Understanding the Role of Demarc Extension
As a telecom agent, there is no question that you will be involved with numerous demarc extensions. As a best business practice, you may wish to accommodate your customers requirements for rapid delivery and fault resolution of the circuit at the time of delivery, beyond the demarcation point. It is important to be aware of potential pitfalls that can arise on your customers side with a demarc extension of the circuit.
Frequently referred to as inside wiring,” the demarc extension is the last piece of cabling and, in some cases, equipment required from where the local access provider or ILEC drops the local loop off at your customers site. This area is typically the minimum point of entry (MPOE) in a facility. As mandated by the FCC, ownership of service must be transferred from the local access provider to the customer at the demarcation point (demarc), located within the MPOE.
When a demarc extension is not working or experiences intermittent problems, the users within the network are unable to communicate. With the Internet and other forms of communications playing a large role in business, a faulty demarc extension can have a substantial impact on business operations.
Even though it may not seem to be part of the agent’s responsibility, a demarc extension is essential to the circuit and, therefore, considered in the fault resolution when a circuit goes down. From the customers perspective, this is often assumed to be included as part of the delivery of a circuit. When a circuit issue arises due to a faulty demarc extension, the agent should be proactive to resolve the issues and ensure full operability of the circuit. This gray area can have a significant impact on the perception of the agent’s capabilities to deliver the circuit on time or quickly rectify a circuit fault.
As an agent, here is what you can do:
- Make sure your customer is aware of the arrangements for extending the circuit to the customers required location within their facility. It is always important to check a few days prior to installation (FOC date) to confirm that the arrangements have been made and are on schedule.
- If your customer elects to perform the work with its own employees or contract the work out to a local company, make sure upon delivery of service that the circuit is tested at the end of the demarc extension, preferably with the customer premises equipment (CPE) installed. This testing is critical to avoid circuit issues, which may result in unsatisfied calls from the customer in the future.
- If the customer requests the local access provider (or carrier) extend the service, confirm that the proper paperwork has been completed. Due to insurance and labor agreements, make certain there are no construction restraints at the site that may cause the local access provider to refuse installing the demarc extension. Such issues may include ceiling height requirements calling for tall ladders, lifts or core-hole drilling between riser closets.
- You may choose to have the carrier partner perform the demarc extension. You will want to understand its entire process, including who it uses, its experience with demarc extensions and warranties because these partners (technicians) are going to be the physical representation of your capabilities at the customers site.
- As the agent, you could provide this value-added service through partnership with an installation company or refer your customer to a company that specializes in demarc extensions. You have two options for forming a partnership: either use a firm that specializes in demarc extensions with national footprint or use multiple firms over different geographical areas.
- Regardless of the installation method, it is important to address billing and cost up-front with your customer.
There are several concerns if the responsibility for the demarc extension is left to the customer. In some cases, if the service agreement is unclear or the customer does not have knowledge in this area, it may not realize that a demarc extension is required. Therefore, the customer is left to find a suitable contractor or to try to handle it itself. There is a possibility that the customer or the contractor will not have the skills required to complete the demarc extension properly, leading to an unreliable connection and a disappointed customer.
To avoid issues, it is important to find an installation company that has experience in dealing not only with the inside wiring, but has knowledge of circuits and the CPE that connects to those circuits.
Various testing is required to isolate an inside wiring issue from a circuit issue. It is recommended that low-level loop-back testing be performed at the access providers demarcation point and CPE be moved to the demarcation point to rule out CPE problems, when applicable. Testing of the complete transmission path at the time of installation is vital to prevent future issues and ensure full operability of the circuit and demarc extension.
You also should be aware of the large variances in warranties or no warranty at all for the demarc extension. Communicating this information to your customers can be important and ensure customer satisfaction.
When a circuit is not functioning properly and the demarc extension is the suspected issue, finger-pointing among the many parties involved can delay the solution. Issues can occur from a customer, carrier, local access provider and local contractor perspective. Even though there may be multiple parties involved, the agent should look at facilitating a swift resolution to keep its customer pleased and add value to their relationship.
As agents, you want your customers to have a positive experience with the delivery and continued operation of their circuit. Although it is easy to overlook the demarc extension and avoid responsibility for this critical cabling channel, this value-added service comes with an opportunity. The more you support the efforts of your customers when it comes to the delivery of their circuits or the resolution of an issue, the more you will be recognized and recommended making it easier to grow your business.
Dennis Mazaris is the founder of
Demarc Extension Nationwide
, a brand of Concert Technologies, where he serves as president. He has more than 30 years experience in the IT systems industry and specializes in nationwide and international technology rollouts by utilizing thousands of partners across the world. He can be reached at [email protected].
