NTL BB Speeds official

bk

NTL has announced the new BB speeds and yes they are what was predicted last week:

NTL Ireland now has four broadband packages ranging from €19.99 a month for its basic 1Mbps service to €39.99 a month for the new 6Mbps product. It’s 2Mbps and 3Mbps products cost €24.99 and €29.99 a month respectively.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single6233

ENN says that the new speeds will come into effect on Friday.

Skyuser

So Eircom's 2meg is the same price as NTL's 6meg? or are them prices excluding vat.

bk

Skyuser wrote:

So Eircom's 2meg is the same price as NTL's 6meg? or are them prices excluding vat.

They include VAT, so yes NTL 6m costs the same as Eircom 2m

Note you must get NTL's anaolgue TV service, cost €20pm, but usually free for the first 12 months and you don't need a phone line

Cabaal

Ain't competition just great
Damn shame I can't get NTL where I live at present

Blaster99

It would be great if it made any difference to the 85% (or whatever) of the nation that can't get NTL broadband...

po0k

Any word on the upload?

Contention change?

Dodge

No. Its great for those of us who can

bk

Blaster99 wrote:

It would be great if it made any difference to the 85% (or whatever) of the nation that can't get NTL broadband...

Some ones feeling sore

Blaster99

Not really. The likelihood of me living in somewhere like west Dublin is about as likely as me living in Sweden where I could get 100Mbps, so either service is about as relevant or impressive to me. I was merely commenting on the suggestion that it makes any difference from a competitive perspective. NTL covers about the same ground as Smart so they're not really adding much to the overall competitive footprint I would have thought, so they may not have as much impact as one would think. But I might be wrong, time will tell.

bk

Blaster99 wrote:

Not really. The likelihood of me living in somewhere like west Dublin is about as likely as me living in Sweden where I could get 100Mbps, so either service is about as relevant or impressive to me. I was merely commenting on the suggestion that it makes any difference from a competitive perspective. NTL covers about the same ground as Smart so they're not really adding much to the overall competitive footprint I would have thought, so they may not have as much impact as one would think. But I might be wrong, time will tell.

Don't forget that last year it was Smart introducing 2m for €35 including line rental that forced Eircom to increase the speeds from 512k to 1 and 2m. This years Eircom speed increases are likely due to the speed increases by NTL, Smart and Magnet. So even if you don't live in West Dublin (which I don't either BTW) you still indirectly benefit from this competition.

NTL and Smart are available in the most densely populated areas and therefore the most valuable to Eircom, so Eircom have no choice to at least try and compete. I honestly believe that if it wasn't for NTL and Smart we would all be still stuck on 512k for €54.

Tanabe

Blaster99 wrote:

Not really. The likelihood of me living in somewhere like west Dublin is about as likely as me living in Sweden where I could get 100Mbps, so either service is about as relevant or impressive to me. I was merely commenting on the suggestion that it makes any difference from a competitive perspective. NTL covers about the same ground as Smart so they're not really adding much to the overall competitive footprint I would have thought, so they may not have as much impact as one would think. But I might be wrong, time will tell.

bk wrote:

Don't forget that last year it was Smart introducing 2m for €35 including line rental that forced Eircom to increase the speeds from 512k to 1 and 2m. This years Eircom speed increases are likely due to the speed increases by NTL, Smart and Magnet. So even if you don't live in West Dublin (which I don't either BTW) you still indirectly benefit from this competition.

NTL and Smart are available in the most densely populated areas and therefore the most valuable to Eircom, so Eircom have no choice to at least try and compete. I honestly believe that if it wasn't for NTL and Smart we would all be still stuck on 512k for €54.

Excellent choice of words from both you guys, well impressed. THIS is what makes this thread so worthwhile!

As a reward I'd now like to offer the both of you 100Mbps Broadband for FREE*

*(Offer only valid if you move to Sweden, then I'll call a few friends & make things happen for you)

Well done lads!

paulm17781

Blaster99 wrote:

Not really. The likelihood of me living in somewhere like west Dublin

Could you please drop this? I have told you so many times that NTL is available in many parts of Dublin. City centre and much of the south side for one. I don't care if this helps or not but your consistant statements of "Only in Tallaght" are getting tedious. I once asked you what you real problem with NTL was and you didn't answer.

CuLT

I live southside, I can avail of NTL, IBB, Eircom/BT/UTV, Smart...

I'll be switching to NTL shortly as a result of this announcement. Not for lack of service from my current ISP (IBB, who against all odds provided me with a decent service), but because I no longer need the large upload provided by IBB, just the largest possible download speed.

mayordenis

just ordered it here in waterford will have iton wednesday *salivates* Goodbye digiweb you have served me poorly.

