New Telkom ADSL line transfer policy will cause downtime

Telkom will introduce a new DSL line transfer policy on 19 June, which the company said forms part of its ongoing efforts to improve its customer experience and service.

The new policy introduces changes on the Resell DSL order handling and flow methodology, which will include changes to various aspects of the process.

This new policy will involve downtime to DSL subscribers who transfer their lines.

“The customer will have downtime until such time that the new ISP has applied for the Resell DSL service,” said Jacqui O’ Sullivan, Telkom’s head of group communication.

“The physical port, however, will not be disconnected and the port thus remains reserved for the holding pool period.”

Changes to the policy

The new DSL line transfer policy will come into effect on 19 June, with the following changes:

Telkom Wholesale Holding Pool

This change is aimed to address order flow with regards to customers migrating from one service provider to another.

All end-users requesting a migration from their current service provider to another service provider will first be migrated to a Telkom Wholesale holding pool.

Accordingly, upon receipt by Telkom Wholesale of the migrate application from a service provider, the above migration of the end-user concerned into the Telkom Wholesale holding pool will first be implemented.

This is to ensure that only end-users who are free from any contractual obligations to their current service provider are eligible for migration to a new service provider.

It is necessary to observe the business rules applicable to the Telkom Wholesale holding pool in order to provide the best possible advice and guidance to a migrating end-user, said Telkom.

There are currently two order types available to all service providers seeking to migrate an end-user. These will remain in place and are:

1. Migrate-Back: This is where the end-user retains the DSL technical configurations, such as current speed and port, as were applicable in terms of the original service provided by a service provider. The reservation of the port concerned in terms of this process will only be for a maximum of 30 days, where after the instance will be treated as a Convert-Back, described below. During the 30-day period the service will be soft suspended (no service will be provided to the end-user) and no billing will be applied by Telkom Retail whilst the service is in the holding pool.
2. Convert-Back: This is where the end-user’s DSL service will be discontinued and the end-user will have to apply for a new service with a new provider, should they wish to continue with a DSL service. In this instance the port may be re-allocated in the interim and the end-user will only be accommodated where there is a port available again.

All of Telkom’s electronic interface wholesale customers, similar to wholesale customers placing manual orders, currently receive a message when another service provider is active with respect to an end-user’s service.

This process will remain in place, and the end-user intending to migrate to a new service provider needs to be referred to his current service provider for release from the relevant contract, whereafter the end-user will be placed in the Telkom Wholesale holding pool from where the new incoming operator can migrate the end-user.

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