Readiness support: Prepare to activate a managed service

Learn how to prepare for scheduling activations for managed services.

Your customer care manager (CCM) will confirm a preferred activation scheduling window with you before the activation. This activation schedule will be confirmed by the Lumen scheduling team.

Your designated contact needs to validate the date and time of this activation. Failing to show up for a scheduled activation is considered customer not ready (see section below).

Scheduled activations for service(s) that include managed router or managed security equipment requires a two-step process that includes an equipment installation stage as well as a scheduled activation event between you and Lumen. If your order includes Managed Router Services (MRS) or Managed Security Services (MSS), expect a site visit by a Lumen field technician to install and test the equipment before the scheduled activation event.
 

• Provide the site technical contact with the IP configuration details early to allow more preparation time before the stage 2 installation.
  
  
• If the IP configuration details cannot be included, add “no auto-negotiate” to the IP letter.
   

Your assigned customer care manager will provide the site technical contact with an IP configuration letter once the equipment installation has been complete. This letter explains how to load the correct IP configuration on your device in preparation of the scheduled activation event.

Your customer care manager monitors the status of your order. Once we have indicated the order to be installation complete, a Lumen representative contacts you to coordinate the date(s) and time(s) for the equipment installation and scheduled activation events.

Once confirmation of internal resource availability has been received with approval to schedule, Lumen will communicate the final date/time of your activation call. Prior to your activation day, we will reach out to the provided contact information and confirm the date/time of your activation.

If you need to make any changes to the reserved activation date/time, please notify your customer care manager immediately to reschedule. In the event you are unable to be present for the activation or cancel/ reschedule within 24 hours of the scheduled activation start time, additional charges may apply.

If you have been scheduled for an afterhours or a weekend activation call, and a Lumen resource does not show up for the event, please contact the scheduling & activations on-call manager at 844­-427­-2875. Please see the checklist below to understand what will take place during the activation, as well as what responsibilities you have prior to the scheduled event.

To help ensure a successful activation, please complete the following tasks:

• Install your equipment
• Ensure circuit is extended to where the managed router will be located at your site
• Configure your hardware with applicable speed and duplex (not auto-negotiate)
• Confirm your hardware is set up and ready to make connection to the Lumen network
• Identify appropriate space and power available and be ready for equipment installation
   

During the installation of managed network or managed security equipment, which occurs prior to the scheduled activation event, the specific installation steps are as follows:

• You are NOT required to join a conference bridge during the equipment installation process.
• You must arrange and confirm site access for the Lumen Field Technician. Your local contact must have knowledge of your server/data room location.
• Your local contact must also have knowledge of rack space reserved for Lumen MNS or MSS equipment.
• While the Lumen field technician will have the demarcation information from the LEC’s records, your local contact must have knowledge of the location of the Lumen circuit
• You will need to provide adequate/necessary power to support Lumen MNS or MSS equipment
• You will receive an IP configuration letter from your customer care manager after the install of the MNS or MSS equipment
   

During the scheduled activation event, which is conducted as a conference call between Lumen and the customer, the service-specific activation steps are as follows:
 

1. Verify connectivity.
   
2. Ensure LAN block is being routed correctly; Establish routing protocols.
3. Establish routing protocols.
4. Confirm service with Lumen.
5. Verify connectivity to other locations.

If you have recently activated your service, but have been unable to pass any traffic, please contact your customer care manager to engage the Post Activation Support team.

If you have activated your service but are experiencing issues after passing traffic for at least 12 hours, please contact the Lumen Repair Center at 877-453-8353.

• If we are simply adding sites to your existing network: we will start billing upon activating each site.
  
  
• If we are installing a new network: we will start billing once we have activated two sites. If you prefer which two sites we activate first, please contact your customer care manager.
  
  
• In both instances, you will receive a connection notification letter confirming that we have started billing your VPN service.

The following have been found to be common causes for not being able to successfully pass traffic. To help you quickly resolve this, we recommend that you double check these items before calling Lumen for support.
 

• Verify power is correctly connected to your equipment by cycling the power (turning off and then back on).
  
  
• Confirm cabling is installed correctly by simply unplugging the cable and plugging it back in.
  
  
• Confirm the current state of equipment interface is in an ‘up’ state. The interface setting must match the Lumen configuration speed and duplex.
  
  
• Validate that the circuit you (or your LEC—local exchange carrier) provided is working as ordered. Ensure that you can confirm power to the LEC devices. If there appears to be power and still no service, please obtain the LEC circuit ID before contacting us.
  
  
• Confirm that the internal routing is configured correctly.
  
  
• Verify that your class of service (CoS) has been configured.
  
  
• Verify you’re not exceeding port capacity as ordered. If you have Ethernet service(s), it is usually necessary to ensure traffic shaping (or packet shaping) is enabled on the router. Contact your Lumen representative for additional capacity.
  
  
• If you are experiencing an impairment involving packet loss or routing; Trace routes, source and destination pings are necessary for Lumen to assist in resolving the issue.
  
  
• To verify your quality of service (QoS), you can use the speed test link below. Note: Testing the speed of an off-network circuit is not a reliable indication of QoS. This testing should not be confused with class of service (CoS) testing.

Lumen aims to deliver your service with your cooperation as of the customer commitment date (CCD). If your delay or inaction prevents Lumen from completing service installation, Lumen will begin charging for service(s) starting on the customer commitment date. Service charges will continue to accrue until the customer is ready and Lumen can complete service installation. Accrued service charges will appear on your first invoice. If you have any questions about any site readiness or other actions you need to perform to enable us to achieve the CCD and assure you are ready, please contact your customer care manager as soon as possible. Additionally, communicating important information to your site technical contact as soon as possible will help identify and address any issues ahead of time. Our goal is to work with you to achieve and exceptional delivery experience.

Lumen will confirm the specified scheduled date and time of the requested managed activation submitted by the customer care manager on behalf of the customer. Lumen Scheduling will provide a confirmed email with the scheduled managed activation date to you, your assigned customer care manager and the remote managed activation tech (a confirmation to the field tech assigned to install the equipment will also be provided). In addition, Lumen will provide additional best effort notifications to remind the customer about their respective scheduled managed activation date and time. Below are the cancellation options:
 

• You must cancel one business day before the confirmed managed activation date and time. If it is within one business day, the cancelation will result in a charge (see below).
  
  
• You will have the option to cancel or rescheduled your managed activation without charges one business day before the confirmed activation date by calling 844-427-2875 Monday–Friday, 7:00am–7:00pm CT.
  
  
• You may also contact your assigned customer care manager to cancel or reschedule the managed activation.

Any customer cancellation less than one business day from the scheduled event or if a customer is not ready during the scheduled event will be charged a cancellation fee. This is done on a per-site and per-region basis.