Blaster99

bk wrote:

NTL and Smart are available in the most densely populated areas and therefore the most valuable to Eircom, so Eircom have no choice to at least try and compete. I honestly believe that if it wasn't for NTL and Smart we would all be still stuck on 512k for €54.

I've made this argument too a good few times, but I'm not so sure this is true. Eircom has a virtual monopoly in large parts of the country and you can tell from McRedmond's statements about "we're prioritising availability, not speed" to mean that they want focus on the monopoly areas, something they have a lot of practise doing. Eircom can make ADSL available cheaply in lots of places because most of the infrastructure is in place already. Then there is this very confusing rural exchange bitstream discount, where they're promoting rural broadband. If anything, you'd think they would do a discount in the urban areas where there's more competition.

Anyways, this is a thread about NTL etc so I'll let you westies at it.

Drapper

Blaster99 wrote:

I've made this argument too a good few times, but I'm not so sure this is true. Eircom has a virtual monopoly in large parts of the country and you can tell from McRedmond's statements about "we're prioritising availability, not speed" to mean that they want focus on the monopoly areas, something they have a lot of practise doing. Eircom can make ADSL available cheaply in lots of places because most of the infrastructure is in place already. Then there is this very confusing rural exchange bitstream discount, where they're promoting rural broadband. If anything, you'd think they would do a discount in the urban areas where there's more competition.

Anyways, this is a thread about NTL etc so I'll let you westies at it.

The west is the best remember !

joolsveer

I'm in Dublin 15 and have ntl for the last couple of months. Before ntl I had IBB for about 14 months. Believe it or not my fixed line still fails the eircom test. I would say they are not too serious about supplying a service even in Dublin.

Ludo

Skyuser wrote:

So Eircom's 2meg is the same price as NTL's 6meg? or are them prices excluding vat.

Clearwires 1 Meg is the same as NTLs 6 meg...anyone know if NTL will be available in bray?

bk

Blaster99 wrote:

I've made this argument too a good few times, but I'm not so sure this is true. Eircom has a virtual monopoly in large parts of the country and you can tell from McRedmond's statements about "we're prioritising availability, not speed" to mean that they want focus on the monopoly areas, something they have a lot of practise doing. Eircom can make ADSL available cheaply in lots of places because most of the infrastructure is in place already. Then there is this very confusing rural exchange bitstream discount, where they're promoting rural broadband. If anything, you'd think they would do a discount in the urban areas where there's more competition.

I'm afraid I disagree, Eircom want to offer BB at the maximum price for the lowest cost in the areas with the greatest uptake potential and that means urban areas. If they just wanted to serve areas without NTL, Smart, etc, then they would still be only offering 512k as it would be cheaper for them and people would have no choice but to take it.

Eircom will never offer faster speeds or lower prices then NTL/Smart, but then they don't have to, Eircom know that as long as the gap in price and speed between themselves and NTL/Smart isn't too wide that unfortunately 90% of people will be too lazy to move.

Remember Dublin represents a third of the Irish population and the other cities represent another third. You can't be seriously saying that Eircom only wants to sell BB to just one third of the population that can't get DSL anyway due to the quality of lines in rural areas.

NTL and Metro represent a particular threat because not only would Eircom lose the BB revenue, they also potentially lose the line rental, call charges and some interconnect fees. People who spend a lot on BB tend to be from the high earner category and spend a lot on phone charges. They certainly don't want to lose all of that to NTL/Smart. Trust me all these other companies together do really create a real significant threat to Eircoms financial well being and Eircom can and is trying to compete aggressively with them.

BTW I've NTL and I live in D9

philologos

bk wrote:

Don't forget that last year it was Smart introducing 2m for €35 including line rental that forced Eircom to increase the speeds from 512k to 1 and 2m. This years Eircom speed increases are likely due to the speed increases by NTL, Smart and Magnet. So even if you don't live in West Dublin (which I don't either BTW) you still indirectly benefit from this competition.

NTL and Smart are available in the most densely populated areas and therefore the most valuable to Eircom, so Eircom have no choice to at least try and compete. I honestly believe that if it wasn't for NTL and Smart we would all be still stuck on 512k for €54.

I'd reckon the DSL market will change with this move

msmx5

Ludo wrote:

Clearwires 1 Meg is the same as NTLs 6 meg...anyone know if NTL will be available in bray?

NTL BB is available in Shankill, Loughlinstown, Cherrywood, Dun Laoghaire, Killiney....Clonee, Lucan & many parts of dublin City centre .....Oh yeah not forgetting Tallaght! :-)

I haven't heard of anyone on it in Bray... but ring up to order and they will soon tell you, I've heard that its better to ring up to order thany to simply ring up with a query as the customer service dept don't seem to have as up to date info as the broadband sales dept!

tman

bk wrote:

NTL has announced the new BB speeds and yes they are what was predicted last week:



http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single6233

ENN says that the new speeds will come into effect on Friday.

isn't that the same link that was already posted in the "Official new NTL BB speeds" thread?
and how exactly is that an official statement?

