One Touch Switching — the launch – updated

Paul Bradbury, CEO of The One Touch Switching Company (TOTSCo), the operator of the OTS platform which went live yesterday gave an update to delegates at the Connected Britain conference in the afternoon. This included a useful summary of the history behind the switching system.

Key Statistics

• Over 10,000 messages were processed by the platform by 11:45 yesterday showing an increased ramp up from the previous day.
• SLA for the platform is 1000ms however the maximum they expect generally is 150-200ms with many being a fraction of that (40ms).
• As of last night 167 providers were listed in the directory (vs 20 or so pre-launch); full list is below.

Operations — The platform is run by Tech Mahindra who are responsible for designing, building and operating it in line with the specifications provided to them. When a provider contacts TOTSCo regarding support issues, Tech Mahindra are the people who providers will engage with when they are raising queries about the platform.

Governance — The organisation is set up as a company limited by guarantee, that is with members rather than shareholders. The members of the business are the providers using its switching platform. This structure is quite common and used by other industry organisations that carry out a ‘neutral’ role such as domain registries and Internet Exchange Points.

Role as a platform operator — Importantly, TOTSCo is not the regulator. This can cause some frustration as broadband providers are at times frustrated with why other networks aren’t complying (e.g. not being on the platform). They stress that they are a provider of B2B services, passing messages between providers; enforcement is entirely down to Ofcom. In the same vein, the recent announcement about keeping the Notice of Transfer (NoT+) process for migrations (mainly between Openreach customers) as a backup to the one touch switching solution was (based on a later comment in another talk by another person) an Ofcom decision, not a TOTSCo one. The company focuses its resources on engaging with the providers who use its services and doesn’t seek a consumer-facing role. This approach is not uncommon for organisations that want to keep their focus on their core reason for existence. The industry shall have to wait to see how Ofcom approaches non-compliance.

Reducing the switch time — One of the questions we asked was about whether TOTSCo would be reporting on the latency of migrations; i.e. how long it takes from a switch order to completion. Not only does the new system technically enable very quick migrations (when using the same wholesaler in particular), it also removes delays which were a key part of the previous NoT+ process. One would expect they would therefore be able to tell the positive story about how migrations are much quicker.

In answering this, we were told that TOTSCo did not have access to this data as it only saw the headers of the request (i.e. the metadata) which show the origin, destination and some information about the type of request (broadly speaking). Our assumption was that the remaining data was encrypted end-to-end (hence they couldn’t see it; to be fair we’ve not spent hours reading every technical specification), but the providers we spoke to since have confirmed the connection is encrypted between the provider and the TOTSCo hub (just like most connections are these days), and the user details are in fact sent as part of this same connection, and thus TOTSCo appears to be choosing not to look at the contents of the request, rather than not having access to it (technically speaking; policy may dictate they don’t look at it so it means they wouldn’t produce statistics on it any more than a provider hosting your e-mail would look at the contents of your inbox). We aren’t entirely sure on this point as of yet. Even if TOTSCo only passes these messages on, not processing this data is a significant security advantage as it means data is not stored in their systems (beyond possibly some debug logs).

What they can see is the type of messages, including how many completed migrations happen, but they have said they can’t tie the “migration completed” message to the original request, and thus can’t measure the time of individual migrations. You may be able to infer from the total requests and completions, especially tracking peaks, however this may take a bit more time as there’s currently an inherent 2-3 week lag in the system.

This brings us to the general point that TOTSCo wants to be the hub that brings together the service providers, behind the scenes, rather than establishing itself as a regulator or campaign group.

A provider’s perspective — Later on in the day, one smaller alt-net did highlight the frustrations of some of the alt-nets with the switching system. “There is an infinite amount of work and a finite amount of resources. OTS came at a time which was tough for alt-nets [in terms of raising money]. We were able to do the bare minimum [to be compliant]. The top four [providers] have many ways to compete beyond the fibre price. They can throw in free television and telephony services and they can incentivise to retain [the customer]”. Many have had to pay Managed Access Providers (MAPs) to solve the problem for them (indeed most of the OTS implementations are through MAPs).

