TelEm Group technicians and engineers will be taking a different approach when they begin the cutover of thousands of residential and business lines in the Simpson Bay area starting Thursday.
TelEm Group originally planned to transfer customers from the company’s DMS100 digital switch located in Simpson Bay to the company’s new "Softswitch" in one coordinated operation. Now, based on the lessons learned from the cutover in three other switches, technicians will now be carrying out the Simpson Bay cutover in smaller planned phases.
"With a cutover of this magnitude issues will arise that have to be resolved right away or as soon as possible to get customer lines reconnected and back in service also as soon as possible," said Chief Technical Officer Mr. Eldert Louisa.
He said in some cases some of these issues are still being resolved and as a result the schedule for cutover in the other areas have been noticeably affected.
"Because of the high number of businesses that will be affected by the Simspon Bay Cutover we will begin with the transfer of DSL internet and residential lines before taking on the transfer of business lines," said Mr. Louisa.
He said as soon as the first part of the operation is completed and all issues resolved, technicians will begin a night and day operation of businesses in the area for the remaining customers to ensure the least interruption possible.
"We aim to cause the least impact possible by working along with property owners in the area. Unfortunately it will put us further back in our scheduling to complete all the cutovers, but in the end we believe this will be for the best," said Mr. Louisa.
The series of cutovers are being carried out all over the island following months of preparation behind the scenes.
The first cutover took place in the Dawn Beach area on Friday, August 13th continued into the Ebenezer and Belvedere areas last week.
TelEm Group has stated that once the project is completed, the company will have moved from a fully digital platform to a more modern VOIP-based ( Voice Over Internet Protocol) platform.
Also upon completion, the company will be able to offer better and faster DSL internet connections to customers, cleaner and more telephone lines and a host of new features that could not be offered previously, including new data services.
The new CS2K Softswitch is easier to maintain and is less vulnerable to hurricane damage and other natural disasters that its digital counterpart.
TelEm Group is making available a special CS2K Helpdesk number for customers in the Simpson Bay area who wish to report a problem with their telephone or DSL connections as a result of the transfer of subscriber lines starting Thursday.
The Helpdesk number is ( 546 9999)