My NTL Cable Modem experience

WillieW

Who are you tellin'?!

Like Lord of Terror, I have this strange notion that when you buy into a product, it should at least work. In fact, isn't there some Consumer Legislation about that very matter?

Looking at the NTL newsgroup discussion recommended by Difficult, it's obvious that the contract you sign with ICL and/or NTL has a stipulation that they don't gurantee to provide a perfect service. Ain't life grand?

Set up a Newsgroup account on news.cable.ntlworld.com and subscribe to ntl.discussion.broadband.cm It's an eye-opener. The British system under discussion is the same one we will have in Ireland when most places here "eventually" get the broadband.

Difficult

look at ye's!!!!
moaning go back to the aul 56k dial up
you'll soon stop complaining
no problem willie sunday it is!

Kenshin

Although at least NTL has gotten further then Eircom or any other broadband company in Ireland, so they can't be entirely evil

WillieW

look at ye's!!!! moaning go back to the aul 56k dial up you'll soon stop complaining no problem willie sunday it is

Yeh scut, yeh! I'll have me boxin' gloves on me...

Difficult

wanna get a helmet aswell

WillieW

Here's the promised report on how we got on once Difficult arrived with the cavalry.

1) He was so hungover, he couldn't see the keyboard.
2) He still didn't believe I had puter problems, even when he saw them with his own bloodshot eyes.
3) He checked all the advice given already in this thread.
4) He left.

Well, that's an over-simplification. Suffice it to say I'm beginning to get more used to the idea of the cable modem and the NTL connection (Difficult: "It ISN'T NTL... Jaysus! You'd think I worked for them or something...!") just doing things differently to dial up.

I've had to more or less abandon the idea of FTP in relation to my Eircomnet Web space. The problem there would appear to be because of one of the following:

1) My space is full.
2) Their server, well known for not allowing in a non-Eircom IP number on dial up, allows in a non Eircom IP number on NTL cable modem, but buggers up receipt of image files for reasons no-one can explain. I've had a read of something, somewhere, about data transfer packets and the process terminating too soon because of an incompatability, but I went out and got two other free Webspaces, mirrored the site and gave up on trying to solvethe difficulty.
3) FTP won't work because of the above.
4) FTP doesn't work anyway because of the proxy server (unless it does, but only on servers that Difficult has access to)
5) My machine is too old.
6) My machine is full.

Strangely, (I think because Difficult is involved with brand new computer sales and doesn't encounter anything under a zilliongigaquad in size), the problem of a hard drive being so full as to affect the performance of RAM, or of processes running such that there isn't enough remaining RAM, wasn't top of Difficult's list of priorities. His final verdict on the whole matter was this:

"Time to go get buckled."

I presume he did, as I didn't go with him. Haven't seen or heard from him since either, so I guess he did.

Well, I'm surfing and uploading and generally getting by okay in the knowledge that the thing works in its own way and has to be gotten used to.

By the way. Someone phoned me from NTL and asked me if I wanted a cable modem installed. I said no.

In the post I received a nice postcard. It read:

"Still thinking about getting connected to ntls Always-On Broadband Internet service?

"...ntl's broadband service:
- Instant online-access
- A fixed rate monthly fee from £20
- No telephone call charges
- No timing out
- No delays
- Leaves your telephone line available for calls

"So why wait any longer?"

PS: At the bottom it had their new motto:
"NTL: The easier way"

Difficult

Willie ltns

what willie forgot to mention is, everything on his machine works perfectly fine, everything with the ntl modem is perfectly fine,
i uploaded jepges to my space with no problems

my thinking,
NTL are great
willie needs to buy some space on a decent server

Regards

WillieW

Least I have something on my flippin' server...

"Preety stupid", huh?

Difficult

preety stupid yes,
how long did it take you to notice that ?

preety stupid
pretty stupid
preeeeeeety stupid

WillieW

Not quite as long as it's taking you to do that Website we discussed....:D

Difficult

perfection takes time

WillieW

(Difficult: "It ISN'T NTL... Jaysus! You'd think I worked for them or something...!")

Now he thinks he works for Bulmers.

Gavin

alright, that's gone miles off topic. Let it rest now yeah.



Gav

and don't reply to this
:rolleyes:

MiCr0

just to sum up:

is any one still having issues with ntl and posting or ntl and ftp access?

WillieW

is any one still having issues with ntl and posting or ntl and ftp access?

Posting, no. Any difficulties now experienced by this writer generally can be attributed to traffic on the boards I visit.

FTP access, doesn't seem to work except in exceptional circumstances. Difficult's assertion that it's something to do with my machine is possibly correct, but no-one is able to suggest remedies. Instead I work around the problem by moving my Websites to different servers using their internal upload facilities. FTP for me was never something I used much of. Now I use none. ~shrugs~

My connection times out in general use, but doesn't actually lose connection. The most usual NTL error messages that come up (maybe once or twice a day, nothing major, but still...) are "Connection Reset by Peer", "Server Hangup", "Connection Times Out."

I'm using the proxy server and it seems to have ironed out the majority of problems. Those that remain I try to take a chill pill over and get on with it.

The original reason I posted this thread was to offer my experience to others. When those of you who haven't got the connection at the moment finally get one, hopefully this thread and others like it will offer some help should you experience similar problems as I did/do.

WillieW

I've had some months now to get used to using the cable modem. The "server hangup" signs that appear on some pages are fewer, but they still appear. In the same way that one gets used to the page downloading at a certain pace using 56K, I've learned when a server is working slowly and that it is usually the target server that is the cause of these messages, not necessarily the NTL thingymajig.

Interestingly, I've experienced only a slightly more increased speed when it comes to downloading items from the Internet. The "100 MB while making a cup of coffee" that others have mentioned [in other more recent threads] never happened for me. At best, something may take 15 minutes instead of an hour on dial-up. I ain't complaining; it's still an improvement.

What I've mostly experienced is the freedom to work on something online (especially Websites) as the ideas occur to me. Before, one had to limit one's time to off-peak dial up hours, which had an effect on creativity.

In the wider household, information from family health issues to what fuse to put into the plug while using that new German manufacturered electric drill is available whenever it's wanted, which is how the Internet is supposed to be used. Got a question? Answer it.

To date then, the experience has been a learning one for me. Hope you all continue to get signed up, that the service remains uninterrupted, and that you continue to enjoy the benefits.

MiCr0

well in terms of downloads
100mb @ quickest on the 512k service will be 23minutes or so.
and i get this all the time.
it mainly depends on what server you are downloading from.

[on 56k @ 5kB/sec the best that you could do this in in over 5 hours]

WillieW

Originally posted by MiCr0
well in terms of downloads
100mb @ quickest on the 512k service will be 23minutes or so.
and i get this all the time.
it mainly depends on what server you are downloading from.

[on 56k @ 5kB/sec the best that you could do this in in over 5 hours]

Maybe it was a BIG cup of coffee.

BTBB

The reason for a proxy:
Improve general browsing speed and collect statistical data.

The reason for a transparent proxy:
No setup client side required.

The reason to proxy FTP:
huh?

Oh yeah - the logged client-server interaction (Read username and password). Or someone thought this would help speed(unlikely).

I'm not an expert in these matters.

A complete techical support network as mentioned on the first page of this thread is impratical. Everyone on it would have to be a complete computer whiz. Computer whizzes don't grow on trees and neither do they work for tech support. The only solution is properly implemented protocols and extremely well written bug-free OS s and applications. (bye bye Microsoft).

BTBB