Confusions on Ofcom’s latest announcement — We wrote previously regarding Ofcom’s letter to providers asking them to retain the NoT+ process for another few weeks whilst using the OTS system wherever possible, but wishing to avoid things failing badly if something did not work. Even we, probably unhelpfully, called it a “delay” in our headline, although Ofcom was merely asking providers to keep the Not+ process as a backup option. However, we’ve seen notices from one wholesale provider to their customers stating they will now be retaining the 10 day minimum lead-time for switches between wholesalers and allow the current provider to cancel an order. This late intervention by Ofcom is somewhat understandable, but has led to confusion and means we won’t be able to fully judge the effectiveness of the OTS platform for some weeks to come. It should be noted that this confusion arose from the regulation, not the implementation by TOTSCo.

Confusions on retentions — There has been some suggestion that some broadband providers are using the switching process to trigger a retentions process to try and keep the customer and cancel their new order. It was believed by many that this was not permitted, but in fact this appears to merely be the ‘switching implications’ e-mail, rather than contacting the customer separately to try to retain them.

As one of the TOTSCo board members stated, this process aims to put the consumer in control as they no longer need to contact their current provider when switching, and all they need to do is speak to their new provider. Although their current provider may contact them, they can simply ignore their approaches if they so wish, and if the result is they stay with their current provider on a better-priced plan, isn’t the consumer a winner?

It is inevitable that companies selling TV subscription services for decades will be more experienced in the dark arts of retaining customers planning to leave. It’s not unusual for customers to knowingly call the companies to cancel, knowing they’ll be offered a deal to stay.

Have you switched through the OTS process? If you’ve got real “switching implications” text e-mails, we’d love to see them!

Participation — If you’re a consumer broadband provider, you have to take part in the OTS system as required by regulator Ofcom. This includes any resellers of other brands. There are Managed Access Providers (MAPs), third parties who have developed systems which interface with TOTSCo on your behalf, who can provide a service to smaller operators who simply need to upload customer data. TOTSCo made the decision not to offer this service directly to providers but believes that the range of integrators are in a better position to do this (at a fee of course).

The following providers are listed as being available on the platform as of yesterday:

