1MB NTL Broadband [Merged]

MarVeL

As far as their roll out plans go don't hold your breath. I'm currently living in Lucan 1 estate away from an NTL broadband enabled estate and I was told today that it would probably be 6 months before my estate would be enabled. While this was from a front line call handler ( I didn't really have enough hope to try and get on to someone further up the chain) it does suggest that they are not really serious about any further expansion plans. Indeed it would make me wonder why they are bothering with the 1mb service at all.

At the moment they have probably the best service available for those who can get it. If they pushed the rollout this would suggest that they could grab a fairly large section of the pie. Any delay is just going to make it harder for them to establish a user base before competition sets in (don't laugh it may yet happen). While admitting my ignorance of the costs and margins of this product, I can't see why they are so slow to push a rollout if it is in any way viable

LFCFan

Originally posted by tuxx
maybe it has something to do with ntl being in serious debt and dont have the money to expand?

But are the Irish Arm of NTL not in profit now? Also, they have come up with a much cheaper way of upgrading areas that's supposed to be very quick. Surely they would make a ROI very quickly if they upgraded everywhere they could?? All they'd have to do is upgrade an estate and then do a leaflet drop in every home telling them they can avail of the service.

Ripwave

Originally posted by tuxx
maybe it has something to do with ntl being in serious debt and dont have the money to expand?

Nobody else uses their own money to expand, why would NTL? It's not as if they're planning to lose money on the service, so forgoing the opportunity to earn €400 per customer per year seems a bit short-sighted, especially as a broadband enabled customer is far less likely to switch to Sky than a broadband enabled customer.

(I know that NTL have huge debts. But even their creditors must recognize that borrowing to pay for investment like this would make sense).

crawler

Nice one Mick - for my own personal pimping purposes you might let me know how you get on - in particular actual D/L speeds , pings etc.....if you have Xbox Live! also let me know how it improves the experience

You can PM me if you dont want it public domain....very much appreciated.

MickFarr

No problem crawler,

Rang NTL this morning about upgrading to ntl Broadband Max 1MB. They put my name on an upgrade list and will do all the upgrades on Wednesday. I will let you know how fast the download speed is and what sort of pings I get. I don't have an XBox so I can't help you out there!!

Roll on Wednesday !!!!

Civilian_Target

Already have NTL 1Mb broadband. 'tis highly shiny. But since I'm in Belfast, I've had it since July

carrotcake

...and now their dns is out. great stuff

Emboss

it's not their dns..

it's their link to colt

speeds of about 125k usually

ping times no real difference

on 1mb

spongebob

Colt are having their own problems today

M

carrotcake

ah well. it seemed just like the dns problem last time. and the remedy on nthellworld worked

lotas

their router to CW in manchester died last night. not sure when. it was after 5 when i found out so i dont know how long it was down. got around it by using their proxys from oxford. web is now fast, but edonkey/emule, and the rest are slightly slow. getting 1mb today, so i hopes the problem be fixed by then....

Faltermyer

Im on NTLs 600kbps service at the moment.

Direction

---

Actual Speed

---

True Speed (estimated)
Downstream

---

564 Kbps (70.5 KB/sec) ----609 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream

---

122 Kbps (15.3 KB/sec)

---

131 Kbps (inc. overheads)

From here:
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp

Going to ring shortly and get onto the 1mb, then do the above test above to compare.

Could anyone else on NLT please try the same test to give a comparison?

ArphaRima

600k service myself. Scary how similar the results were..

Downstream 562 Kbps (70.3 KB/sec) 606 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 121 Kbps (15.1 KB/sec) 130 Kbps (inc. overheads)

I've also sent the e-mail to get upgraded to the 1mb line. Should be good. Is Wednesday everyone is talking about today? (11th Feb)

MickFarr

I'm now on NTL 1MB Broadband since lunch time.

Direction

---

Actual Speed

---

True Speed (estimated)
Downstream

---

957 Kbps (119.6 KB/sec)

---

1033 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream

---

243 Kbps (30.4 KB/sec)

---

262 Kbps (inc. overheads)

Not bad!!

Fluffer just give them a ring. I rang them from the office this morning, came home for lunch and it was already working !!

unkel

Upgraded last night - working perfect within a couple of hours of ringing them :cool:

Also, got through to them on the phone within 10 seconds. Is this an all time record?

