How Bascom Got 80 Percent of Subscribers To Adopt Its Mobile App

“We were started in 1906 by rural residents who were being neglected by national providers and didn’t want to be left behind. We’ve persevered for 115 years by looking out for each other and our local community. We are industry and local leaders in technology.”

This is how Nate Brickner, CEO and general manager of Bascom Communications, introduced his brand on a recent webinar, “Power of a Mobile App: Your Brand, Their Experience,” about his company’s success with CommandIQ®. His story is familiar. Many Calix customers share his commitment to delivering cutting-edge technology and an exciting subscriber experience.

Bascom was committed to excellence. The team was held back by one thing: its system for selling Wi-Fi systems. After years of searching, the team identified GigaSpire® and CommandIQ as the ideal solution for their brand and subscribers.

The Decision To Adopt GigaSpire BLAST Systems and the CommandIQ Mobile App

Like many broadband service providers (BSPs), Bascom used to offer subscribers the choice to purchase a Wi-Fi System from them or shop for one independently. It was a scenario in which no one was winning. “There’s a lot of turnover in consumer-grade routers,” Brickner explained. “Every six-to-12 months, the home routers we were buying would be discontinued, or the price would increase. We were spending a lot of time researching the next router.”

Subscribers ended up with a wide array of brands and styles. When they called for support—which happened often—customer support reps (CSRs) struggled to identify and resolve issues quickly. Subscriber experience suffered. To make matters worse, many store-bought routers simply couldn’t deliver the gig speeds and Wi-Fi 6 that subscribers had been so excited to purchase. It was time to upgrade to something better.

That “something better” was managed Wi-Fi, powered by GigaSpire BLAST systems and managed via the CommandIQ mobile app.

Truck Rolls Decrease While Subscriber Experience Soars

In June 2021, Bascom rolled out GigaSpires for the first time. To drive adoption, the company introduced a router trade-in program and bundled managed Wi-Fi, CommandIQ, and EDGE Suites. The results were staggering. As Bascom onboarded customers with GigaSpire BLAST systems and CommandIQ, customer service calls and truck rolls quickly decreased. Before the change, more than 50 percent of customer service calls were router-related. Now, with the power to manage and control their home networks in the palm of their hands, many customers no longer need to call in for support.

Here are all the things Bascom subscribers can do easily using CommandIQ—all without ever calling customer service:

• Manage connected devices
• Reset passwords
• Set up guest networks
• Establish parental controls

If and when subscribers do call in, the experience is impressive. Customer support reps can access their systems and troubleshoot effectively. Finally, they know what to expect from each call. Most of them have GigaSpire BLAST systems and CommandIQ themselves!

With the elevated subscriber experience, adoption rates climbed quickly. Today, 80 percent of Bascom’s subscribers have CommandIQ. To encourage that adoption, Bascom has trained its install and repair (I&R) techs to make adoption easy. For example, if a subscriber tells a Bascom I&R tech that they don’t have a smartphone to download the app, the tech rep will ask if the subscriber has a tablet instead. It turns out many Bascom subscribers are willing to download the app to a tablet in lieu of a smartphone—and the CommandIQ app functionality is the same on any device. The Bascom Mutual team also offers a trade-in credit for older Wi-Fi systems if a subscriber purchases a GigaSpire BLAST.

Of the 80 percent of Bascom subscribers who have adopted CommandIQ, 95 percent have also opted in for EDGE Suites. And that’s only the beginning. The team at Bascom sees many more opportunities on the horizon. They plan to leverage behavior insights for more targeted marketing, engage subscribers with mobile notifications, and show the value of ProtectIQ by sharing the home-network threats they’re actively stopping.

Other Broadband Service Providers Share in the Success

Bascom’s results are no more unusual than their company’s founding story. Other CSPs are also seeing high rates of adoption and use. STRATA has seen a 59 percent increase in downloads for EDGE Suites. Silver Star Communications reports an 81 percent adoption rate of advanced security services. And Norvado shares a 79 percent take-rate of CommandIQ.

For each of these companies, CommandIQ offers valuable recurring revenue—and so much more. Since Bascom was founded, subscribers have seen the company as a community-focused tech leader. Offering an app is a natural progression of that. With CommandIQ, Bascom elevates its brand, protects subscribers, and puts its community in control. In short, the company is solidifying its excellent reputation, building subscriber loyalty, and growing the value of its brand–for many years to come.

To learn more about Bascom’s experiences with the app, catch the replay of “Power of a Mobile App: Your Brand, Their Experience” here. Ninety percent of those who attended this webinar shared that they already have or plan to adopt a mobile app. Learn what CommandIQ can do for your brand, subscribers, and teams.