NTL slated in Galway newspaper

LegacyUser

From today’s Connacht Sentinel (Galway City)

NTL need to channel energies into sorting this annual problem

So, NTL claim to be unaware of Galway subscribers getting terrible reception on the four UK channels in recent weeks.
Now, as anyone who has cable will know, the reception on these channels ‘traditionally’ turns quite poor during the hot weather because of atmospheric conditions — the same conditions that carry foreign radio stations into Ireland during the hot spells.
Anyway, when contacted by a colleague for a news story, NTL claimed they were unaware of any problem with the channels, and could only be made aware by ringing their ‘1800’ telephone number.
How I laughed when I read the story, because any time I’ve ever had to ring NTL before, I’ve been left on hold for anything up to 45 minutes before my call is answered. A cup of tea and a good book seems to be the best preparation for their ‘hotline’.
Besides that, when the same problems occur every time we get a bit of warm weather, surely they should anticipate them and have a plan in place to counteract the reception difficulties.
Perhaps they could change the source of the signal which they beam out — this ‘feed’ one night two summer’s ago when Channel Four ‘crashed’ was taken from rival cable company Chorus, which became obvious when that company’s logo came up on the screen!
Anyway, when NTL were told of the problem last week, they offered to call out to a colleague’s house to sort out the problem (perhaps install a large protective umbrella over his house), but it would have to be during working hours, Monday to Friday.
Because like most other people he works during the day, this obviously didn’t suit, so they suggested a Saturday call-out, which they then explained were booked out for the next two months, and later discovered they couldn’t take a booking for any date more than two months ahead. So basically, a lot of people will be left in the lurch.
Also a note to NTL digital subscribers in Galway, according to the company, a solution is still being sought to a technical problem that prevents the company providing you with channels such as Bravo, UK Gold, Living TV, UK Drama, E!, FTN, At the Races and Sky Sports News, which are available in Dublin (who pay the same subscription as here).
And, despite paying the same amount as the Dubs, six music channels — which were promised in a letter issued to subscribers here in August 2002 — have never surfaced.
I’m not blaming the Galway staff in anyway, it’s the parent company. Bring back the Irish-owned Cablelink, there was a company that cared about their customers!

icdg

I think they're seeing Cablelink through rose-tinted glasses...

The fact was that Cablelink never really upgraded their network between 1986 and 1999. They expanded their network to about 12 channels in 1986, taking on a number of foreign channels.

And that was it. No further improvements to the basic service for thirteen years. Apart from Sky Movies and Sky Sports no further services were offered. At a time when UK cablecos were offering telephony, and up to fifty analogue channels, Cablelink were stagnant, waiting for someone- anyone to take them over. Cable and Wireless nearly did it, but the government balked at privatising the company and left Eircom the only people who were allowed buy in. And Eircom were hardly likely to invest in what they knew would be a potential competitor.

NTL may have hugely overpromised when they took over Cablelink. But at least thanks to them, we now have the option of a 100 channel digital service, telephony, and broadband internet in some areas. None of which really went beyong pipedreams with Cablelink.

And Cablelink had even worse technical support than NTL. One of the first things NTL did was take on extra technical support staff. Now I will be the first to say that NTL's technical support is terrible - the long hours I spent on to them to get my digital service switched on is testimony to that. But to say Cablelink were any better is kidding ourselves...