1310 Limited, 3DK (Scotland) Ltd, 4th Utility, 6G Internet Ltd, Acerola Telecom, Advanced Connectivity Ltd, AirFast, AMG, Andrews & Arnold Ltd, Anglia Computer Solutions, Aquilative Technologies, Arc, Arid Systems, Arrival, Ashford Fibre, ASL, attend2IT, Auxilio IT, Avita Group, Azro Ltd, B4RK, Babbacombe Computers Ltd, Ballscoigne, Be Fibre Limited, Briant, Brighton Fibre, BROADBAND FOR SURREY HILLS LIMITED, Broadband for the Rural North, Brsk Limited, BT, Cargen Data Systems, Caspertech, CeltriiX Telecommunications, Centralinc, Cerberus Networks Ltd, Charter Software, Cipher IT Services Limited, Cirrus IT Services, CIS Ltd, CIX, ClearSkyIT, Community Fibre Ltd, Comwales, Connal IT, Countrifi Networks, Countryside Broadband, County Broadband, CritchCorp, Cuckoo Fibre Limited, Digita1 Ltd, DJG Technical Services LTD, Earth Broadband, EasyPC Ltd, EE, ElpaTech, FAELIX, FibreNest, FIBRUS NETWORKS LTD, File Sanctuary, Foreseer, Forth Tech Ltd, Fuse Design, G.Network Communications Limited, GC Broadband, Ghost Broadband, Ghost Gamer Broadband, Gigaclear, Gigaloch, Glide Business Limited, Gower Coast IT Solutions, Grace Solutions, Grain Connect Limited, Hexsol Ltd, Highland Broadband and Lothian Broadband, Host My Office, HS4 Internet Limited, Husky Networeks, Hyperoptic Limited, iceConnect, IDNet, incedIT, Ingenio Technologies, Inspira Technology Group, Intech Fusion, INTERADS, Internet Central Limited, ION Systems, Is Good Ltd, ISL Technology Group, IT4A, ITWiser, J-D Telecom, Juice Broadband, KCOM Group Limited, KES, Knutsford IT, Lime, Lit Fibre Ltd, Mac-Man ltd, Marykirk, Max Fibre, Moneky tree Hosting, Moortek, Mt. Helicon Technologies Ltd., Netcalibre, Not Just Computers Ltd, NOW, NWIMS, Ogi, Onex Solutions, Opus Broadband Limited, ORBIX UK Ltd, Oval Accountants LTD, Phase 5 Communications, Plusnet, Point2Point IT, Precision IT Cymru, Premier System Solutions Ltd., Puzzle Technology Ltd, Quayside Technical Services, Ravenbridge, Regis IT, RLS Comms Limited, RooneyVOIP, Sherwood Data Systems Ltd, Simple Telecoms, SKY, StayConnected.Systems, Structured Communications, Sumlock Bondain, Supanet Limited, Supported Computing Limited, TalkTalk Telecom Group Limited, Tarragon Solutions Ltd, TeamIT Solutions ltd, Techforce, Techies, Techworx IT, Teleconnect, Three, Time Talk, toob, Touch Telecom, Triarom Ltd, Truespeed Communications Ltd, Twyce, Unchained ISP, Utility Warehouse, Via Wire, Virgin Media Limited, Vodafone Ltd, Voxon, Watch Software, WBCB, WebMate, Website Success, Welcoms, WestFibre, Wight Fibre, Wildanet, Wizards, WMCUK.NET, Worcester I.T. Services, YouFibre Limited, Your Computer People Ltd, Zen Internet, ZZoomm PLC.

List of participating providers

One of the obvious major brands missing from this list is Starlink, the satellite broadband operator. We have spoken to one smaller operator who has not yet made it to the list as they are waiting for a ‘testing’ slot from TOTSCo, so we expect there to be many additions in the coming days and weeks. It appears there are quite a few providers who haven’t made it yet from our database (we’ve been able to count well over 30) and no doubt many other resellers aren’t there yet either. This includes Airband, Direct Save Telecom, Giganet, Trooli and many more. We’ll review this in the next couple of weeks, taking into account possible delays in getting through the testing process. We do expect Ofcom to follow up on these, although it makes sense to give a little leeway for everyone to get fully set up on the platform before sending polite reminders to the companies concerned.

As a reminder, our One Touch Switching page includes details of the process.

We have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the quotes in this article, however they are based on our notes from the event. Where we use quotes, we believe these were broadly the words used by people who spoke either to us privately or publicly in Q&A or from the stage, however, there may be bits which we couldn’t hear or may have noted differently.

Update 10:25am  TOTSCo has released its stats for the first full day of switching, and the volume of switch orders has jumped from 2512 on the 11th to 4,233 on the 12th. Completed switches did rise but by a much smaller amount to 273 on the 12th but as explained the NOT+ process is still in place and many switches will take 2 to 3 weeks at this stage, but once British Summer Time ends we should see this come down. Even when switching on the same wholesale network, if a change of ISP router is needed the time to get a router delivered will likely constrain the speed of the switch for many people.

Even if we never get to a point where the bulk of switches are the next day, the new process removes a chunk of friction in the switching process for the consumer and should see savings as paying for the full 30-day notice period will be a thing of the past, as you will only pay your ISP until the switch has been completed.

If there is anyone out there with two broadband lines to their home and you are switching now that One Touch Switching is in place, we’d love to hear from you on how it went and how good your gaining provider was at handling which broadband service you wanted to migrate. Additionally, as one person in the comments has mentioned, some people may want to run a new service for a few weeks to give an overlap, or actually just want to install an additional service and pay for both going forward e.g. home workers.