NTL Broadband

GreeBo

Was on the phone to NTL last night asking about their broadband rollout as I noticed that they now include Crumlin and not just Tallaght on their site.

According to the guy on the phone, they are no longer rolling out the fibre optic version as they think its too expensive, the Crumlin trial is to see how their TV network can handle it.

Trial is due to end in April, if it works they reckon they can have it rolled out all over Dublin by end of the Summer......
Dunno about the proces, but the current €40 deal looks pretty sweet....

GerardKeating

Originally posted by redoxan
According to the guy on the phone, they are no longer rolling out the fibre optic version as they think its too expensive, the Crumlin trial is to see how their TV network can handle it.

Lucan is the non-fibre version as well, afaik.

GreeBo

Hmmmmmm so does anyone have the NTL version and if so can you give some info on what exactly is involved in an "install"?

crawler

Hmmmm...

The NTL network is a HFC network - Hybrid Fibre Coax - so that is not strictly correct. Fibre in the Core and Coax to the home. They never delivered fibre to the home ( FTTH )

The newer rollouts such as Lucan used new optical equipment and filters and was more a topology resdesign than a change of strategy....

Redoxan - Standard Install - Coax Split - one end to DTV and one to DOCSIS Modem - Modem has Ethernet port so that connects on to your NIC. Very neat & tidy.

Honest.

GreeBo

cool thanks for the info
So does that mean that I can get the incoming coax split in the attic, run it into the modem/router and just leave the current digital TV fine and dandy?

(and hope the the big bad NTL man doesnt mind the 4 way signal booster in the attic )

vishal

how i wish it was available in my area. Also why don't they have an availablity tracker on their website cos i don't trust the people on the phone. i wish they communicated on the boards as well.

spongebob

If that Hybrid system goes all over Dublin (and Waterford and Galway) next year Eircom will crap themselves.

I won't totally believe NTL till I hear of a trial on DNS

M

Ripwave

Originally posted by Muck
If that Hybrid system goes all over Dublin (and Waterford and Galway) next year Eircom will crap themselves.

If NTL are taking over a year to "trial" something, Eircom won't be crapping themselves, 'cos NTL obviously couldn't be bothered actually competing. (I mean, it's not as if NTL are pioneering new technology or anything - they're buying tried and tested technology that has already been proven elsewhere). By the time NTL get around to scratching themselves, eircom will have enough penetration in the first movers and will be able to reduce NTLs price advantage. A couple of scare stories about cable broadband in Mr O'Reillys newspapers, and NTLs typical cluelessness, and eircom won't have much to worry about.

NTR are going to be a bigger worry for eircom than NTL any day.

sceptre

Originally posted by Muck
If that Hybrid system goes all over Dublin (and Waterford and Galway) next year Eircom will crap themselves.

Agreed

I won't totally believe NTL till I hear of a trial on DNS

Ditto.

bk

I have been hearing about the second comming of NTL for the last 4 years.

I'll believe it when I can plug it in.

I agree IBB will be the real threat to Eircom.

spongebob

Originally posted by Ripwave
. A couple of scare stories about cable broadband in Mr O'Reillys newspapers, and NTLs typical cluelessness, and eircom won't have much to worry about.

NTR are going to be a bigger worry for eircom than NTL any day.

You are a dreadful cynic sometime Ripwave.

NOBODY knows how many customers they have for cable , we have read runes and blowdried tealeaves in here.

The Comreg Quarterly stats and some anecdotal evidence indictate that NTL have 3000 connections, they pass 30,000 homes or so with their upgraded cable.

That 10% penetration

Eircom have 700,000 (fúck knows but they say they do) lines 'passed' with DSL enabled exchanges. They have at best 14,000 customers for RADSL / ADSL including IOL and Netsource ones.

That 2% penetration.

Eircom and IOL have spent Loads of money on advertising while NTL have spent almost nothing, therefore the market penetration is largely good word of mouth. They also go door to door in the evenings instead of annoying people with telesales muppets. The word of mouth is helped mightily by the price, under €40 a month including VAT and no complicated shystering with installation costs unlike RADSL operators and WISPs. That will always be IBB/NTR's achiles heel in the absence of a decent tax relief for WISP's vis a vis installation costs.

NTR/IBB are very noisy on these Boards but do not otherwise have great word of mouth .

We ALL need NTL to succeed because they are the proof in Ireland that there is demand at decent prices.

