modem
  4. Spark (Skinny) 0800 475 4669: Huawei B618
  5. Vodafone (Farmside) 0800 852 850: Huawei B525
  6. 2Degrees 0800 544 889: ADM Fritz Box or Huawei B535
  7. Fusion Networks 0800 368 324: TP Link Archer VR300
  8. Compass 0800 640 840: D-Link DIR 853 Gigabit or Netcom NF10WV
  9. Ash Net 0800 274 638: TP Link – Archer C20

So that makes three new Google Forms for 2021:

  1. Jump Modem Returns Form – to be used whenever a Jump modem is returned or when you have trouble setting up a new Jump modem for a customer. This form is used to de-link the modem from the customer’s Skinny account and reset the modem, ready for re-issue.
  2. Faulty Jump Modem Returns – to be used when a customer returns a faulty modem and if required, is issued with a replacement modem.
  3. MOE Modem Activations and Returns – to be used when any modem issued as part of the MOE Covid-19 connection programme is activated or returned.