Again and again it was pointed out that there is a lack of a good customer service interface between the technicians and the local providers. There was a strong consensus that First Call does not meet their needs, and they will circumvent the model and go directly to someone they know whenever they can. This is because they have experienced a lack of response, or they simply are kept in the dark as to where their problem is in the queue or they were left out of the loop and the technician responding to the problem ending up dealing with someone else. It was agreed that keeping the local provider informed of progress and calling back as soon as possible was a very high priority. They need a phone call to know the ticket has been created, and a call to learn when it will be worked on, and again a call before the technician actually comes out to their site, so they can be sure to be available.
More communication regarding their problem is always better.
But this would not eliminate the need for better customer relations with those providers. Both the local providers and the ISC network people need to have a clearer understanding of the procedures, and know what is expected of them. A listserv list of local services providers should be developed, and perhaps split into sub-groups, so that network issues go to designated local network support people. In general, local providers find the network to be well maintained. There was interest around the table in the modem pool maintenance, and also in the faster ethernet that's currently under evaluation and what that will mean to daily operations.