Ntl Cutting Off High Usage Users

tinkerbell

When did Chorus take over NTL? Are these letters only coming out for recent usage, e.g. August? Don't think they ever sent out those kind of letters before?

I think if you're not on the highest GB per month, then if you go over it, they upgrade you to the next one. So is it just those who went over 40GB per month that are getting the letters?

antor

I got a disconnection notice form ntl saying that I downloaded in excess of 194 GB during the Month of August Well I'm of to magnet, So long Ntl

Sarsfield

antor wrote:

I got a disconnection notice form ntl saying that I downloaded in excess of 194 GB during the Month of August Well I'm of to magnet, So long Ntl

While NTL should be more transparent in their usage/disconnect policy, I think 194Gb in a month was just asking for a slap!

I don't think Magnet will be too keen on that level of download either, whatever their existing policy.

antor

Sure I dont think they would mind they have a cap of 150 gb and they charge €0.50 for each gb when you go over so the more I download the more money they get of me

xbox360dublin

antor wrote:

I got a disconnection notice form ntl saying that I downloaded in excess of 194 GB during the Month of August Well I'm of to magnet, So long Ntl

holy crap antor, 194gbs, i thought i was bad with the 85gb. what the hell are you downloading man

sure magnet looks like the way to go ,150 gb cap and 8 mbs down. id give them a call, ask for a guy call sam in sales, he went through everything with me, really knew what he was talking about! as far as i know, i got a free month, second month half price and free tickets to some fringe festival or something

I've little sympathy for heavy users on a cable system who get cut... but they should probably be warned in advance.

I'm on Permanet, fair enough its wireless, but everything except the wireless part is based on DOCSIS cable technology. In recent times my 1.5Mb connection has slowed to a crawl in the evenings, basically due to heavy usage. I guess they brought it on... no download cap. :rolleyes:

NTL aren't talking bull, it does happen.

Vadrefjorde

Karsini wrote:

In recent times my 1.5Mb connection has slowed to a crawl in the evenings, basically due to heavy usage. I guess they brought it on... no download cap. :rolleyes:

I think the easy option for ISP's and gullible customers is to jump on the bandwagon and blame a couple of users rather than increase backhaul and capacity.
If there was a market for video on demand and other such money making crap etc.. which would consume lots of bandwidth then caps would suddenly not be an issue..

And no i didn't get a letter nor do i expect to get one, but this "cap in hand, thanks guv for my 8/16/40GB a month" mentality is one of the things which is holding back the broadband market.


If the same thing had happened in the mobile phone market we wouldn't all be up in arms crying for O2 to penalise customers who stay on the phone too long. We'd expect them to expand their network, yet the opposite attitude is prevalent among broadband customers???

Mutant_Fruit

The reason for that seems to be that people are drilled to think that the only way you could need more than that pitiful amount of bandwidth (referring to anything below 30gigs) is if you are downloading huge amounts of illegal material. A lot of TV/Radio ad's list their download allowance in terms of movies and/or mp3's.

Practically every time someone complains their cap isn't large enough they get shouted down by people saying "what are you on about, 2 gigs is plenty! What in the world would you need more than 2 gigs for, you music/dvd pirate". Same story if you ask for more upload.

At least you've pointed out a good comparison now. All i have to say in response now is "Well, if your neighbour was on the phone 24x7 talking to people and it degraded your phone line, would you A) Cut off your neighbours phone line or Demand a fix from Eircom. I think they'd all go with B.

dub45

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

The reason for that seems to be that people are drilled to think that the only way you could need more than that pitiful amount of bandwidth (referring to anything below 30gigs) is if you are downloading huge amounts of illegal material. A lot of TV/Radio ad's list their download allowance in terms of movies and/or mp3's.

Practically every time someone complains their cap isn't large enough they get shouted down by people saying "what are you on about, 2 gigs is plenty! What in the world would you need more than 2 gigs for, you music/dvd pirate". Same story if you ask for more upload.

At least you've pointed out a good comparison now. All i have to say in response now is "Well, if your neighbour was on the phone 24x7 talking to people and it degraded your phone line, would you A) Cut off your neighbours phone line or Demand a fix from Eircom. I think they'd all go with B.

The point is that when you sign up for a product you accept the cap - you may not like it but thats the case - when people constantly exceed the cap they are interfering with other peoples quality of service from the isp.

Whether caps should be higher is a completely seperate issue to people not complying with their contract.

antor

dub45 wrote:

The point is that when you sign up for a product you accept the cap - you may not like it but thats the case - when people constantly exceed the cap they are interfering with other peoples quality of service from the isp.

Whether caps should be higher is a completely seperate issue to people not complying with their contract.

