NTL ROI Broadband

tedstokes168

In short I was recently looking at getting sky and broadband when i move from the uk to roi next month and in the place im going to be renting ive been told that NTL box is already there so I was hoping someone could answer me a question:

After looking at the ntl uk and roi sites the UK site says that the broadband service is uncapped but when i look at the faq's on the .ie site it says about how all the services have a 40gb cap no matter the speed service you buy. Is there any way that the ie website could be wrong, I dont like the idea of getting short-changed just because ill be living in ireland.

Also, a question to anyone who has the ntl broadband in roi or anywhere else, when you get it connected to you just need a network card in your pc and the set-top box or do you need other hardware in the middle?

thanks a lot for all your help on the forum so far, its so hard to find good information and as soon as i move i wont have an active net connection so need to find out before i move.

kaizersoze

NTL UK recently sold NTL Ireland to UPC so they are no longer the same company. It will be rebranded soon I'd say. I don't have NTL BB so some of the users should be along shortly to advise you on the setup.

johntreacy

As well as the set top box there is also a modem. The Ariel comming out of the wall goes into a splitter and you hav one cable for the set top box and one for the modem.

pizzahead77

I don't have NTL but there is a usage limit for 40Gb for their 6Mb package. The slower packages have lower limits as well.

Not sure if they have actually charged anyone for exceeding the limits but I know people that have received letters from NTL warning about their excessive use.

Also you need to make sure that your new place can receive broadband. Does the NTL box" mean the actual cable modem or is it the NTL digital set top box.

Sad Professor

I have NTL 3Mb and the cap is 30gb. I've gone over it a few times though and never gotten any letters.

christophicus

tedstokes168 wrote:

I dont like the idea of getting short-changed just because ill be living in ireland.

Well theres a reality check for you, We have been living with these kind of stupid rippoff's for decades.

If you intend getting digitial tv and boadband you will need that set top box and a modem , Both of which you get from NTL. And yes just to clarify . there is a 40 GB limit on the 6MB package.

Col_Loki

Also, a question to anyone who has the ntl broadband in roi or anywhere else, when you get it connected to you just need a network card in your pc

The Cable modem you get will work with either your network card (RJ45 Connection) or USB so you will be fine with that regard.

The 40gb limit has been changed from Downloads, to usage. I think the new company is adding Uploads and Downloads.... then getting onto the people who exceed it.
Ive had majour problems with NTL, got it installed 5 weeks ago, working for 2 days and then it was totally down until today. There customer support is the worst ive ever ever seen/heard. You really do not want to have any problems or you are totally screwed.........to be honest its nice when its working, but theres no way id recommend them to anyone.

tedstokes168

thanks a lot to everyone who has posted a reply it has helped quite a bit.

to answer some questions: when i said "ntl box" I mean set-top box, I thought that I might be able to just connect my network card from my pc to the back of the set-top box and just be running but from the replies i guess it doesnt work like that.

oh, to the last poster, I wouldnt pick ntl broadband if i had an option but in terms of trying to get the easiest/quickest install possible for broadband when i move this looks like one of my only options.

miju

whatever you do tedstokes168 DON'T FOR THE LOVE OF GOD get NTL broadband

worst real speeds , can BARELY connect for more than 15 minutes at a time nad worst customer service staff to rub salt into wounds

as someone else said they recently sold to another company and it has gone completely to pot since

Cabaal

miju wrote:

whatever you do tedstokes168 DON'T FOR THE LOVE OF GOD get NTL broadband

worst real speeds , can BARELY connect for more than 15 minutes at a time nad worst customer service staff to rub salt into wounds

to be fair these type of problems don't affect all users, I know plenty of people on NTL (incl myself) who use NTL without any problems

CuLT

Cabaal wrote:

to be fair these type of problems don't affect all users, I know plenty of people on NTL (incl myself) who use NTL without any problems

Ditto, I've only ever heard NTL complaints from a minority on boards.ie, anyone I know has very few problems.

BendiBus

I've been very happy with my NTL broadband service since I got it.

Sad Professor

I haven't had any problems with ntl either, at least not in a long time. Although I am giving some thought to maybe switching to Magnet as it might work out cheaper.

Freddie59

BendiBus wrote:

I've been very happy with my NTL broadband service since I got it.

Same here. I also have VoIP from Blueface. Excellent pairing.:D

jwim1

Col_Loki wrote:

The Cable modem you get will work with either your network card (RJ45 Connection) or USB so you will be fine with that regard.

The 40gb limit has been changed from Downloads, to usage. I think the new company is adding Uploads and Downloads.... then getting onto the people who exceed it.
Ive had majour problems with NTL, got it installed 5 weeks ago, working for 2 days and then it was totally down until today. There customer support is the worst ive ever ever seen/heard. You really do not want to have any problems or you are totally screwed.........to be honest its nice when its working, but theres no way id recommend them to anyone.

I have had NTL broadband (6MB) and Cable TV package for 3 weeks now, and have had a total of probably 4 days of decent use. Constantly down, hours on the phone to support, no improvement etc. NTL have never got it right here. I'm cancelling my account in the new year and moving to a decent provider....any suggestions??

lafors

jwim1 wrote:

I have had NTL broadband (6MB) and Cable TV package for 3 weeks now, and have had a total of probably 4 days of decent use. Constantly down, hours on the phone to support, no improvement etc. NTL have never got it right here. I'm cancelling my account in the new year and moving to a decent provider....any suggestions??

