• customers are becoming increasingly reliant on
their broadband service, e.g. businesses using it for
VPNs,
• DSL-delivered broadband speeds are running ever
closer to the maximum the physical line can
support, due both to the higher speeds being
offered by service providers, and to the increase in
the number of DSL circuits in each cable.
The following two case studies describe real-life
examples that illustrate well some of the issues
mentioned above, and provide further insight into how
difficult it can be for customers to use broadband
services, and how this will drive the need for change in
how those services are supported.
• Case study 1 — ‘Surely using microfilters is simple
enough?’
Broadband customer: ‘My broadband connection
works downstairs but not in the bedroom.’
Customer’s friend: ‘Describe the connection from the
master socket.’
Broadband Customer: ‘Which one is the master
socket?’
Customer’s friend: ‘Follow the wiring from outside
and the socket nearest where the wire enters the house
is the master socket.’
Broadband customer: ‘OK there is a phone doubler,
one of the sockets has my phone in and the other goes
upstairs.’
Customer’s friend: ‘What’s plugged in upstairs?’
Broadband customer: ‘The computer is plugged into
a thing with ‘microfilter’ written on it and then into the
extension line.’
There then follows a long and fruitless discussion
about is the PC on, did it ever work, is the modem
light on, are there any other phones plugged in
other sockets with microfilters, etc, none of which
point to the problem.
Customer’s friend: ‘O.K. let’s start again, unplug the
doubler from the master socket.’
Broadband customer: ‘The doubler has got ‘ADSL
microfilter’ written on it. Is that important...’
The customer had a microfilter in the master socket
and had run an extension line upstairs plugged in
the 'phone' section of the microfilter, i.e. the
broadband signal was already filtered out by the
time it reached the PC...