NTL expands cable broadband

ironfist77

Could be interesting , especially the price.

http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=7183698

SkepticOne

This ENN article seems to suggest that the service has been limited to 1,500 homes on a trial basis and that they are no ready to release it to the full 25,000 upgraded homes.

Note that this was the number of upgraded homes quoted at the time of their halting of the upgrading to two way services in February of last year.

Seems like another 'relaunch' of cable internet to areas that already can get the service.

Their sales department don't seem to be aware of this announcement.

ironfist77

Their sales department don't seem to be aware of this announcement.

Why am I not surprised .

SkepticOne

I've been on to someone in NTL (fairly low down, admittedly) who said that the cable internet service is already available to the existing two-way upgraded areas (this would be about 25 to 30 thousand) people.

This is what we knew already, of course.

It is highly unlikely that money will be diverted to the irish operation when it is doing comparatively well right now, given NTL's financial situation.

longword

Originally posted by SkepticOne
This ENN article seems to suggest that the service has been limited to 1,500 homes on a trial basis and that they are no ready to release it to the full 25,000 upgraded homes.

Sliced whatever way you want, 25,000 is still barely more than 10% of the homes served by NTL :-(

SkepticOne

Originally posted by longword

Sliced whatever way you want, 25,000 is still barely more than 10% of the homes served by NTL :-(

If it was a new 25,000, I'd be very happy.

KdjaCL

Intersting article anyone know what this part means???
"And NTL is not alone; other companies are also getting in on the action, with firms such as Esat and European Access Providers looking to roll out different kinds of geographically limited broadband services in Ireland in the coming weeks. "
Mainly the Eurpean part?
kdja

SkepticOne

Originally posted by kdja
Intersting article anyone know what this part means???
"And NTL is not alone; other companies are also getting in on the action, with firms such as Esat and European Access Providers looking to roll out different kinds of geographically limited broadband services in Ireland in the coming weeks. "
Mainly the Eurpean part?
kdja

EAP are an Irish company. I'm not aware of their (continental) European plans, but they have been in the papers talking about a wireless product to compete with Eircom in central Dublin.

Jorinn

Rang ntl today inquiring about cable modems in my area (D6). Got a very nice reply. Apparently D6 won't be upgraded for a minimum of 9 months and probably far more I was informed and alo that it isn't likely to be upgraded for digital TV anytime soon either.

BKtje

i dont suppose there is a connection between Digital TV and cable internet access? as i just been offered Digital TV in Dun Laoghaire. Didnt think NTL were ne where near here with cable but i ask just incase i have egg on my face later for not having cable when it was avail?

i think id better ask the NTL ppl tho

JTMan

that it isn't likely to be upgraded for digital TV anytime soon either.

Your very unlikely. The last from NTL was that they had 85% Digital TV Coverage.

i dont suppose there is a connection between Digital TV and cable internet access

No, not really. All areas that have cable internet coverage also have digital TV Coverage. However, very few areas that have Digital TV also have the cable internet service.

I don't think the ENN acricle refers to a relaunch. NTL have been expaning their Cable internet network since Feb 2001 and have been saying for a long time that a large number of area's would be added this year.

longword

Originally posted by B-K-DzR
i dont suppose there is a connection between Digital TV and cable internet access?

The downstream part of a Cable Modem is pretty much the same technology as Digital TV. They allocate an 8MHz band that would normally house one analog channel and assign it for digital use. They can usually squeeze about 40-50Mbit/sec downstream out of it.

To implement Digital TV all you need is a handful of 8MHz bands broadcasting the same content to everyone across the whole NTL network. Each 8MHz/40Mbit is called a Multiplex and will typically contain at least four channels, usually more depending on how low they're willing to let the quality drop.

The hard part is the upstream. It operates in a much lower carrier frequency than normal NTL TV channels - tens of MHz rather than hundreds and it's allocated a 3.2MHz band. They only get a few Mbit/sec (10 at most) out of it due to line conditions and what they can allow cable modems to do (transmit power, implementation complexity, not stepping on the toes of everyone else sharing that upstream).

For broadband, you don't want the same IP packets clogging up the whole cable network. That's especially true on the low bandwidth upstream, so they split their network into smaller segments. Each of which has its own high speed link back to HQ. You only share the cable bandwidth with your neighbours rather than the whole country.

BTW, does anyone know what standard and what parameters NTL are using to deploy cable broadband here?

KdjaCL

Rang them today about D.22.
A really nice guy answered and said it wasnt available but he offered to take my name and number,and said they would call when my area was being upgraded.
Now he either offered to take my name and number to make me feel better or they really are moving forward with this.
Now if demand was "every person on this board who lives in Dublin " rings them.
Maybe we might see something in the near future.
Im off to Eircom and ask how they can charge €133 a month whne NTL charge €35
Kdja

longword

Originally posted by kdja
Im off to Eircom and ask how they can charge €133 a month whne NTL charge €35

They'll use the standard broadcast vs. unicast argument, and to a limited extent they're right. Cable requires one Black Box Widget per exchange-sized area. DSL requires one DSLAM interface per customer in the exchange - same kind of thing you need with dialup, dedicated modem hardware at each end. However that DSLAM cost is _more_ than covered by the installation price Eircom is proposing, not to mention their markup on the DSL modems.

What's more pertinent is the difference between Eircom's wholesale bitstream price of ~50 euro and their retail price of 228 euro for the closest equivalent to NTL's service (gotta be careful to compare like with like).

Once you get to the exchange bitstream level, the cost to provision the service is the same for both cable and DSL broadband.

Why is it that NTL can offer a complete end-to-end service for 35 euro (that's including VAT isn't it? Unlike Eircom's 228 euro) while Eircom is charging ~178 euro for just the part of the service that's common to both operators?

How can the ODTR possibly accept this as a reasonable, cost-based price of an efficient operator? I accept that the ODTR doesn't have the power to enforce their decisions, but couldn't they at least complain and point out these issues publicly?

CodeMonkey

Got NTL digital a few weeks ago and roommate enquired about NTL cable access. The guy at the other end said it's actually ready to role out in my area but for whatever reason we can't have it yet and that we should expect the service to be available in may/june. Thought he was BSing myself but it could be true .

Mountjoy Mugger

Whereabouts are you?