In article , Dave
writes
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?




Dump the cable TV service and go direct to Sky for the TV, or even
freeview if the range of programmes is OK for you.

Keep the ntl phone line and go broadband with them, can't understand why
anyone is on dial up anymore!. I've got ntl BB, and ADSL via BT, one for
home the other for work use. The ntl knocks spots off the BT offering
for performance and reliability

have a go at them and threaten to leave and see what sort of deals they
can offer. They are desperate to hang onto customers especially good
payers!.

And their customer services are improving!. At least the last time I
spoke to them they did what they said they were going to do, and they
are in the UK unlike BT;(...
--
Tony Sayer

The message
from tony sayer contains these words:

Keep the ntl phone line and go broadband with them, can't understand why
anyone is on dial up anymore!. I've got ntl BB, and ADSL via BT, one for
home the other for work use. The ntl knocks spots off the BT offering
for performance and reliability

Our problem with BB (through BlueBlunder) is the contention rate. A few
years ago it was fine - we were quite early adopters and we had the
thing pretty well to ourselves.
Now, however, there are times of day when it all slows down. Nothing
like dialup, obviously, but not as fast as peak.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

In message , tony sayer
writes
Well, that's the background. What to you think the chances of me
escaping Castle
NTL?




Dump the cable TV service and go direct to Sky for the TV, or even
freeview if the range of programmes is OK for you.

Keep the ntl phone line and go broadband with them, can't understand why
anyone is on dial up anymore!. I've got ntl BB, and ADSL via BT, one for
home the other for work use. The ntl knocks spots off the BT offering
for performance and reliability

Can you get NTL phone without the STB ?

I thought that you couldn't






have a go at them and threaten to leave and see what sort of deals they
can offer.

I'm not so sure they are very flexible in that direction anymore


They are desperate to hang onto customers especially good
payers!.

I'm not so sure about that


And their customer services are improving!. At least the last time I
spoke to them they did what they said they were going to do, and they
are in the UK unlike BT;(...

--
geoff

In article
raden wrote:
snip
Can you get NTL phone without the STB ?

I thought that you couldn't

You can.

raden wrote:

They are desperate to hang onto customers especially good
payers!.

I'm not so sure about that

I rang up to cancel in favour of a Freeview box and talktalk a couple
of weeks ago and ntl agreed to reduce my monthly bill by 25%, added
free evening/weekend calls and upped the broadband speed to 2MB from
1MB.

Their customer service used to be pretty sh1te but they seemd to have
picked up recently and the talktalk offer has put the wind up them.
They said there'd be a more competitive offer out in July that would
include free unlimited 10MB broadband --- which would be better than
talktalk's capped service if you download a lot of large files.

Lots of people are getting reductions from them now. Check out this
site - hard to navigate but some good info:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

raden wrote:
In message , tony sayer
writes

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

have a go at them and threaten to leave and see what sort of deals they
can offer.

I'm not so sure they are very flexible in that direction anymore

They are desperate to hang onto customers especially good
payers!.

I'm not so sure about that


Apparently true: have a look at the long current thread about how to
negotiate a better NTL deal on moneysavingexpert.com:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=188239

Most people on there who phone them up threatening to leave seem to have
got a better deal as a result

David

Keep the ntl phone line and go broadband with them, can't understand why
anyone is on dial up anymore!.

Thats like saying I cant understand why don't people get cable. Some
people can't have broadband even now because of distance, old cables etc
etc. Life ain't simple for a lot of people even if yours is!

Dave

In article , gort
writes

Keep the ntl phone line and go broadband with them, can't understand why
anyone is on dial up anymore!.

Thats like saying I cant understand why don't people get cable. Some
people can't have broadband even now because of distance, old cables etc
etc. Life ain't simple for a lot of people even if yours is!

Dave

Well aren't BT claiming that BB is now within reach of some 98% or is
that not right?...
--
Tony Sayer

In message .com,
writes
raden wrote:

They are desperate to hang onto customers especially good
payers!.

I'm not so sure about that

I rang up to cancel in favour of a Freeview box and talktalk a couple
of weeks ago and ntl agreed to reduce my monthly bill by 25%, added
free evening/weekend calls and upped the broadband speed to 2MB from
1MB.

Their customer service used to be pretty sh1te but they seemd to have
picked up recently and the talktalk offer has put the wind up them.
They said there'd be a more competitive offer out in July that would
include free unlimited 10MB broadband

I was promised a free upgrade from 2 to 10 megs by their customer
services - later, they denied any knowledge of it

--- which would be better than
talktalk's capped service if you download a lot of large files.

Lots of people are getting reductions from them now.

It took me long enough to get 12 months worth of overcharging

Check out this
site - hard to navigate but some good info:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/


Yeah -I've been subscribed (they have a newsletter ) for over a year now


--
geoff

In article , Owain owain47125@st
irlingcity.coo.uk writes
tony sayer wrote:
Thats like saying I cant understand why don't people get cable. Some
people can't have broadband even now because of distance, old cables etc
etc. Life ain't simple for a lot of people even if yours is!
Well aren't BT claiming that BB is now within reach of some 98% or is
that not right?...

It may be that 98% of people 'live in an area served by a
broadband-enabled exchange'.

It doesn't mean that everyone in that area can get broadband though.

Owain


Well just how far does the wiring extend from a BT exchange?, AFAIK BB
connections are possible, tho not that fast!, up to some 7-8 Km....
--
Tony Sayer

In article , Owain owain47125@
stirlingcity.coo.uk writes
tony sayer wrote:
It may be that 98% of people 'live in an area served by a
broadband-enabled exchange'.
It doesn't mean that everyone in that area can get broadband though.
Well just how far does the wiring extend from a BT exchange?, AFAIK BB
connections are possible, tho not that fast!, up to some 7-8 Km....

It's not the distance, it's the attenuation...

Arguably much the same thing.....

With a 50V ballast resistor bridge (50 ohm elements), a modern telephone
incorporating ASTIC, and 20 lb/mile UG cable, 570 ohm line loop is the
max permissible resistance for 60mA transmitter current, equating to
6.45 miles. [Atkinson]. (This was when trunk lines were cabled in up to
100 lb/mi.)

I expect loop length was pushed further when electronics got pushed into
local exchanges.

Bandwidth deteriorates rapidly with line length; which means that
broadband-users located beyond 3.8 miles (6 kilometres) from their local
telephone exchange are restricted to 1Mbps or less.
http://www.bbwo.org.uk/broadband-2175

Well some BB is better than none!. The "always on"! connection I reckon
is what people find the best attribute...

In Jim from
Lincolshire with a loop length of 11 kms won the uk.telecom longest
local loop award, beating off the previous holder from somewhere near
Spean Bridge.


Jezzzz thats going some!....
Owain

--
Tony Sayer