Category: Skinny Jump modems

Where are the courier bags for returning faulty modems?

I am well overdue for a blog post on this topic. This is now the second most frequently asked question by Jump partners. What is the most frequently asked question you might wonder (scroll to the bottom to find the answer).

Back to the main topic of this post – some partners have been waiting for more than four weeks to get a return courier bag. The good news is that there is no great mystery here – it is simply a workload issue. Our goal is to get these to you so they are off your hands within 10 days of lodging a Modem Returns form, but that has been impossible over the last four weeks.

Our DIAA team has been a tiny bit preoccupied during the last month launching three new Digi-Coach programmes in the Waikato, Northland and last week in The Top of the South Island. Next week we are in the Central North Island and a week later in Wellington. With five new Digi-Coach cohorts in operation, that means 50 new Jump Specialists become available in libraries and community organisations throughout these regions five days a week for the 12-week work placements. Take a look at the stunning impact videos featuring Digi-Coaches in the Wellington region during the pilot programme earlier this year.

BUT, I digress. The really good news for return courier bags is that all partners should receive their bags this week. We had 50 on the courier yesterday and we are expecting the remaining 30 or 40 to be out the door this week. We have a new cunning plan to keep on top of this in the future and avoid such a huge backlog.

This has also impacted updates to your Gsheets for delinked modems. Normally these updates happen at least weekly, but they have suffered the same fate as the return bags. This is not such a problem, as partners receive a direct email notification from the Skinny team whenever a modem is delinked and reset for re-issue. So you don’t have to wait until your GSheets are updated before you issue delinked modems. They (your Gsheets) will catch up eventually, as this impacts your stock levels.

And the answer to the most common question is ‘When am I getting more modems? The answer to this question is much more complicated and varies week by week. But as some partners will have noticed, we have now exhausted supplies of the refurbished Smart modems and the latest shipment of over 700 modems was mainly the new Futura modems. The backlog of orders has reduced to 1600, which is the best it has been for most of this year.

From courier bags to modem supplies, the road ahead is looking brighter.

All Go for Jump Futura!

Further to my post earlier today, I have been advised by Skinny that the provisioning issue raised by some partners has been sorted and that all the new Futura modems received this week should now be correctly provisioned.

If Cadbury chocolate fish still existed, a box would be winging its way to the Jump teams in Ashburton and Otara Libraries for alerting me to this issue.

My cautionary “should” means to take care when issuing these new modems. Remember the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So please let me know if you discover anything unusual.

Hit ‘Pause’ – Possible provisioning problem with new Futura Modems

60 Jump partners were the first to receive the new Futura modems this week. But as these partners are discovering, the modems appear to have been provisioned for Standard Skinny, not Jump.

Now we don’t know how widespread this is and whether all 732 modems are affected, but it would be prudent to hit ‘pause’ in issuing these. My rule of thumb is that when more than one partner reports a problem, we pause sign-ups until the problem is understood and resolved.

I’ll provide an update when we know more.

Now Here’s a How-de-do!

Just imagine, you are sitting in your cosy office on a cold Matariki weekend holiday, packaging modems for all those lonely souls without a Jump internet connection and you are confronted with this:

Two Broadband stickers on a Jump modem!! What a dilemma! What a How-de-do! (If this is a new term for you, let me politely suggest it is time to brush up on Ko-Ko’s dilemma in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado.

Now some of you might be familiar with Kahoot- the best place to go to get answers. What to do? Choose from the options below:

  1. Stop issuing modems immediately;
  2. Decide that this is a faulty modem and race to complete a Modem Returns Form;
  3. Call the Skinny Care Team for help;
  4. Remove both labels so that your customer doesn’t get confused;
  5. Of if all else fails, have a hissy fit.

OR maybe you might stop and think about this for just a minute. Maybe one of the broadband labels is correct and the other one has inadvertently attached itself. But here’s the next ‘How-de-do’. Which is the right one?

Aha! let me take a look to see if the Broadband number is on the SIM card. Carefully remove the SIM card and inspect (only suitable for those with excellent eye sight). No BB number, but there is another number, not one that we normally use – the SIM ID number. Can we get a match with the bar coded number on the BB sticker. Bingo!