When I signed up with NTL they had no cap limit. I was told by the sales rep that I could download as much as I wanted and that's the contract I signed, NTL then add a cap I dont recall then sending me out another contract to sign.

Drapper

antor wrote:

When I signed up with NTL they had no cap limit. I was told by the sales rep that I could download as much as I wanted and that's the contract I signed, NTL then add a cap I dont recall then sending me out another contract to sign.

well I'm sure its wrriten in the contract NTL may have the right to vary the T&C ? check it out! which means they can really do what they want.......

carrotcake

they have to notify you if there's a change... they never notified anyone

Mistmyr

I just got one of these Last Warning Letters aswell myself..

Now back when i signed my contract with NTL the service was cap free and that was a major selling point for me at the time and still is now.

Anyway i understand that services can change ect and sometimes they have to rework the contracts, add caps adjust the contention ratios ect... I get all that but im not happy with the heavy handed way that NTL are handling those exceeding their cap....

First we have noway to measure the download ourselves then the info on their own website is contradictory (40gig allowance per month yet they say recomended 1 gig per day ??) There sould be a clear warning system inplace 2 or 3 written warnings and then you are out and most importantly, a way to measure your usage. At the moment its guess work.

I also think that a 40gig cap on a 6m/512 cable connection is rubbish. the 6/512 cable service is their top lvl product we pay for it and it should have a higher cap to match it..

Anyway just my lil rant on the subject

Peace all

Misty

DemonOfTheFall

I only downloaded 47 Gigs in august and I got one of those stern letters. Feck them anyway, If they want to cut us off fine. We'll just go back to some DSL provider who couldn't care less how much we download. Their packet loss / routing / ping times are gone to pure shít lately anyway, not that they were ever as good as the dsl providers.

dub45

antor wrote:

When I signed up with NTL they had no cap limit. I was told by the sales rep that I could download as much as I wanted and that's the contract I signed, NTL then add a cap I dont recall then sending me out another contract to sign.

Well if you have an actual contract (as distinct from a memory of a conversation with a sales rep) which states you have no cap you should challenge NTL and ask them when they amended your terms and conditions and in what manner.

Sponge Bob

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

I only downloaded 47 Gigs in august and I got one of those stern letters.

They are setting themselves up for major grief here. Pretty much all NTL customers have alternatives such as Digiweb Metro , Magnet and Smart. Thats because NTL only operate in Dublin waterford and Galway which are well provided with carriers who will not disconnect at 1gb over the cap.

Had any of ye busted a cap by 1Gb with the alternatives above the penalties would be a throttle for a few days , or 50c , or nothing ......respectively.

Again I suspect they are preparing the ground for a VoIp rollout but they are running the risk of losing the goodwill they ALWAYS had in Ireland from these cack handed threats. Nobody will recommend a carrier that can arbitrarily cut its customers off to their friends. Word of mouth was a very important customer acquisition strategy for NTL in the past .....and it worked.

dub45

Sponge Bob wrote:

They are setting themselves up for major grief here. Pretty much all NTL customers have alternatives such as Digiweb Metro , Magnet and Smart. Thats because NTL only operate in Dublin waterford and Galway which are well provided with carriers who will not disconnect at 1gb over the cap.

Had any of ye busted a cap by 1Gb with the alternatives above the penalties would be a throttle for a few days , or 50c , or nothing ......respectively.

Again I suspect they are preparing the ground for a VoIp rollout but they are running the risk of losing the goodwill they ALWAYS had in Ireland from these cack handed threats. Nobody will recommend a carrier that can arbitrarily cut its customers off to their friends. Word of mouth was a very important customer acquisition strategy for NTL in the past .....and it worked.

Plus (or minus:) ) the communication with their customers over the period of the recent changes has been appalling and does not bode well for the future at all:rolleyes:

Sponge Bob

Well they are closing the NTL customer care centre in Waterford and passing the old NTL customers over to

<trumpets >
Chorus Customer Care
</trumpets>

so why be surprised dub45

PixelTrawler

Are people taking action here?

Unless we know for sure that NTL read this thread and take heed to it the only way to get our concerns heard and possibly listened to ( unless you plan to leave NTL which is a message in itself ) is to write or ring ntl voicing our extreme displeasure...

Common items to point out is:
1. Lack of clear policy on warnings and disconnections and lack of communication to customers about this change in policy.

2. The fact the the cap is too low for a 6meg production and that it did not increase from when it was a 3meg product. And to clarify the cap - is it 40 gig or a gig a day. And is it download or usage...

