Leaving NTL

captainpat

Hi all,

I'm feeling a little sad, (but only a little) to say that I'm leaving NTL and their current "broadband" to enjoy a proper Internet experience again.

I was over the moon when I got the NTL leaflet in the door, and joined up same day, vowing to leave eircom. (about 3 years now). It was so good, and the service was magic. Speeds were increased to 6 MB after a while. Then two events occurred which ruined it for me. I started to get letters about over-use, and the UPC takeover happened.

Now the CS staff were just moaning about my upload speeds, as I was only getting 30-40K total on my downloads. Yes, and I'm not ashamed, I keep a little list of torrents downloading. But I never got above about 50k download except on occasions that frightened me. With 40mb/mth guide, I felt I was safe until the letters started arriving. I cut back, but the service got dreadful. Web pages were taking 30 seconds to load, I was getting timeouts on my wireless, sites seemed to be blocked, ....

After a few months chasing Irish Broadband who supply my job, I gave up and looked for a decent current supplier. My chosen route is UTV Quicksilver. Tonight I connected it up, with the usual hiccups (which phone cable in the spaghetti goes to my old DSL splitter - connect a new one, what's my user/pass - reconnect old NTL and print the email).

Now I'm up and running with a single connect. Networking can wait. The UTV speed is an eye-opener to me. Only 3Mb/384k, but at least I'm getting most of it. I was getting 500k Down from the NTL connection for a 6MB price.

So I will now have the pleasure of phoning NTL and cancelling their Cable Modem service. AND their digital TV. AND their analogue TV. (I have a full SKY package which now gives me all I want).

Apart from the restored speed, the quicksilver package includes a €5.99/mth option for Unlimited Download. This is the way to go, not throttling or charging overuse. If anyone has a better suggestion, I am considering a second connection. I can't ge Smart yet, and Magnet have stopped doing household.

Tonight, I am a happy camper!!

jimmycrackcorm

captainpat wrote:

Apart from the restored speed, the quicksilver package includes a €5.99/mth option for Unlimited Download. This is the way to go, not throttling or charging overuse. If anyone has a better suggestion, I am considering a second connection. I can't ge Smart yet, and Magnet have stopped doing household.

Tonight, I am a happy camper!!

Just wait until the utv fair use kicks in and then you'll find yourself in the same quandry.

captainpat

Since they have a specific charge for Unlimited, they would be on a sticky wicket if they start limiting. Still, I'll hardly be able to attract attention with my sources, which rarely get me over 50-60k/sec. Anyway, what choices do I have in this benighted isle?