Oops, another modem with two stickers (and not immediately visible as in my photo above – they have been attached on opposite sides of the modem). Bit of a pain having to remove the SIM card every time. Take another look at the photo and it is clear the two stickers are different sizes. If you have been particularly observant in recent months you will have noticed that the BB stickers are now smaller than they used to be.

And another Aha! moment. Consider that we have been using refurbished modems for the last six months and just maybe some of the CEVA team are having a bad day and forgot to remove the old sticker.

Here comes modem number 3 and yes, Bingo again, the SIM card matches the number on the smaller BB sticker. So now I am up to the fifth modem with two stickers and without even checking, I am simply removing the larger sticker and because I have trouble throwing things away, they are lining up neatly on the side of my monitor (just in case I have got this horribly wrong).

And if you are fed up with broadband numbers, have a sing along with Ko-Ko, Yum-Yum and Nanki-Poo. The Mikado was first performed at the Savoy Theatre in London on 14 March 1885, and who hasn’t been part of a school performance!

KO-KO:
Here’s a how-de-do!
If I marry you,
When your time has come to perish,
Then the maiden whom you cherish
Must be slaughtered too!
Here’s a how-de-do!

YUM-YUM:
Here’s a pretty mess!
In a month, or less,
I must die without a wedding!
Let the bitter tears I’m shedding
Witness my distress;
Here’s a pretty mess!

NANKI-POO:
Here’s a state of things
To her life she clings!
Matrimonial devotion
Doesn’t seem to suit her notion —
Burial it brings!
Here’s a state of things!

ENSEMBLE (together):
With a passion that’s intense
I worship and adore,
But the laws of common sense
We oughtn’t to ignore.
If what he says is true,
’Tis death to marry you!
Here’s a pretty state of things!
Here’s a pretty how-de-do!

ChatGPT’s response to my ‘cunning plan’

A Cunning Plan (Jump Modem Edition)

“Wait, my lord, do not despair,
For I have a cunning plan to share!”
So whispered Baldrick, full of pride,
With hope that fortune’s on our side.

The modems stalled, the shelves ran bare,
Partners waiting everywhere.
But last week marked a turning tide,
As 396 were set to glide.

No longer thirty in one big stack —
Just twelve or six in every pack.
High-turnover partners get smaller loads,
But restocked faster down the road.

The goal? To spread supply more wide,
To every partner far and wide.
No more giant boxy heaps,
No modem droughts, no stockpile weeps.

Let’s hope this plan will smoothly run,
Unlike Baldrick’s — which came undone.
But if it flops, as Baldrick’s tend,
I know you’ll tell me in the end!

“Wait my lord, do not despair. For I have a cunning plan.”

Fans of Blackadder will be all too familiar with this phrase that frequently popped out of the mouth of Baldrick. Most of Baldrick’s “cunning plans” ended up in disaster, but I am hoping for better things with my latest cunning plan to get Jump modems flowing again.

Last week was a milestone (I hope) in freeing-up the Jump modem supply chain. Orders were placed on CEVA for 396 modems and 204 of these had been shipped by Friday. But while these volumes still fall well short of our targets, we are trying a new approach (“cunning plan”) to keep more partners supplied.

29 partners have either already received a shipment from last week’s batch or will do early next week. This contrasts with an average of only 9 partners receiving shipments each week for the rest of May.

So what is our cunning new plan? Put simply, this involves limiting individual partner shipment quantities to no more than 12 (previously 30). So all last week’s shipments were for 6 or 12 modems, 6 for partners with low turnover and 12 for those with high turnover.

At month end (yesterday), partners were holding 1613 modems in stock; a few are well stocked having recently received a new supply of 30, while over 200 partners have 2 or fewer modems. So the new ‘cunning’ plan is to get modems flowing to more partners.

Those with very high turnovers will not miss out; it just means supplies will arrive more frequently in smaller quantities. Some partners might even think this is a better idea, avoiding the need to find storage space when five boxes of modems arrive at the same time!

