Broadband ISP Virgin Media (VMO2) has today begun rolling out a new service called “Smart Support” to a sizeable but limited subset of their customer base, which they say will help to “boost broadband reliability” by proactively identifying and tackling issues remotely at no extra cost for customers.
The new service has been built using technology from Cisco’s ThousandEyes (formerly SamKnows) platform (i.e. cloud-based data sets and advanced device identification technology) and will initially target 300,000 of Virgin Media’s broadband customers “whose connections will be checked throughout the year as the service learns and evolves,” before being rolled out more widely to all customers in the future.
Smart Support essentially monitors their customers’ WiFi Hubs (routers) and assesses the health of their connection, flagging potential issues including speed drops and disconnections to help build a full picture of the Hub’s performance.
Smart Support’s Multi-Layered Approach Includes:
➤ Always-on monitoring: Using smart support technology to constantly monitor the customer’s broadband speeds and connection performance.
➤ Problem solving: If a fault is detected, the WiFi Hub will work automatically overnight to try and resolve the issue.
➤ Tailored advice: If the suspected issue cannot be fixed remotely, the customer will be sent personalised advice on how they can try to resolve the issue themselves.
➤ Easy to book expert help: Should this be unsuccessful; the customer will be invited to book a free engineer appointment at a time that suits them.
The new process is designed to tackle broadband issues remotely, so in theory customers often won’t then need to call and report faults, which will also put less pressure on their support lines. “Irregularities that are detected will be resolved quickly and with minimal action from customers, providing an even more seamless and reliable broadband experience,” said Virgin Media’s announcement.
Gareth Lister, VMO2’s Director of Connectivity, said:
“Virgin Media has long been recognised for ultrafast speeds, but we also know that reliability is equally important which is why we’re rolling out a new, innovative smart support service that will proactively act as a helping hand to fix network niggles and optimise the performance of our connectivity – often with customers not needing to do a thing. Smart support will evolve over time, reducing hassle for our customers and further improving connectivity for those that need it to offer a best-in-class service for all.”
The Smart Support service is expressed as one that is in a state of evolution, which means that it will “become more sophisticated” later in 2024 and will thus be able to “accurately diagnose a wider range of in-home connectivity issues“, as well as enhancing the journey for new customers during the installation period and providing guidance on tackling in-home WiFi blackspots, to ensure great signal throughout the home.
The smart support process will be rolled out in phases, with phase one monitoring enrolled customers’ broadband service, phase two enhancing the onboarding journey and phase three employing machine learning to fix faults and prevent them from reoccurring. Smart support will also develop to support digital TV issues (e.g. buffering) in the future.
We should point out that proactive monitoring of broadband lines is something that some other ISPs have also adopted, albeit to varying different levels of effectiveness and sophistication. Sometimes this comes as part of a premium add-on, while in other cases it’s a default feature. But independently assessing the performance of such systems can be tricky, so we’re not really sure how well any of them ultimately deliver on their promises.