How Great ISPs Nail Their Net Promoter Score Surveys

While we hear a lot about automated provisioning and NaaS, how long does it really take to get a quote for DIA service?

Or more to the point: how long does it take to actually get a circuit installed?

And what do enterprises really think of their ISPs?

In this episode of the TeleGeography Explains the Internet podcast, Dennis Thankachan, CEO and co-founder of Lightyear, addresses these questions and shares findings from Lightyear's Enterprise ISP Experience Guide.

Here's a look at what's going on in the ISP market.

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Customer satisfaction hinges on communication

According to Lightyear's Enterprise ISP Experience Guide, median time to install dedicated internet circuits is approximately 85 days. Off-net installations requiring construction can take significantly longer, with the 90th percentile reaching 227 days. However, data from NPS surveys shows that the single biggest impact on carrier satisfaction is the quality of communication.

If carriers are uncommunicative or make next steps unclear, customers grant poor NPS scores, even for fast installs. Conversely, if a carrier communicates well and handles delays proactively, they can receive high NPS ratings even on lengthy installs.

What enterprises actually think about their ISPs

Overall, the average NPS on carriers in Lightyear's new report was 4.16 out of 5, which is considered high.

Dennis hypothesizes that Lightyear's involvement could help manage the customer experience and communication. However, scenarios in which ISPs miss or botch an install almost always results in a one-star NPS rating.

Again, if an installation experiences delays but the carrier communicates well, is proactive, and handles the delays effectively, they can still achieve high NPS ratings, including five-star scores.

The substantial price difference between DIA and broadband

The median price point observed for a 100 meg DIA circuit is about $500/month ($5 per meg). This service is typically dedicated, symmetric internet delivered over fiber.

In contrast, the median price for 100 meg broadband is about $140/month ($1.40 per meg). This difference represents approximately a 70% price drop and reflects that broadband is a non-standard product, often best-effort or "up to" a bandwidth, which may experience service attenuation during peak times

ISPs need telecom lifecycle management

Lightyear defines telecom lifecycle management as encompassing everything that happens with a circuit from the service being activated to its eventual deprecation via a disconnect.

This comprehensive definition covers the continuous process of managing telecom services, including:

• Dealing with service issues: This includes managing outages, issues, and repairs as they occur. Dennis shares that Lightyear indexes over 30 unique data points for all services, including support numbers and circuit configurations, to make dealing with these events easier.
• Service Changes and Deprecation: It involves managing service changes such as moving a service, upgrading, downgrading, or disconnecting the service. Dennis shared the example of automating painful processes like disconnecting a circuit with a click, while warning users about potential contract terms or early termination fees (ETFs).
• Inventory Management: This includes providing inventory for all services, indexing circuit IDs and device configurations, as a common issue is customers not knowing what network assets they possess.
• Financial Management: This includes billing management, dealing with billing issues, invoice auditing, and handling bill payments and billing disputes. It also covers tracking all Service Level Agreements (SLAs) per service and working to secure expected SLA credits when they process the billing.
• Contract Management: Covers renewals and renegotiations of the circuit over time, with a management platform handling renewal processing and ensuring customers never miss a renewal deadline through its inventory system.

More Dennis Thankachan & the TeleGeography Explains the Internet podcast

Dennis joined us in early 2025 to discuss Lightyear's 2025 State of Connectivity Report:

Dennis also came on the show in 2024 to cover how enterprises are sourcing networks. This episode covers the shift to off-premises data centers, hybrid and remote work, the drive to cut network costs through changing technologies, right-sizing networks, and more.