Blaster99

bk wrote:

I'm afraid I disagree, Eircom want to offer BB at the maximum price for the lowest cost in the areas with the greatest uptake potential and that means urban areas. If they just wanted to serve areas without NTL, Smart, etc, then they would still be only offering 512k as it would be cheaper for them and people would have no choice but to take it.

I heard you the first time and it's a pretty well trodden argument too. Of course there is competition in the market and of course it forces eircom to act, but unlike all the other ISP's you mention they have coverage beyond a bit of Dublin and a bit of a few other cities around the country and they can make a lot of money in places with no competition. Otherwise they wouldn't be in the middle of completing a very major rollout in the sticks. The sort of places that now have enabled exchanges are barely a blip on the map.

Eircom makes a reasonable amount of doe on LLU as well, so it might actually suit them to let Smart at it in the big urban exchanges (which more less coincide with NTL coverage) and eircom can continue to price broadband at a different level for the rest of the country. It is fact that they discount rural bitstream so they're looking at it differently than the established view that it's all about Dublin.

Did I read something about NTL and telephony? They've only talked about it for about five years, so why not. You never know, they might even stumble upon something leading edge like a PVR. Stranger things have happened.

The west is indeed the best. The M50 corridor has awesome internet connectivity, no question about it.

Blaster99

msmx5 wrote:

I haven't heard of anyone on it in Bray... but ring up to order and they will soon tell you, I've heard that its better to ring up to order thany to simply ring up with a query as the customer service dept don't seem to have as up to date info as the broadband sales dept!

The Bray headend is not enabled but they're working on it allegedly. That could mean anything, but the last engineer I talked to about it estimated some time in the summer.

bk

tman wrote:

isn't that the same link that was already posted in the "Official new NTL BB speeds" thread?
and how exactly is that an official statement?

Because the Silicon Republic and ENN reports are based on a Press Release sent by NTL. The quote above is from Mark Coan, NTL Ireland’s head of products, I'd think that would be official enough.

bk

Blaster99 wrote:

I heard you the first time and it's a pretty well trodden argument too. Of course there is competition in the market and of course it forces eircom to act, but unlike all the other ISP's you mention they have coverage beyond a bit of Dublin and a bit of a few other cities around the country and they can make a lot of money in places with no competition. Otherwise they wouldn't be in the middle of completing a very major rollout in the sticks. The sort of places that now have enabled exchanges are barely a blip on the map.

Oh, I agree, NTL/Smart aren't forcing Eircom to roll out everywhere. My point is that if it wasn't for NTL/Smart, we would all only have a max of 512k now from Eircom, city dwellers or rural alike. That is why even people who can only get Eircom should be happy with the NTL/Smart speed increases.

Blaster99 wrote:

Eircom makes a reasonable amount of doe on LLU as well, so it might actually suit them to let Smart at it in the big urban exchanges (which more less coincide with NTL coverage) and eircom can continue to price broadband at a different level for the rest of the country. It is fact that they discount rural bitstream so they're looking at it differently than the established view that it's all about Dublin.

That is an interesting idea. Yes Eircom would prefer you to be with Smart then NTL, however Eircom really don't like Smart either. While Eircom do get some money from LLU, it is far less then the line rental and the massive money they get from the bitstream operators and they also lose out on phone charges and termination charges with LLU. So they really don't like LLU either.

Blaster99 wrote:

Did I read something about NTL and telephony? They've only talked about it for about five years, so why not. You never know, they might even stumble upon something leading edge like a PVR. Stranger things have happened.

It was supposed to happen before Christmas, but that has come and gone. There is no technical reason why it can't be done, many people are already using Blueface VoIP over NTL.

deftones

What about upload changes? If i would upgrade mines from 3megs to 6megs like..
Great to see something changes here :> maby some swedians are working in NTL

bk

deftones wrote:

What about upload changes? If i would upgrade mines from 3megs to 6megs like..
Great to see something changes here :> maby some swedians are working in NTL

I believe it is 512k

Mountjoy Mugger

40GB Cap on the 6GB product, I see. A bit disappointing.

Can someone confirm if that's download only?

bk

Mountjoy Mugger wrote:

40GB Cap on the 6GB product, I see. A bit disappointing.

Can someone confirm if that's download only?

NTL seem to be very easy going about the caps. I believe they have only ever written to people who consistently go over 100GB a month and then just asked those people to reduce their usage for the benefit of all customers. I don't think they have ever thrown anyone off or charged them for going offer the cap. So don't worry about it too much.