He's right, same as me, It's TERRIBLE, a sham of a service, and I don't think its just a minority as someone said earlier. Out of 5 other lads who have it from work 4 have the same issues, as does my brother (all in dublin mind you).

Customer Support is non-existent. Stay away, well away.
When I hear their name my blood boils :mad:

Steffano2002

tedstokes168 wrote:

[...]in the place im going to be renting ive been told that NTL box is already there[...]

Having a NTL Box doesn't mean you can have NTL Broadband...

miju

Steffano2002 wrote:

Having a NTL Box doesn't mean you can have NTL Broadband...

unfortunately neither does having an NTL modem , supposed connection and contract for broadband mean you can have it either

Sponge Bob

NTL Ireland shut down their call centre in Waterford a few weeks back. They are assuming that the Chrous call centre in Limerick will be able to deal with everything from now on <snigger>

NTL Ireland will be rebranded as UPC or something like Swash by end March

JackM

I'm in waterford and have never had a problem with NTL BB, it really depends on what part of the country you are living in. Ntl network in dublin is sh*t!

andrew163

I'd recommend avoiding NTL, at least until they fix their half-assed attempt at a network changeover. Pings are a disaster, anything on HEANet (and a few other Irish sites) is barely usable. Connection speeds are far slower than they should be.

jimmycrackcorm

In fairness to NTL the vast majority of thier users have no problems. It's like any big company who will have a minority of users with problems. It's more realisitic to suggest that the op will be more likely to get a perfect connection than not.

christophicus

JackM wrote:

I'm in waterford and have never had a problem with NTL BB, it really depends on what part of the country you are living in. Ntl network in dublin is sh*t!

I also live in waterford too and its only very rarely that I actually get even close to 6Mb . I have had alot of trouble with them here. And out of 3 othre poeple I know with it 2 of them have also had problems, Not to mention a whole host of other people form waterford on boards.

Freddie59

christophicus wrote:

I also live in waterford too and its only very rarely that I actually get even close to 6Mb . I have had alot of trouble with them here. And out of 3 othre poeple I know with it 2 of them have also had problems, Not to mention a whole host of other people form waterford on boards.

Can't agree there Christophicus. I and four other have it ranging from 1 to 6 Megs (I'm on 2 Meg) and while there have been some speed issues these appear to have been remedied since December 20th when speeds shot back up for some reason.

I'm attaching a screen capture of a download from iTunes which my friend sent me. Note the transfer rate and multiply by 8 to get the bitrate.

Just under 6 Megs - and he says that this has been constant since December 20th. My 2 Megs is also constant - as are my friends. We're all in Waterford City.

Steffano2002

Sponge Bob wrote:

NTL Ireland shut down their call centre in Waterford a few weeks back. They are assuming that the Chrous call centre in Limerick will be able to deal with everything from now on <snigger>

NTL Ireland will be rebranded as UPC or something like Swash by end March

Well I think they had an outsource provider for a while to help them with the extra workload but then stopped using it for some weird reason... They must have (or "should" have!) thousands of Agents in Limerick to deal with both the Chorus and NTL customer's!!! :eek:

dub45

Steffano2002 wrote:

Well I think they had an outsource provider for a while to help them with the extra workload but then stopped using it for some weird reason... They must have (or "should" have!) thousands of Agents in Limerick to deal with both the Chorus and NTL customer's!!! :eek:

Thousands? only if you count in binary form!

Blaster99

tedstokes168 wrote:

ive been told that NTL box is already there

I know this is a bit confusing coming from the real world, but in Ireland you can never take broadband availability for granted. NTL do not offer broadband on their entire network if even half of it. Before we all get excited about how good or bad NTL is, you should find out if you can even get it. If you can give us a rough location we can probably give you an indication.

tedstokes168

the location is killorglin, in county kerry.

Freddie59

Freddie59 wrote:

Can't agree there Christophicus. I and four other have it ranging from 1 to 6 Megs (I'm on 2 Meg) and while there have been some speed issues these appear to have been remedied since December 20th when speeds shot back up for some reason.

I'm attaching a screen capture of a download from iTunes which my friend sent me. Note the transfer rate and multiply by 8 to get the bitrate.

Just under 6 Megs - and he says that this has been constant since December 20th. My 2 Megs is also constant - as are my friends. We're all in Waterford City.

BTW I'm informed that the above 35 Meg file downloaded in 50 seconds:eek: . So Christophicus appears to have a separate issue.

Freddie59

dub45 wrote:

Thousands? only if you count in binary form!

Well I suppse if you had x number of agents dealing with 140,000 customers (mostly analogue) it would stand to reason that you would need 3 times x amount of agents to deal with the additional workload of the bones of a half-million extra customers, many having broadband and digital....which Chorus would not have. I would assume they have factored this in...........at the very least.

CiaranC

tedstokes168 wrote:

the location is killorglin, in county kerry.

Since when are NTL in Kerry?