If we could have some accurate stats from someone in there I would appreciate it, lots of us would. In the hope that someone shows up someday I have reserved the nick NTL Pimp for them so that they can get in here and do a gool ole IBB style Pimp on their service and only in response to questions of course, I'll be sure to tell them not to overdo the pimping. PM me for the password lads (ooops requires registration ) or post an email address in here.

M

crawler

Good man Muck

eirebhoy

I just e-mailed NTL telling them of the benfits of comunicating with there potential customers on these boards. I aslo told them that the IBB thread has over 13,500 views and obviously the more people that know the more customers they'll get.

Do you think they'll listen to me?

milltown

Redoxan,
if your NTL cable is overhead and entering your house at attic level I fear you may have to wait longer for them to make it available to you. Stopped two NTL engineers outside my house (in Lucan) one day to ask them about the rollout, as it had begun in Lucan but not reached my house at that stage. They told me they had just turned it on in my estate but when I asked them about a friend's area up the road they said that because the cables were running overhead in his area it would likely be at least a year before he could get it.
From that I take it they need to bury the cables before they rollout this service.
Another thing they said was that the internet connection needs to be the main cable into the house and the TV point(s) split off that as the net connection is far more sensitive to signal strength than the TV signal. But, from what I have seen and heard this is not always the way it is actually installed. And the installations are subbed out to ICL so they shouldn't give a wet fart how many TV points you are running.

GreeBo

Hmm I thought they were just using the digital Tv signal or something, shows how much I know

They shouldnt care, but Cablelink still charged ya £1.50 for each tv point, if you were dozy enough to get them to put it in for ya...

Da Man

My understanding, and it is limited, was that NTL had to install this fibre network in the back-end to support digital TV, internet, and telephony properly. The cable to the houses was never the [major] issue. So has NTL found a cheaper way to roll out that fibre network or have they replaced it with something else?

GreeBo

isnt the stuff thats going into our houses one-way only, as in the exchange doesnt or cant listen to stuff coming back from each house?
Thats why theres no "press the red button on your remote"?

So they have to upgrade the exchanges, I think...

raeGten

The cable modem that NTL are supplying at the moment has both a USB and an RJ45 connection...you can use either of them. No problemj hooking it up to a router and sharing out the connection either.
I have two coax cables running into my house. One of them goes straight to the living room. The other goes up into the attic. and back down into the master bedroom. I cut that cable and ran a spur down into one of the other bedrooms (where the computer is) long be3fore the broadband service was available in Lucan. When the engineer came out her checked the grade of coax I used and as it was the same as they use all he had to change was the splitter in the attic. I've lost the signal twice in the 3 months that I've had broadband and both times it was a problem outside my house that effected a number of estates in Lucan. Recently it's beenb 100% solid.
The installation was no big deal at all though I don't know how much of a mess there might be if they actually have to run a brand new cable to the pc.

halenger

Originally posted by Ripwave
If NTL are taking over a year to "trial" something, Eircom won't be crapping themselves, 'cos NTL obviously couldn't be bothered actually competing.

NTR are going to be a bigger worry for eircom than NTL any day.

Hmmm... A year from now eh? Just about when the contract of everyone who has joined Eircom/IOL in a hurry to get this new pre Christmas cheap deal, is about to expire?? It could be an absolute stroke of genius to be quite honest.

NTL get it working, get it reliable and show everyone a thing or two about capping and then hit the Advertising. If that's their thinking I'm impressed. It could actually work out rather well for them.

bk

Originally posted by halenger
Hmmm... A year from now eh? Just about when the contract of everyone who has joined Eircom/IOL in a hurry to get this new pre Christmas cheap deal, is about to expire?? It could be an absolute stroke of genius to be quite honest.

NTL get it working, get it reliable and show everyone a thing or two about capping and then hit the Advertising. If that's their thinking I'm impressed. It could actually work out rather well for them.

No, if the trial ends next year, then it will take them a long time to roll the network out to the whole of Dublin, therefore, most people would probably have resigned with Eircom, etc. by then.

If NTL want to do what what you say above (and it is a good idea), then the trial should be ending in the next month or two and then they start rolling out after that. So that they have the entire network in Dublin enabled by next year.

Anyway I don't think NTL are that clever.

GreeBo

The trial ends in April, will be fully rolled out by August, apparently...