3. Lack of a download monitoring service - which, as has been pointed out on this thread, is impossible to do manually, what with multi devices in peoples homes connecting to the net these days. It will get to the stage people will use less then 30gig to be on the safe side - which is crazy. After all one guy on this thread used du meter recording 34gig total traffic and he still got a letter saying he downloaded 50gig!

4. Point out that boards.ie can either be a fantastic way to attract customers or a disaster - after all huge numbers come to this thread looking for advice before going with a provider - and this bad press is something they need to nip in the bud - fast...

And as SpongeBob pointed out NTL operate in competitive markets with plenty of (more) attractive alternatives...

Not to mention other stuff to mention like the rubbish routing, the fact that the newsgroup access is next to useless now..

Perhaps if enough people complain directly to them something might change...

Just my 2c...

PixelTrawler

Sponge Bob wrote:

Well they are closing the NTL customer care centre in Waterford and passing the old NTL customers over to

<trumpets >
Chorus Customer Care
</trumpets>

so why be surprised dub45

lovely...

dub45

Sponge Bob wrote:

Well they are closing the NTL customer care centre in Waterford and passing the old NTL customers over to

<trumpets >
Chorus Customer Care
</trumpets>

so why be surprised dub45

Surprised by anything an ISP might do (or not do ) never!!! Shocked maybe but never surprised:rolleyes:

sham69

I only have my service a month (3 months free). Am panicking now as I am fairly high user but don't mind paying the extra. I am supposed to be on a 6mb line but its only measuring in at 3?
I am strongly considering ringing them and cancelling it before the inevitable happens and they cut me off. Only problem is I have no other option as I don't want a landline.?
I remember years ago I was on Esats "surf no limits". Customers got a letter to say they were abusing the service and being disconnected as a result. "no Limits" my arse.

6th

Ok I have NTL Broadband as part of my GoDigital Max package. Its sh1te slow and i've just rang to complain, they will get someone to ring me later (yeah right) but when they do I plan to let them have it.

Anyway my landline is with eircom which suits me as i rarely use it (no one can make my bill cheaper), and my tv and broadband are with NTL - what are my low hassle options for fast internet access?

I dont download too much at all.

bk

Joebloggs4817 wrote:

Are people taking action here?

Unless we know for sure that NTL read this thread and take heed to it the only way to get our concerns heard and possibly listened to ( unless you plan to leave NTL which is a message in itself ) is to write or ring ntl voicing our extreme displeasure....

Personally I think a letter should be compiled of all our complaints and sent to the head of UPC Broadband Ireland, but also sent to Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media (UPC's owners) and to the Sunday Business Post.

Also some sort of UPC Sucks site should be set up, listing all of the complaints.

That would likely catch the attention very quickly.

RangeR

bk wrote:

Also some sort of UPC Sucks site should be set up, listing all of the complaints.

Seems like UPC got there first, way back in 1999. Maybe they "aquired it" from a disgruntled customer.

Domain Name: UPCSUCKS.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: AMSNS00.CHELLO.COM
Name Server: AMSNS01.CHELLO.COM
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Updated Date: 18-jul-2006
Creation Date: 28-jun-1999
Expiration Date: 28-jun-2008

*EDIT* A little more investigation. There is a report on this here, bottom of page. Can anyone translate?

Sponge Bob

http://www.whois-search.com/whois/upcirelandsucks.com

is still available but will not be by 5PM today

bk

Sponge Bob wrote:

http://www.whois-search.com/whois/upcirelandsucks.com

is still available but will not be by 5PM today

That won't matter, they are plenty of variants that can be used.

What UPC needs to understand is that the only way to stop this is by giving us good customer support.

paulm17781

6th wrote:

Ok I have NTL Broadband as part of my GoDigital Max package. Its sh1te slow and i've just rang to complain, they will get someone to ring me later (yeah right) but when they do I plan to let them have it.

So you're going shout at some person, who probably hates ringing people like you, who does it every day, has no technical knowledge or influence in the company and probably isn't going to help you because you shouted at them?

Good man, hope your proud and I'm sure this will get you far.

Blaster99

IrishTLR wrote:

*EDIT* A little more investigation. There is a report on this here, bottom of page. Can anyone translate?

The article says that UPC has gone and registered a bunch of domain names, some which are those *sucks* ones. They did it "for marketing reasons".

6th

paulm17781 wrote:

So you're going shout at some person, who probably hates ringing people like you, who does it every day, has no technical knowledge or influence in the company and probably isn't going to help you because you shouted at them?

Good man, hope your proud and I'm sure this will get you far.

By let them have it I mean tell them all the problems I have, all the bad things I heard and anyaything else that comes to mind. I dont shout at people in situations like that - i've dealt with nasty customers and dont see the point.