Do you schedule both the Wireless and ATA install on the same day, or
are they 2 installs? If they are the same day, how do you convince the
customer of switching their Phone over when they don't even have the
service yet. Don't they question your reliability since their sisters
daughters ex-boyfriends cousin had wireless once, and it dropped out
this one time so it's not reliable?
On 9/27/2014 4:35 PM, Ken Hohhof via Af wrote:
I forgot to address the due date issue. Like Jeremy, I try to
schedule the install on the porting due date. We don’t get an exact
time, but ports usually take effect around 8-9 am, rarely will it not
be complete if you schedule a late morning or an afternoon install.
Also note that many residential people use their landlines mostly to
call out, other people call them on their cellphones because they
don’t know if they will be home or not. Couple that with the fact
that you can call out on the VoIP line and have the caller ID show the
right number even before it ports, it’s the incoming calls that won’t
get routed to the VoIP line until the number ports. So if you can’t
schedule the install the same day, many people will be OK if you
install it the day before.
If they are going to use exclusively a cordless phone, most people can
handle unplugging it from the wall and plugging it into the ATA on the
morning of the porting due date.
*From:* Chris Fabien via Af <mailto:af@afmug.com>
*Sent:* Saturday, September 27, 2014 3:44 PM
*To:* af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com>
*Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Physically Hooking up Voip Lines
We are moving toward strongly suggesting customers not use the house
wiring. Seen way too many issues with poor house wiring causing
problems or with damaged ATAs after lightning strikes.
Our experience, many houses have hacked up phone wiring that somehow
works OK for landline service but the ATAs don't tolerate it. Makes
for a difficult conversation explaining to customer who wired up their
house with radioshack phone cords and splitters, laying on ground in
the wet crawlspace, why their new VOIP service isn't reliable.
On Sat, Sep 27, 2014 at 1:10 PM, Jeremy via Af <af@afmug.com
<mailto:af@afmug.com>> wrote:
I install every VoIP customer for no additional charge. I know
the port date before it happens so I always schedule the install
for that day, and let them know when we begin the process that
they may be without for a few hours on the day that the porting
completes. Most VoIP installs are simple, like two minutes.
Occasionally we run into the nightmare installs. I ask them and
if they just use one expandable cordless set I don't touch the
wiring. Otherwise we do the whole home install. I'd say the
majority are whole home installs. We try to make sure that we
bring the wire into the hub whenever possible, or near a phone
jack. That way if they decide that they want VoIP down the road
it is an easy install. I always consider the potential VoIP
install when doing the wireless install.
On Sat, Sep 27, 2014 at 10:44 AM, Ken Hohhof via Af <af@afmug.com
<mailto:af@afmug.com>> wrote:
I will only rely on the customer to install the ATA if they
are going to plug a cordless base into it, no house wiring.
Otherwise, they will forget to disconnect the POTS line at the
NID.
Most people have a cordless phone system, but they may also
have an old princess phone somewhere in the house, first try
to convince them to ditch the corded phones and not use the
house wiring. Failing that, have your installer tell them the
router and ATA have to go near a phone jack.
If they insist on putting the ATA in a room with no phone jack
and still using the house wiring to reach corded phones, the
professional way is probably to install a surface mount jack
and wire it like a phone guy would, and charge them labor &
materials.
If they have an old 900/2.4/5.8 cordless phone, you probably
want them to replace it with a new DECT system anyway, you can
get systems with a whole bunch of cordless handsets for not
much money.
Perhaps people can be convinced by comparing to WiFi. It used
to be people would run Ethernet to every room to plug in their
computers, no one does this anymore, they want all their
devices to be portable and use WiFi. Same with phones, if you
pick up the phone, you want to be able to move to another room
or even outside and take the phone with you.
If they really cannot go cordless or have the Internet
installed to a room with a phone jack, then charge them for
installing a phone jack. It does mean a few more parts an
installer needs to carry. If you don't want to carry RJ11
keystone jacks and surface mount boxes, there are cheap boxes
with screw terminals or I like the ones with 110 punchdown
terminals. And you definitely need red and yellow Scotchloks,
those are what kill me, no matter how many I buy, I can't find
where I put them, so I end up buying more. I must have
thousands of Scothloks squirreled away by now, I think they go
to the land of missing socks.
-----Original Message----- From: Nate Burke via Af
Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2014 11:28 AM
To: af@afmug.com <mailto:af@afmug.com>
Subject: [AFMUG] Physically Hooking up Voip Lines
I'm interested in how people are doing physical Residential VoIP
Installs. Do you just provide the ATA and let the customer
figure it
out, or do you physically hook it into the house wiring for
them? We're
doing more and more, and it seems like it takes almost as much
time to
do the Wireless install as it does to install the ATA. By the
time you
track down the house wires, disconnect them from the PSTN, run
a wire
from the ATA to where you can tie into the house wiring (not
always
close by), and then wire the ATA in. The one's we're
converting all
seem to have several corded phones they still want to use.
Also, how do you cover the crossover time between installation and
Number port. Business customer are one thing, I have them
setup the
call forwarding feature at the ILEC, and forward calls to a
temporary
DID until the port happens. But trying to get an older person
to call
the ILEC and understand what they need to ask for (and not get
sucked
into a new contract) is much more difficult.
I'm not sure how Vonage does it, do they walk people through
tracing
down cables over the phone? Or once the number port happens, they
presume the ILEC port is dead, so then they just have the
customer plug
it in to any wall jack?
Nate
