The majority of scheduled maintenance work is performed between 1am and 5am local time. This timeframe is used because it impacts the least amount of customers that have WOW! service. Preventive maintenanace work is also performed at night Monday through Thursday. This time is used due to the low usage of Internet and Voice. Video has low usage during these hours but our VideoOnDemand product tends to have a higher usage. Because of this, we schedule maintenance for VideoOnDemand at 5am local time. Whenever maintenance is performed that will affect a large group of customers or a community for more the 15 minutes, we will deliver bulletins to the affected WOW! customers via computers within 48 hours of the scheduled work. We will also post this information on the Network Status page of the Customer Portal.
It’s That Time of Year – Fall TV Is Back!
I love this time of year and it’s not because I dislike summer. It’s because I love fall TV! The new fall TV shows and my returning favorites are like my version of a new school year. Last night I was going through my cable guide setting up my DVR recordings making sure I didn’t miss one. I monopolize every single box to make sure that I always have something to watch. And, when Glee first debuted, I DVR’ed it but later deleted them because I was running out of space and regretted once I discovered how great a show it was. I am making sure never to make that mistake again.
So, now that I have hyped up how excited I am for fall TV, you are probably dying to know what is on my watch list. Don’t lie, I know you are.
Mondays
- Gossip Girl
- Dancing with the Stars
- Lone Star
- Chuck
- The Event
- Little People, Big World (So sad that it is the last season!
Tuesday
- The Good Wife
- Life Unexpected
- Glee
- Running Wilde
- Parenthood
Wednesday
- Better with You
- Modern Family
- Cougar Town
- Hellcats
- Lie to Me
- Hell’s Kitchen
- South Park
Thursday
- My Generation
- S#*! My Dad Says
- Outsourced
- The Apprentice
- The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Friday
- Outlaw
Sunday
- Undercover Boss
What are you looking forward to watching this fall?
A Day in the Life of a WOW! Senior Network Operations Technician
The next group, I had the pleasure to interview, is another “ behind the scenes” department, here at WOW! It is the Network Operations Center. This group does not interact with the external customers directly but what they do is definitely customer affecting.
I spoke to one of our Senior NOC ( Network Operations Center) Technicians, Paul, and here is what he had to say:
Tell me what a typical day in the life of WOW! Network Operations Technician is like?
Paul – After a NOC technician logs into multiple servers and tools, our WOW! life becomes an adventure: fast paced and action packed. The Network Operations work environment can change from calm to catastrophic, in a heartbeat!
What are the tools you have available to do your job?
Paul – NOC technicians have approximately 40 resource tools available. Primary resource tools which are displayed at all times on the NOC video wall are:
MRTG (multi router traffic grapher), Big Brother (hobbit), HP Open View (star topology graph), Avaya phone call stats and earth Google Doppler radar.
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
Paul – Providing quality professional service to all our internal customers, from upper management to Video, Network and Head End Engineers, Maintenance and Install Technicians, Call Center Resource Managers and all of our call center representatives because great service will always filter down positively to our external customers! Addressing an issue before it becomes customer affecting is very rewarding as well.
What training do you have to go through to do your job?
Paul – When I was hired, as one of the few technicians back in 2002, there wasn’t any formal internal or external training. I had a lot of on-the-job training (OTJ).
As the growth continued, new equipment and services were implemented. Training at that time was provided internally by Engineers or Vendors.
What’s the most asked question you get?
Paul – Being that I monitor and adjust the climate in the NOC, the most asked question I get is “can you turn the air up, it’s too cold in here”!
Seriously, one of the most common questions we get today is troubleshooting wireless cable modems.
There is so much that goes on behind the scenes at WOW! . I hope this helps show that there is more to the operations then just the phone interaction.
A Day in the Life of WOW! Customer Care Associate – Tier III
- Stephanie – Customer Care Associate – Tier III
The life of a Customer Care Associate Tier III, here at WOW! is one of the most complex of all inbound call support. This position not only handles inbound service calls and typical technical support, as the Tier II’s control, such as:
• Supports the internet product by troubleshooting internet connectivity issues; setting up e-mail accounts in outlook/outlook express; and supporting Windows and MAC operating systems.
• Supports HSD by analyzing and troubleshooting slow speeds, installing and configuring security applications, and supporting webmail applications and the customer’s access to the portal website.
• Supports the phone product by educating the customer on the use of the service; setting up features, troubleshooting dial tone situations and poor sound quality.
• Responsible for recognizing and escalating 911 issues.
• Troubleshoots cable issues, including analog and digital video equipment (VOD, interactive guide, remote controls, parental controls); poor video quality; and unavailable channels the customer expects to receive.
