Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

Yes, but your point taken in, they still are the biggest isp in the uk, so they must be doing something right..

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0...tid=215&tid=99

Read the comments, very interesting:

The British way seems to be to get dragged, kicking and screaming into the modern world. The EU is a good example. In five years time, people will have fast and unlimited connections and companies like NTL will be forced to offer them. Sadly, very few British companies have the vision to look forward to the future.

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

That's a poor reason, they have a monopoly in some areas (as people clearly can't get Telewest)

Going by your reasoning, Sky must be doing something even better than ntl, as they have something like 7 million DTV customers.

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

All these comparisons with what other countries have and prices are meaningless.

The first thing you should remember when comparing prices between countries is that exchange rates mean nothing in themselves. A service elsewhere may only cost the equivalent of £10 using exchange rates but if you only earn £40 per month it is very, very expensive.

Some of the speeds available in other countries are simply not an option here unless there is massive investment in new infrastructure. Who makes that investment and how long will it take to complete? One thing for certain is that NTL and Telewest do not have the money to invest and will never have it if customers demand services at a price that doesn't generate substantial profit.

Just remember that we live in the UK and have to accept the constraints that living here puts on the services we have.

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

This is the problem with the British: we suck but that's 'cos we are British so don't complain. If we complained more, as consumers are beginning to realise, we would get a better deal.

I disagree that comparisons with other countries are meaningless too. There are many comparable countries to the UK, and it makes sense to compare ourselves to them in order to judge our own performance and improve it. Saying that they have "better infrastructure" and we would need "massive investment" isn't an excuse not to do it, it's a reason to do it! It's admitting that we are rapidly falling behind. It's not like other countries were somehow blessed with super fast IP networks, they had to make the investments too. They just realised that, in the long run, it would be worth it.

Let's look at our clostest neighbour, France:

I think that's a legitimate reason to put pressure on NTL and all UK ISPs to improve. To be fair, for most ADSL providers it's BT that is holding them back, but still...

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

[QUOTE=mojo]This is the problem with the British: we suck but that's 'cos we are British so don't complain. If we complained more, as consumers are beginning to realise, we would get a better deal.

I disagree that comparisons with other countries are meaningless too. There are many comparable countries to the UK, and it makes sense to compare ourselves to them in order to judge our own performance and improve it. Saying that they have "better infrastructure" and we would need "massive investment" isn't an excuse not to do it, it's a reason to do it! It's admitting that we are rapidly falling behind. It's not like other countries were somehow blessed with super fast IP networks, they had to make the investments too. They just realised that, in the long run, it would be worth it.

Let's look at our clostest neighbour, France:

Words cost nothing but actions do. You make it sound oh so easy so explain how it can be done and where the money to do it comes from.

There is a lot of talk about the British not complaining and that is why we are lagging behind. If you stop and think about it you might cotton on to the fact that complaining in the past is one of the main reasons we are lagging behind. Unions complained about job losses and prevented the country from moving forward. If you were to look at the newstrade some forty years ago and compare it to today you would see how progress was held up by the unions. Now, a few people do the work that hundreds did before Eddie Shah came on the scene and brought the industry up to date technologically. We were once World leaders in many fields but others have overtaken us because they did not complain about the effects of change but accepted the changes and got on with it.

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

They are looking toward the future, the future of their profits. They are capping so people don't use alternative TV/Phone services via the internet.
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:LOL:

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

SNIP://///
With a massive download speed of 8mb, the service comes with a somewhat limited upload speed of 400K yet has an impressive content ratio of 33:1. The service is capped at 500GB per month, and will cost only £39.99 per month. Cable rival Telewest offer a 4MB service for £50.00, which comes free of any caps on usage. UK Online will be offering new sign ups a free wireless ethernet router before the 21st February.
SNIP:\\\\

How come they can make a profit out of 39.99 for a 8Mb service and let someone download 500GB a month, yet ntl complain about people using too much bandwidth, and the amount is tiny compaired to this - 40GB for the top tier (which is still ALOT slower than the upto 8 Mb package? Or is the introduction of Caps to allow a fairer service to all?

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

Who says they are making a profit? :confused:

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

Now, I'm sure I've come across some firm somewhere that does something similar ... :confused: ... just let me think ....

Luckily I have no mates so never got to find that out !

Of course, one of the downsides of the mobile phone analogy is that it'd become impossible to compare the tariffs to find out which is the best deal ....:erm:

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

Who says they not?
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[QUOTE=ianathuth]Money comes from the shareholders, may I ask why the shareholders are demanding money if NTL is not making a profit?

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

Thats the ntl freedom cap rules, apparently. I don't know about anybody else, but this seems to me pretty much what its going to be like, the 'metered bb' in the investors presentation.

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

Well that sounds just about right. :(

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

Let's keep politics out of this. I'm not a fan of Thatcher, but I won't respond directly because I don't want this to turn into a holy war.

I think you missed the point anyway. Complaining is a legitimate thing to do. People who say "put up or shut up" are either in a well off position themselves, or are about to go out of business.

Re: [Merged] *ALL* ntl Cap Discussion In Here Please.
 

I would agree that complaining is a legitimate thing to do if it is a justifiable complaint. You have to look at the bigger picture though rather than the affect on just you as an individual.

No matter what NTL do there is always someone that will complain about it even though it may be good for the company and good for the vast majority of customers.

You could complain that NTLs prices for broadband are too high but just think about the fact that if they were much lower then there would be nothing available to maintain and improve the infrastructure.

When you look at the problems of today you have to remember that most of these were caused by poor decisions in the past.