Skinny Jump modems – Page 14 – Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa

Will we be continuing a national home-delivery service for Jump when we move to Level 2?

We recognise that with the move to Covid-19 level 3 today many Jump partners are starting to think about the impact of moving to level 2. While it is expected that public venues, such as libraries, will be permitted to open under level 2, the one metre distancing rule will make it difficult to offer a full range of services.

Whether or not Jump partners wish to resume offering Jump to their communities under level 2 will be a decision for them to make. We are able to continue to offer the national self-service Jump option as long as it is required, but we also look forward to the day when all partners are able to resume providing the additional face-to-face support that so many people still require.

I had a message from one of our self-service recipients the other day. He said in a brief email “OK, I’ve got the modem. What now?”. While the Skinny Helpdesk is providing this follow up support, we know many people would much prefer to talk with someone they know in their local communities.

Jump modems – B315 and B618

B315 First there was the B315, the Jump modem we have all become very familiar with during the last 3 years. These are still flying out the door and will continue to do so until supplies are exhausted (probably within the next 4-6 weeks). DIAA, together with our Stepping UP partner network, is the exclusive distribution channel for this product. Which means we are also the exclusive distribution channel for replacement modems. B315 customers must report any modems they suspect as faulty to the Skinny Helpdesk. The Helpdesk team will attempt to fix any faults remotely, but if not, they will log the modem as ‘faulty’ and this triggers a request to DIAA to ship a replacement. The faulty modems cannot be repaired and customers receiving a replacement modem are requested to return the faulty unit to their nearest Jump delivery partner (when they open up again after the COVID-19 lockdown). They should be added to the recycling box and eventually returned to Sims for recycling.

B618 Welcome to the B618. This device is initially being used as part of the Ministry of Education’s internet support package for students without a home broadband connection. Approximately 3500 of these have been shipped directly from Ingram Micro (Spark’s hardware supplier) to student homes, using a mailing list supplied by the Ministry of Education. As for the B315’s, customers are to report any faults directly to the Skinny Helpdesk. They will be logged and a request issued to DIAA to issue a replacement. Unlike the B315’s, a return courier bag will be sent with the replacement modem. The modems will be returned to DIAA and then forwarded for repair to Telegistics (Spark’s hardware repair company).

We do not expect partners to provide any support, at least at this stage, for the B618 modems. If you receive any inquiries or requests for support from households with these modems, please direct them to the Skinny Helpdesk (0800 475 4669).

Can the delivery address for the modem be different to the customer’s address?

The short answer is yes. In fact this has become such a common request during the COVID-19 lockdown that we have added an extra field in the Application Form to cover this situation. Applicants must still enter the address where they intend to use the Jump modem, as we need this to verify that they do have Skinny wireless coverage, but we have added an optional field as a preferred delivery address.

There are many different circumstances where people may choose a different delivery address, but one of the most common has been in rural communities where gates are locked or there is no delivery letter box. To make life easier for the courier, people in these situations have suggested a more accessible address belonging to a family member or friend.

Can one person apply for Jump modems on behalf of someone else?

The short answer is yes, but when we receive more than one Jump application from the same email address, this raises a flag in our system for us to investigate further. In a number of cases we have received a separate email from a representative of an organisation checking out that this is OK. For example, one situation involved a small retirement village, and another, special housing for people with disabilities. In both cases, an administrator or support person was preparing the applications on behalf of the people they were caring for. But as the people are living in separate accommodation and will be responsible for managing their own Skinny accounts, we are happy to supply individual modems.

However, when it comes to activating the modems and setting up Skinny accounts, individual emails will be required for each user. This email and password must be accessible by the person who will be responsible for topping up the Jump account each month. Normally this would be the person who is using the Jump service, but we have encountered situations where children are taking responsibility for setting up (and paying for!) Jump internet connections for their elderly parents.

Can we send more than one Jump modem to the same physical address?

It is not uncommon for more than one Jump request to come from the same physical address. This does raise an alert in our system and we take a close look at why this might be happening. For example, if the request is coming from the same name and email, then we treat this as a duplicate application and simply delete the application. If the application is coming from two different people with the same second name, we suspect this might also be a duplicate and will follow up with a phone call to the family to find out why two modems are required. Almost invariably we have discovered that this is because two people living in the same household have independently applied for a modem, without the other person knowing. So this is easily resolved as well by deleting one of the applications.

The other situation we are encountering is for people or communities sharing a physical address, but with multiple residences. This could be separate accommodation located on the same section or even a family living separately in a caravan (or a tent, as we discovered in one case). Or it could be like a gated community with separate individual dwellings.

In these cases where different people or families are residing at the same address, we accept individual Jump applications.

Courier delays

Our goal is to courier modems to Jump applicants within 2 – 3 working days, but we have no control over how long it will take for the modems to reach customers. We have seen some exceptionally good delivery times (next working day) to Opotiki, for example, but some appalling delivery times in Auckland and Wellington (up to 7 days, with some deliveries appearing to get ‘stuck’ in the local courier branch for 2 or more weeks).

We do have a courier tracking code for every modem shipped, so if you have any customers calling you about a modem they think is overdue, please contact Shelley (0800 463 422) and she will be able to provide the tracking code and date shipped.

Once you have the code, we suggest you give this to your customer, so that they can track progress themselves, and follow up directly with the courier company (Post Haste).

Just a brief note on the tracking code. The full code appears like this:

2TPBMED 0679964111

But in the tracker you need to just enter “MED” in the first box and first 8 digits “06799641” in the second box.

