Dave wrote:
There was a time I thought the NTL 3 in 1 idea a good one (TV, Phone and
internet). This was indeed a good deal and for a couple of years and it's worked
pretty well. But things are changing.

First the hardware setup. We have an NTL cable from the road to a Set Top box.
One line goes to the STB and another to the box that the 'phone plugs into.

Now the moans. For starters the FREE dialup is of course no longer free and
indeed has seen a few price rises since the freeness was removed some time ago.
Almost every week I get a ntl broadband offer which while cheap to start with, I
know from past experience will soon float upwards,

Since the ntl analogue box was changed for digital Set Top box (and I was 100%
assured NOTHING would change as regards setup, cost etc - and it was all done
for free) I find the new "Base Pack" (a collection of TV channels) just happens
to cost a few more pounds per month that the old analogue one. Of course no one
told me that even though I asked several times if the change would cost me more.
Even though the cost increase isn't great I very much dislike this not being
made clear to me until I got the first new bill after the digital STB was
installed.

So I'm just looking at ways to escape Castle NTL. Perhaps You can help along the
way with all/any of these…

Phone.
I suppose this is the easiest to escape from. We still have the old BT phone
lines installed. Simply sign up with BT then?

TV
Well Freeview has all the channels I want anyway. So if I buy a Freeview STB (I
am in a suitable postcode area to receive the signal). That removes the "Base
Pack" or any other "pack" costs.

Internet
This is the most tricky aspect. I'd need to sign up with an ISP to at least
maintain my dialup system as now. However if I ever want to go broadband I only
have that BT phone line available. Is broadband possible down such a line, or do
I need some other line installing? The NTL digital STB has a nice cosy ethernet
port on the back - it looks oh so temping to keep ntl just for that - unless you
can tell me something different of course.

I used to be with Demon Internet (but switched to NTL for the 3in1). Now, I see
Demon do not do an "Unlimited" use dialup. Seems their cheapest dialup is pay
per call, which I don't want.

Well, that's the background. What to you think the chances of me escaping Castle
NTL?




Is it just me, or was NTL always going to be too good to be true ?
Haarumph.

I'd use BT because it will simplify your broadband installation and
widen your choice of providers. Make sure that if you use the same
broadband service as a friend that you give them the reference as it'll
knock money off their monthly bill. Just a thought.

Just a couple of random opinions on ADSL...
Go for an unlimited account if you want to do any music/software/video
downloading. If you just want to surf, don't sign up for more than
512k/sec, it'll be a pointless waste of money.
Whatever you do though, make sure that your line can support the
bandwidth that you sign up for. If you go for "up to" 8Mb/sec and your
line can only support 2Mb/sec it will be an expensive PITA to downgrade
your connection again. Trying to get BT to upgrade the line will be a
dismal journey into the rancid bowels of hell.

If you get an ADSL router, it will have a nice cosy ethernet port on the
back too. If you want, you can plug a 16 port switch into it and serve
the entire house with a nice cosy port in each room, and/or a wireless
bridge to serve the rest of your neighbourhood...

If you get a wireless ADSL router or a wireless bridge, please, please,
please enable the security. The number of times I switch my laptop on
and connect to some random tw*t's unsecured wireless means it's
practically pointless me having broadband at all.

Chips.

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Chips'll make it better.
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