• Supports billing calls by processing payments; accurately educating customers on their billing cycle, payment due dates and impact of non-pay status; accurately educating the customer on general charges to their account based on package and proration when changes are made.
The Tier III’s have additional duties which include:
• Involvement in project support for the call centers and Field operations
• Advanced F-Secure (security)Troubleshooting
• Advanced Home Networking Support
• Utilization of Network Operation Center tools to aid in the support of advanced service issues for all agents
• Provide support to customers with repeat issues
• Provide support to customers with escalated support issues
• Provide support for Dispatch escalations during high Dispatch contact volume periods
I had a chance to speak to one of our Tier III representative, Stephanie, and asked her the following questions:
• Tell me what a typical day in the life of WOW! Tier III is like?
Stephanie – Tier III’s have several tasks and applications we monitor throughout the day. We monitor two applications for Telephone Operations Team (TeleOps) which we work with our customers and TeleOps to fix or schedule a truck rolls to fix problems customer have with phone. We also monitor the Telephony Specialist (TeleSpec) inbox which has a variety of emails that come in throughout the day to include phone inquiry forms, seasonal requests, incorrect addresses, tech support along with escalation call backs and day call backs from the night crew.
• What are the tools you have available to do your job?
Stephanie – WOW has provided the Tier III with several tools to do our jobs with. Along with all the TeleSpec tools, we also have phone database tasks and port ownership tool we monitor and are there to help assist with phone issues. The Tier III’s has access to several Network Operations tools to help with email and security problems. Tier III portal articles have all been updated and are very easy to follow, with step by step trouble shooting instructions for home networking problems the customer may have along with advanced networking tools to help our customers with any service related problems.
• What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
Stephanie – The most rewarding part of being a Tier III is when you have helped either the customer or the rep solve a problem and everything is now working right. To hear relief in a customer or reps voice is a great feeling.
• What training do you have to go through to do your job?
Stephanie – Along with the training for Tier II , technical support position we all received, The Tier III’s also attended several different gap training sessions to introduce us to and train us on all the tools wow has provided us with to help with any issue that arises with our equipment or services.
• What’s the most asked question you get from customers?
Stephanie – That is a hard question to answer. We never have just typical days and typical issues as Tier III. The most frequent issues we deal with everyday are porting in/out of phone numbers and home networking issues. Most common home networking question would be what the customer’s password is.
• Can WOW! Tier III’s answer other questions about my service?
Stephanie - Tier III can answer all service related questions asked by our customers. If we are not sure of the answer, we have several different resources to go to get the correct answer for our customer or reps.
There is not a lot that this group cannot handle, when considering technical support. The group is made up of the best of the best technical support personnel. If this group cannot fix it, it probably cannot be fixed over the phone by anyone.
Considerations for IP Video
Over the last couple of years we have seen a shift in how some users view video. Today, “on demand” video is available from many sources–cable based VOD and prerecorded DVR content, as well as several newer sources. Hulu®, YouTube®, Netflix® as well as many network providers allow streaming of popular programs over the internet as an alternative to watching a linear broadcast.
At WOW! this phenomenon has caused us to rethink how we provide video to our valued customers. It appears many viewers, particularly the younger generation, will shift from linear viewing habits to an on demand model. Fewer people will schedule themselves to be available when a program first airs, and instead will watch programs at their convenience .
To respond to this new paradigm, our company plans to make more programming available on demand. To facilitate this model we need to reduce the amount of bandwidth on our network used by linear broadcast services. For example if nobody is viewing a particular program can we shut it off and use that bandwidth for other services? Would anyone even notice? It’s like the old saying “if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around does it make a sound?” Or does the fridge light stay on after you close the door? Who cares as long as it’s on when I open it, right? Research indicates that 80% of viewers are watching 20% of available linear content. By offering more programming in an on demand environment we can increase the efficiency of our network and offer additional services.
Specifically, by utilizing IP based mpeg 4 streams that are only invoked by demand rather than the conventional linear mpeg 2 streams that are “nailed up”, video can be sent only when and where it is requested. All this happens in an environment that is transparent to the user who just knows the “light is on when the fridge is open”, so to speak. The customer experience remains the same high quality digital picture and sound to which one is accustomed with WOW!
As stated previously, internet video providers are getting better every day and are increasing in popularity, but it is difficult for them to produce a high quality picture to your television screen. Our customer research shows that most users today still want their video services provided on their television, not on a PC in their office. We expect to be able to integrate web based and network based services together, allowing our customers to get what content they want when they want it from a variety of sources, all with the crystal clear picture and sound you have come to expect from us as your video provider. More on this to come—Stay tuned!
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