Downloaded xp sp1a just for the crack. Took about 15 minutes for 130MB

lotas

just tested my 1mb line. downloaded a copy of Fedora 1 from a bit torrent site at 120Kb/s. took all of 4 and a half hours to download 1.8Gb. it used to take about 3 hrs to download a single 650mb cdimage, so 3 in an extra hour and a half is quite cool. and no compression on there either. so its pretty sweet.

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

crawler

Thanks Mercury - scare away our customers

carrotcake

Originally posted by Mercury_Tilt
Actually as it happens on a more serious note they did actually charge for the 1mb upgrade. When you used the site you mentioned it actually asked you when you were choosing the 1mb upgrade option to click on the price.. just so happens it was the same price as the 512k.. all perfectly legal really....ehhhh... maybe... well that what I was going to say in court

that didn't stop the cut-off warnings! a little birdie tells me that they're now "monitoring that site all the time"

lotas

NTL not charging for the full connections is not the first time this happened. i was on their 600k service and only charged for the 150. a friend asked for 150 and was given the 600, and only changed for 150. wonder will i get charged the full wack for this one now...

40coats

Is anyone who upgraded using Xbox Live? I'm happy enough with my dowload speeds on the 600k service but might upgrade if it significantly ups the size of the games I can host.

Lenny

Originally posted by lotas
NTL not charging for the full connections is not the first time this happened. i was on their 600k service and only charged for the 150. a friend asked for 150 and was given the 600, and only changed for 150. wonder will i get charged the full wack for this one now...

I know yea, they don't seem to know what to do right..
I've been on their 600k service for about a year and a half. I haven't gotten charge one single penny yet,
I've rang them up, but there customer service is too long, and why would I ring up to get myself slapped with a few hundred quid bill!
But I did get through once, and told yer man I ain't recieveing bills. it was around 10pm one night and he went off to check why, came back and said "according to our computer, you only have the 2 way network phone line installed, our system doesn't show you having cable broadband at all" I asked him could he start billing me for it, and his reply was "well between you and me. lets say this call never happened and we'll see how long you can go without getting charged" I got his name and hung up..
I never actualy sent back the contract that I was supposed to sign when I got it installed, so just wondering where do I stand when I get billed for all the usage?
I think when I ring up to get the 1mb I will start to be billed though..

lotas

NTLs policy is, IIRC, they wont charge if they make the cock up. i cant remeber, but AFAIK we where not being charged for calls for about a month or 2 and NTL just left it at that. they started charging after, but never charged for all the old calls. must have been nearly 50-60 quid wort of calls. thats not a lot, but i have been on 600k for the last year, and charged for the 150, so i must owe at least 120 if they do decided to charge. if they do though, i wont be paying. its there mess up. just say someone else gets the bill and you dont look at it. you just pay. simply, i hope!

ArphaRima

Downstream 961 Kbps (120.1 KB/sec) 1037 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 241 Kbps (30.1 KB/sec) 260 Kbps (inc. overheads)

Ref my previous speeds in a previous reply, these are post upgrade to NTL 1mb service from the 600k one.

As for billing; I was receiving the 600k service apparently (without my knowledge) until about a month ago, while paying for the 128k service. They then downgraded me and didnt tell me. Took 4 phone calls to establish that they were the cause of my connection slowdown. Paid a tenner for the 600k one, and now another 10 for the 1mb service.

mag

:cool:

quank

so... does anybody have any news of expansion into blanchardstown?

stuck with this damned forsaken 28k piece of bull breasticals

mag

ahh man, i wish :rolleyes:

MickFarr

I thought it was already in blanchardstown :dunno:

Don't bother ringing NTL, they didn't even know they had a 1MB line when I rang them about 2 weeks ago to ask them when it would be out. Then a week later its out !!!

Mutant_Fruit

Downstream 472 Kbps (59.0 KB/sec) 509 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 480 Kbps (60.0 KB/sec) 518 Kbps (inc. overheads)

Mmmm... tasty. Irishbroadband: VL Equipment.

Lenny

Originally posted by MickFarr
I thought it was already in blanchardstown :dunno:

Don't bother ringing NTL, they didn't even know they had a 1MB line when I rang them about 2 weeks ago to ask them when it would be out. Then a week later its out !!!

Do the people on the fone know that its avaible now?