Partner ISPs of Zen Internet Get Simple Switch for Easier Broadband Migrations UPDATE

Rochdale-based UK ISP Zen Internet has today announced the launch of a new capability for their Partners called Simple Switch, which is being introduced “at no additional cost” and makes it easier to migrate broadband customers without needing to reconfigure router usernames and passwords in “most scenarios“.

Simple Switch is available by default across new broadband orders, upgrades, and migrations. It allows Zen’s channel partners (e.g. other retail ISPs) to continue using their existing order process through The Fibre Hub, which is Zen’s wholesale platform for aggregating multiple alternative fibre networks, while moving customers more quickly, reducing manual configuration, avoiding unnecessary engineer visits, and lowering the risk of provisioning errors.

Switching ISPs normally involves connecting up to a new router and manually updating the username, password and sometimes other credentials in order to get online. But Simple Switch works by automatically recognising the broadband circuit being used and then applying the correct authentication behind the scenes. This makes both individual and bulk migrations between ISPs a lot simpler and thus cheaper.

Unlike solutions limited to a single wholesale network, Simple Switch works across Zen’s growing portfolio of network providers, including Openreach, CityFibre, Freedom Fibre (Freedom Truespeed Group), MS3 and Trooli – with more altnets expected to be added in the future.

Paul North, MD of Zen’s Partner division, said:

“Our partners tell us they want the switching process to be simpler, quicker and less resource intensive. That’s exactly what Simple Switch is designed to do.

Whether they’re moving a single customer, upgrading existing services or migrating an entire customer base, we’re removing one of the biggest operational headaches from the process. It means less manual configuration, fewer opportunities for errors and a smoother experience for both our partners and their customers.

While Simple Switch was developed to make customer migrations simpler, it’s also making every day provisioning easier, helping save time from the moment an order is placed. By removing unnecessary complexity, we’re ultimately helping our partners spend less time configuring services and more time looking after their customers.”

Andrew Wilson, Sales Director at CityFibre Business, said:

“Making it easier for the channel to move customers between wholesale networks removes unnecessary barriers and gives them greater flexibility to choose the connectivity that’s right for each customer. Innovations like Simple Switch help simplify migrations, reduce complexity, and make it easier for the channel to take advantage of the growing availability of full fibre services.”

The announcement doesn’t provide much technical detail on how Zen are achieving this, although it sounds like it’ll only work for migrations between partners on Zen’s Fibre Hub and probably won’t work with unfamiliar third-party routers. Otherwise, the capability is said to require NO new ordering process or additional configuration.

Simple Switch has also been designed to support the move to all-IP connectivity, making it easier to migrate existing customers off legacy ADSL and FTTC lines onto newer services such as full fibre FTTP broadband. “A single standard router configuration can be used for hardware deployment, removing the need to configure devices individually before they’re shipped to customers,” said Zen.

UPDATE 2:09pm

ISPreview has been informed that Simple Switch works with third-party routers as long as they support and are configured for PPPoE. It doesn’t use remote router management to push new credentials or settings to the device. Instead, the router continues to present its existing PPPoE credentials and Zen identifies the circuit using the CSID / Remote Agent ID carried with the PPPoE session (i.e. authenticating the circuit using a trusted identifier rather than the username and password presented by the router).