If this doesn’t work, our advice is to tell your customers to move to Opotiki!!

You are amazing!

What an incredible achievement for Jump connections over the last four weeks! With your support, we have together processed 2871 applications since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown on 25 March. 2545 of these have come through our home delivery self-service model and 326 have been delivered directly by 48 partners, using a range of innovative contact-less delivery methods. We applaud all 169 Jump partners who are accepting inquiries from their communities and assisting applicants complete the online application form. We know that these people often call you back when they receive their modems to get over-the-phone help in setting them up. We appreciate it if can provide this help but do encourage people to contact the Skinny Helpdesk on 0800 475 4669 if there are issues you can’t easily deal with. This is especially important if it looks like the modem might be faulty, as the Skinny Helpdesk must log this, de-link the modem from the user’s Skinny account and send us (DIAA) a request to issue a replacement modem.

So, well done in helping nearly 3000 new households connect to internet in just one month. Before COVID, we celebrated a successful month when we signed up 300 families in a month. So while most of the world has been shut for the last four weeks, you have demonstrated that not only are you open for business, but that you responded to the shut-down challenge by expanding Jump deliveries ten-fold. Thank you! And of course a special thank-you to the team at the Spark Foundation and Skinny who have made this possible with such a fantastic internet connectivity product.

A quick look at the summary statistics about the people who have benefited from a Jump connection over the last month clearly demonstrates that we are supporting the groups who have been identified as being among the most digitally excluded:

No phone jack needed for Jump

A Jump customer recently asked if she needed a phone jack to use Jump. The answer is no!

Jump is a wireless service that uses the Spark 4G mobile network. Each modem has a unique Sim card, similar to mobile phones, and this manages the connectivity to the Spark network. However, unlike a mobile phone, a Jump modem must be connected to a 230V power supply. But no other wires are needed. The Sim card does the rest.

And this is a good time to remind everyone of the difference between the two wireless connections used with Jump.

The first is the wireless connection between a digital device, (smartphone, tablet, computer) and the Jump modem. This is the WiFi connection and part of the setup process explains how to connect to the modem’s WiFi (or ask anyone under 40 – this is usually the first question they ask when visiting your home “What’s your WiFi password?”)
The other is the wireless connection from the modem to the internet; as noted above this uses the same 4G network as mobile phones.

It is these wireless connections that make Jump such a great service, without having to wait for a technician to install new cables.

Jump Modem Home Deliveries – Duplicates

Some people are submitting more than one Application for a home-delivery Skinny Jump modem and this can result in more than one modem being sent. Sometimes, it appears that when people received a copy of their application, they discover an error in the address or other details they have submitted, and so they submit another application to correct the error. We have added a note to the message that applicants receive with the copy of their form to request that they do not resubmit their application to correct an error, but instead email or phone us (jump@diaa.nz or 0800 463 422) and we can correct the database before we courier the modem.

Others seem to re-submit their applications after a few days – maybe because they haven’t received their modem. We have also added a note to recipients to explain that it will take 3-5 working days for the modem to arrive. If they want to find out more details, we can supply a courier tracking number for them to monitor themselves (phone Shelley on 0800 463 422 to get the tracking number). We are aware that courier deliveries can sometimes get stuck at local courier depots, especially where they have attempted delivery and have been unable to locate anyone.

If any inquiries come to you, as a Jump partner, about the apparent non-delivery of a modem, please encourage recipients to take the above action (or you can do this on their behalf). Please strongly discourage them from submitting another application as this only makes extra work in recovering the duplicate.

We have an active monitor in our database for detecting duplicates, but this is not 100% reliable, and at times a duplicate has been sent. We then have to make efforts to contact the recipient to recover the duplicate; our standing instruction is for the recipient to hold the duplicate and return it to their nearest local Jump partner after the COVID-19 lockdown ends. Partners should then add this to their stock – we would appreciate notification when this happens (to jump@diaa.nz) – name of recipient and IMEI number – so that we can update our records. As a last resort we could send a prepaid courier bag for the return of the modem if for any reason the recipient is unable to return it to a Jump partner.

Faulty Jump modem replacement process

If a user suspects they have a faulty modem, they must contact the Skinny Helpdesk on 0800 475 4669 in the first instance. The Helpdesk team will do their best to resolve the problem remotely, but they may conclude that the modem is faulty and ask the user to obtain a replacement from their local Jump partner. Whenever a modem is deemed to be faulty, the Helpdesk will automatically de-link the faulty modem from the user’s account, so that when they sign up with a new modem, they can use the same email address. (Note that this is what should happen but sometimes a new Skinny team member overlooks doing this. So users should be advised to contact the Skinny Helpdesk when setting up the new modem if they find they can’t use their existing email address.)

Prior to the COVID-19 lockdown this involved the user taking the faulty modem to their local Jump partner and getting a new one. During the lockdown, DIAA is managing this process nationally. When we are advised of the need for a replacement modem, either through the Skinny Faulty Modem register or by email from a partner (send to: jump@diaa.nz), or by phone (0800 463 422), we will courier a replacement modem with the following note:

Note with faulty modem replacements

Note that we are asking users to return the faulty modem to partners. Please add this to your faulty modem box and when you have five or more, we will send you a courier sticker and address label for Sims Recycling.

Note: this does not apply to modems issued to students under the MoE programme. These modems are to be returned to DIAA for repair and refurbishment