Category: Skinny Jump modems

Green light on Jump modems

I have just received the green light to say that the troublesome modems that had not been provisioned for Skinny Jump should be alright to issue now. The only problems could be with any modems from the batch that were actually issued. The Skinny team is trying to identify any, but partners may also be aware of these. The problem is that the whole batch was reset and this could cause problems for any modems already in use. This will probably mean they have to start the registration process again.

The Skinny team has asked me to pass on their apologies for this disruption – they are just as keen as we are to try and prevent his happening again.

Can you issue more than one Jump modem to a household?

A message from one of our Jump partners today:

“I had a lady come in wanting a Skinny Jump this morning. I asked whether there was broadband at the property and she said no, so I proceeded to check her address with the Skinny Jump address checker. It said it was unavailable and when I explained this she said that she knew coverage was available there because there was already a Jump modem. I asked why she was wanting another Skinny Jump modem if there was already one there and she said that it was for one person and they weren’t going to top up for others. She then asked me to check other addresses – which returned the same ‘no availability’ result, so I wasn’t able to proceed, but she said she would return again. Wasn’t happy she couldn’t get a modem today and was starting to become slightly argumentative. Is it reasonable for there to be more than one Skinny Jump modem at a property? Is this going against the spirit of the programme? Just thought I should get the official party line on this.“

Two issues here – ‘no coverage’ and ‘more than one Jump modem at the same address’. These are issues many partners encounter.

(1) Skinny address checker indicates ‘no coverage’ but customers insist it works for their neighbours, or in the case above, at the same address. All partners will soon be receiving a pack of ‘no coverage’ explanatory flyers to give to customers who don’t understand the limitations of wireless connections (and that is pretty much everyone except radio engineers!). We also encourage someone from every Jump partner to attend one of the two special webinars next week (on 2 and 6 August, where this issue is being discussed by the Spark Foundation team. You can register here: https://diaa.arlo.co/w/upcoming/cat-11-partner-webinars/

(2) More than one modem at the same address: while the goal for Skinny Jump is to provide internet connectivity for households that can’t afford a fixed line connection, we do recognise that many houses often have more than one family or people who live quite independently of each other, e.g. a landlord and tenant. There are also many situations where people are living in flats, motels, camping grounds, etc. that share the same physical address. So sharing the same address is not enough to disqualify an applicant. There is no technical reason why two or more modems cannot be located at the same address (although when it gets to seven, as has happened, we do investigate to find out the reason). Partners have the discretion to refuse a customer if you suspect someone is abusing the opportunity, but you can supply more than one modem to the same address if you believe the reasons are genuine.

Jump Provisioning glitch now sorted

A few partners discovered that a recent shipment of Jump modems had not been provisioned for Skinny Jump. They did the right thing and completed the Modem Returns forms – this raised the alarm in Skinny and initiated an investigation with the modem supplier, Ingram Micro. They discovered 200 modems had been shipped without being provisioned for Jump. This has now been fixed, so you can proceed in issuing these modems.

I am aware of at least one modem that might have actually been issued – it didn’t have the 30GB loaded. I have been advised that this modem should also be OK now.

SIM cards should not be removed from Jump modems

We have received reports from some partners about a possible misuse of the SIM cards in customers’ Jump modems. Some customers are turning up claiming that they have lost their SIM card or inquiring if the modems have one. It appears that a few people are removing the SIM card from the Jump modem and using it in other devices, believing this to be a way to ‘purchase’ low cost data for their phones.

This is expressly forbidden in the Jump terms and conditions. An alert will be sent to Skinny whenever a Jump SIM is used in any device other that B315 or B618 Jump modem and the SIM card will be blocked. So anyone attempting to do this will quickly discover that the device with the Jump SIM no longer works.

If partners suspect that any of your Jump customers are doing this, you should not issue a replacement modem.

1000 more B315 modems coming soon

Since January 2021, partners have become familiar with the larger B618 Skinny Jump modem. Skinny has now uncovered another 1000 B315 modems lurking in their store and these will be distributed shortly. Don’t be surprised when these start to arrive. This is not a mistake; the B315s work just as well. Over 1000 Skinny Jump modems are being distributed every month, so before you know it we will be back to the now familiar B618s.

Being kind to our environment with Jump modems

Most B618 modems being returned by Spark and Skinny customers are still in excellent working condition but some are slightly discoloured or have minor scratches. The ones being returned by Jump customers are still usually in pristine condition, since we have only been using them for six months. The Skinny team is reluctant to send these for recycling and we totally agree. So if you see any Jump modems arrive that don’t look brand new, just give yourself a pat on the back every time you issue one, knowing that you are helping reduce e-waste pollution in our environment.

Good to go again with Jump modems!

As at 3:45pm today the ‘stop issue’ notice from yesterday has been cancelled. We have been advised by the Jump team that all the modems issued during the last week or so have now been correctly provisioned for Jump. If partners do find any that have not been provisioned, please use the Modem Returns form to get them reset. I will keep an eye on the Modem Return forms and will raise the issue again with the Jump team if I find more than the odd one or two have not been correctly provisioned.

Do not issue notice!

We have discovered the same problem first encountered a few months ago – B618 modems are being issued to partners by Ingram Micro without being provisioned for Jump. Three partners have brought this to our attention over the last few days.

At this stage we don’t know the cause of this, but the Skinny team is planning to do a bulk provisioning of all modems issued during the last week to Jump partners. This could affect up to 50 partners who have received modems since Monday 10 May.

Any partners who have used the Modem Reset process to provision modems for Jump and have then issued these modems could find their customers’ accounts being reset. We are currently aware of one partner who has done this and we will make efforts to prevent these modems being reset.

The Skinny team expects to get this sorted tomorrow (Tuesday 18 May), so our advice in the meantime is to set aside any modems received during the last week and only issue older or reset ones. We do not recommend that you use the Modem reset process for any new modems until we get the all clear from the Skinny team.

And yet another update on Jump modem provisioning

Hopefully, this time it’s good news! This morning, the Spark Foundation team advised that all pipeline modems (i.e. ones you have received from Ingram Micro during the last few weeks) have now been checked and provisioned for Jump. There are only 12 modems that have been issued to customers that have not been correctly provisioned; the Skinny team is contacting these customers individually to sort this out.

If any partners do receive a returned modem (they will only be B618s) that has been issued during the last few weeks and is causing problems for customers, please use the Returned Modems form to get it reset and provisioned correctly.

Please contact us immediately on jump@diaa.nz if you discover any further modems that have not been provisioned for Jump. Please provide the IMEI number of the modem concerned. Thank you.