So let’s hope this ‘cunning plan’ does not end up like Baldrick’s ones. If it does, I have no fear that you will let me know!

Jump Profile Form Updates

Some partners have asked for clarification about why the Jump Profile form is now asking for contact details of the person completing the Profile Form. This was implemented a few weeks ago because of recurring errors by people completing the form; we want to identify these people so that we can contact them and offer further support.

But some partners questioned the need for this, especially as a copy of the form was automatically being emailed to the customer. So this caused us to re-think why customers needed an email copy.

The form was created many years ago on the assumption that customers would be filling this in themselves, with guidance from a partner as part of the modem setup process. But after consulting with some partners it is clear that this is not the way things are happening; most partners have their own staff completing this form. So if we take this as the ‘norm’, we can make some changes.

As of this morning, we have stopped emailing a copy of the form to the customer.

This was originally intended for customers to check that the information they had provided was correct and on a few occasions, customers did do this. But this is very rare and there doesn’t appear to be any other benefit in sharing the form with them. So we have stopped sending a copy to the customer. You will notice that you no longer need to enter the email address of the customer at the start of the form; this was the entry that triggered the auto-send. We still need their email, but this now comes later in the form along with other contact details.

We have noted the concern of some partners about including staff details in the Profile Form. By not sharing these with customers, we hope this addresses the main concern. We are happy for staff to just use their first name (we understand with most library partners, staff display their first name on a name badge) and a generic email if they prefer.

The Profile Form is confidential to the DIAA Jump team. This is not shared with the Skinny Care Team nor with partners; we use this to update individual partner GSheets, so that we can track modem issues and arrange a resupply of modems when required. Most of the data collected, especially around demographics and target user groups is aggregated and used for high level programme reporting.

Ciena – and the winner is….

Ashburton Library, with their stunning Ciena display! I understand some goodies will be winging your way soon.

A reminder to all our Jump partners – you too can be a winner and sign up families with school-aged children in your community for the Ciena plan – free internet for the rest of the year.

All Jump partners can be Ciena partners; you just need to register with Sue (sue@diaa.nz) or Shelley (shelley@diaa.nz) and they will explain the process.

216 new families have already joined the Ciena family this year, but we still have room for another 384! 45 partners have already signed a family up so far this year – the leaders are in the table below. Over 25% of all the signups are in just one city – it probably isn’t too hard for you to work out which one this is! And I am sure they won’t mind me sharing their secret weapon – everyone signing up for Skinny Jump is asked if they have school-aged children and if so, would they like the Ciena plan (210GB free data every month).

Jump PartnerTotal Ciena Plan
Shirley Library26
Ranui Library17
Hastings War Memorial Library16
Linwood Library15
Flaxmere Library9
Matatiki Hornby Centre9
New Brighton Library9
Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-po Levin8
Glen Eden Library7
Glenfield Library7
Ashburton Library6
Mt Roskill Library6
Glenview Community Centre5
Marlborough Library5
Pukete Neighbourhood House5
Dargaville Library4
Glen Innes Library4
Highland Park Library4
Onehunga Library4
Otara Library4
Pakuranga Library4
Smart Newtown4
Avondale Library3
Kaiapoi Library3
Northcote Library3
Te Atatu Peninsula Library3
Havelock North Library2
New Lynn Library2
Papatoetoe War Memorial Library2
TaiTech2
Taupo Budget Advisory Service2
Waitakere Library2
Wellsford War Memorial Library2

Making things stick!

This would make a good Kahoot Quiz question – What do the two images above have in common?

You may recall my earlier post about refurbished modems making their way into the supply chain. Well this is one of them – this looks just like a regular Smart modem, and it is, but some partners have pointed out a problem in getting the Modem Return sticker to stick. It appears that the cleaning substance used by the modem refurbisher is making the surface of the modem slippery, so that the orange sticker will not attach.

Well done, you guessed it! The solution lies in the image on the left. A quick wipe with some methylated spirits cleans the mystery substance and hey presto – we have stickage! Sorry about this inconvenience, but in terms of the bigger picture – every refurbished modem helps save the earth. So, thank you!