My short and very sour NTL experience

[Mashrok]

I'd been thinking of leaving Tiscali ever since I originally had it installed at my house as their service is terrible, I was paying for 2mb broadband and only ever got about 1mb. I'd moved out of my parents house where we'd had broadband installed for 6 years without any major problems so all the problems I was having with Tiscali were a bit of a shock and I regretted going for the cheapest ADSL option I could find.
Anyway, on the 2nd Jan I went onto the NTL website, typed in my postcode and signed up to their 4mb service. The message I got on screen gave me an order number and a message saying i'd be contacted within the next 72 hours.
A week later I gave them a call and the gentleman I spoke with explained that my order would likely be in someones email inbox waiting to be processed and that instead of waiting he could sign me up. I explained that the reason I wanted to sign up through the website was that they were doing a 12 month offer of 4mb for £17 and he said that was fine. He gave me an install date of 23rd Jan and took all my details.
Jump to today, the engineer was supposed to be arriving between 8am and 1pm so I got up at 7 and started tidying the house a bit ready for him to appear. I'd booked the day off so i'd be here to tell him where i'd like the cable fitted. I checked my work email having been at college yesterday and there was an email from one of my colleagues with a short note saying "an NTL customer representative called to say that they're sorry but the engineer won't be coming tomorrow (23rd Jan) and can you give them a call to rearrange the install date".
At reading this I was furious. NTL had all the phone numbers they could contact me on, and the day before the engineer was supposed to be arriving, they left a message with a guy I barely know asking him to pass on the message.
Anyway, I headed into work since there's no reason to stay at home and waste my holidays, gave NTL a call at about 9am only to be told their computer system is down and they'll ring me back shortly. 2 hours later I lose my patience and call again. This time the system is back up and the lady explains that they'll get in touch with me when they hear from the engineers who are apparently going to be visiting the area to perform a survey. Anyway I ask how long this will take so she transfers me to the Installs department.
The lady i'm transferred to can't help me out anymore than the last lady I was talking to and so she transfers me to the Construction department. This lady is finally helpful, she contacts the engineer responsible then talks to her manager before informing me that our property is non-servicable.
At this point I didn't know what to say to her, there was nothing I could really say other than please make sure my account is closed and i'm canceling my direct debit to stop you taking any money for this.

I know there is cable on my road, as there is a big NTL green box at the end of the road with NTL conduit covers on the floor next to it, from this there is a long trench extending right up the road past my house.

---------- Post added at 12:03 ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 ----------

Could anyone tell me what the chances are that the manager who said my building was unservicable could be wrong? I mean they didn't indicate to me whether the engineers had actually attended site!
I know i'm clutching at straws here but I really would prefere to have NTL cable broadband anyday over Tiscali or in fact any ADSL service, and if there's any chance at all I could convince NTL to fit a cable into my house then i'm going to keep chasing it.

[MovedGoalPosts]

Unfortunately just because there is a cabinet nearby doesn't necessarily mean the property itself is serviceable.

In many cases cable needs to be run across property that isn't owned directly by the customer. That can be common parts to blocks of flats, or maybe land of a neighbour. ntl:telewest would need an easement or wayleave for this, which can only be granted by the owner of that land. That's a legal complication that takes time and effort that the cablecos seem to be unwilling to get into for just one customer.

There can be other reasons to, inadequate capacity in the local cabinet, or simply that the under pavement ducts wern't routed near your property. The latter is common for infil developments, or those at the end of small private cul de sacs of two or three houses.

[Mashrok]

One thing I should probably have explained in my original post is that I live in and own a first floor maisonette above a set of shops.
However we do have our own front door on the side of the building and a small garden, so there is a possibility that if the engineer has visited our building he may have thought he needed permission from either the shops downstairs (who seem to hate us for some reason) or the company who rents out most of the properties in the area to install the cable.

Again I know i'm clutching at straws, but I would like a solid reason from NTL as to why they couldn't install.

[Crooky]

You need to check if there is a "Swept Tee" outside your property.

This will be evident by either a small round black plastic cap or a small box (similar to the one for a stop cock) in the ground.

If you cannot find evidence of either of these your property is not serviceable at present.

You could always ask for a local representative to attend and show you why they cannot install your broadband.

Also, if the cable will need to cross the shop property, as in up the wall, they will need permission from the owner before they will consider an install.

[Mashrok]

I've just had a look outside our house for any cable trenches or anything similar.

Outside our front door we have an area about 7 x 2 metres in size which we own, and about 2.5 metres away from that are cables trenches, about another 3 metres away from this in the middle of a public walkway area is a panel on the floor marked CATV, which has another trench leading towards the flats opposite our front door. On the wall about 5 metres away from this trench there is an NTL box with a cable leading up the wall to the first floor flat.
There is also a cable trench which seems to stop next to a column right below where our dining room is, if there is a junction box or anything buried here, an engineer could easily wire us up for cable.

If NTL are telling me there is no cable available in our area they must be crazy!! i'm now wondering if an engineer has been at all, and if if has was he just feeling lazy?