YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- Editor's note: This article is courtesy of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.

Earlier this year AAFES conducted its first Customer Satisfaction Survey for the TV, Internet and telephone services provided by Allied Telesis. The goal was to find out what customers thought of the performance of PAC's first single-provider Triple Play (TV, Internet and telephone) service and to define areas for change and improvement.

Nearly 700 customers or about 25% of Allied's customer base responded. And the interesting thing was that despite pointed comments regarding certain products - specifically telephone and TV - 28% of respondents rated the overall service provided by Allied as Very Good to Excellent and 36% as Okay. Ratings below those categories showed there is still room for improvement.

AAFES and Allied used the survey information to plan changes, with the initial focus on telephone and premium TV.

Telephone

According to the survey, 54% of Allied telephone customers said they were "Very Satisfied" or "Somewhat Satisfied" with the service, which was popular enough to win Stars and Stripes' "Best in the Pacific" award for long distance service. Yokota residents have made more than 21.5 million minutes of telephone calls since Allied began providing service.

However, earlier this year dropped calls became a serious problem. Allied traced the problem to an underperforming subcontractor, and was monitoring a performance-improvement plan when a subsequent problem with the subcontractor interrupted inbound calling at the base.

While Allied provided short-term solutions in the form of alternative numbers for calls, Allied accelerated plans to replace the subcontractor. The change took place over an intensive 10-day time span with changes to hardware, software, settings and processes.
Since that time, call logs and service monitoring reports indicate telephone service has significantly improved.

Premium TV 

Comments like "I would like to see more channels," "The price is too high for what you offer," and "The channels I'd really like to see are..." were common on the survey. Others noted, "There's no delay on channels from the U.S." Customers registered more than 150 comments about the inadequate channel lineup and their inability to watch US prime time shows during the evening hours at Yokota.

Allied had already started work to expand the channel lineup, but underestimated the time required. Content providers found the customer base at Yokota relatively small and had concerns about content piracy, drawing out the time necessary to complete contractual agreements.

By late-summer, Allied had added 23 new channels, more than doubling the size of the Premium TV package from 22 to 45 channels, including many of those specifically requested by customers - Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Spike TV, Golf Channel, Turner Classic Movies, MTV and VH1, with BET added later. This package, priced at $49.95, now compares favorably to those available at other PAC bases. Allied has continued to provide the "free" Basic TV Package - covering the expense involved.

Shifting the broadcast time for prime-time programs, which was not included in the Allied contract, is an AAFES project. Much like the acquisition of additional channels, time shifting proved a complex undertaking. There were technical issues, along with the acquisition of one server for each shifted channel.

AAFES, working with Allied, expects to begin time shifting all programs except news and sports toward the end of December. In the interim, AAFES began selling TiVos in its stores this summer - another first for PAC - so that customers could record and view programs at their convenience.

I'm reminded of a sentence from a Stars & Stripes article published in November of last year: "Not that long ago, isolation from home seemed a routine part of life for service members and civilians stationed overseas."

The landscape at Yokota AB has certainly changed for the better.

Bringing Yokota residents the US telecom experience remains AAFES' goal, and we're making significant progress toward that end. In the meantime, if you experience a problem, have a suggestion or a question, please contact Allied's General Manager Bruce Green directly at Allied 6-8304 or the AAFES General Manger directly at Allied 6-2010 or DSN 225-3700. AAFES and Allied are united in our intent to provide you with great service.