Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

My first post, so here it goes....

According to many sources and discussion on DS, Telewest will increase speed levels on 3 of their blueyonder broadband internet packages by 50%.

512K service will increase to 750K,
1MB service will increase to 1.5MB,
and 2 MB service will increase to 3MB at no extra cost (yet).

This will happen on Monday and will be confirmed by Telewest on Monday.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Now thats what i'd love to hear from ntl

750K for £24.99 is a bargain

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

hi and :welcome: to the site , this makes ntl look even *****t!ier than they already are :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I think its about time Aizad Hussain was sacked. His decisions upto now have really alienated customers & Staff to NTL. He really doesn't seem to have a clue. Where did they find this muppet

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Lets hope NTL fall in line as (or before) they merge with TW.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

i definately hope so!!
those speed increases are great news for tw customers though! :)

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Somehow I doubt it! :)

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

hmm... so tw are going to increase their speeds by 50% and not charge any extra? forgive me for being cynical, but i can't see them increasing the speeds and then not increases the prices afterwards.

I guess they are not going to leave the existing packages as well, so lets say they increase the speeds, and then a couple of months down the line, increase the prices. What will happen to the people who were happy with their 512k service and don't want to/ can't afford to pay the extra??

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I suppose that way of thinking is expected being an NTL customer after all lol

Nah I see it as a winner to fight off ADSL which is getting more and more popular

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

:LOL: nah it comes really from being a born cynic and thinking that nothing in this life comes for free!

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I haven't heard anything so can't comment........ BUT if this is true then the merger will look more like a telewest takeover they have the better deals so pull the punches.. You can't get the customers to take lower speeds once its launched..... Are NTL awake do they see they are strangling the company, stilting its potentual..... All I can see is BT and Telewest fighting it out for the best broadband supplier and NTL creeping under a rock..

Come on Telewest take over NTL [img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Didn't this story start out on April 1st? :erm:

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]
Can't say I had heard anything about it and I certainly didn't read about it on April 1st...

Anyway not long till Monday and all will be revealed

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Shame on you. You want Telewest customers to have their service brought down to NTLs level? :D

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

[img]Download Failed (1)[/img]

No if you read it I said you can't bring them down! Which means those would have to stay and to merge the packages need to be the same. NTL are going to be further away from Telewest in packages now making merging impossible.

NTL packages.. All capped to 1gig.
170K, 600K, 1mb..

Telewest only the 256K capped to 750mb a day.
256K, 512K , 1mb, 2mb.. now.. They also have a reduction on price if you have another product like phone or tv of them...

All round a better deal. I regret Telewest not winning when Nynex bought out C&W in the begining..

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Are you absolutely sure that one of the following two scenarios wouldn't happen:

a) NTL come out on top and force all customers to accept their own packages, lumber on as usual and waste any advantage that could be gained form Telewest.

b) A two tier system, much like NTLs current TV network comes into operation, with people in former Telewest areas living the life of Reilly and former NTL customers wishing they could share in this good fortune.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Ntl arent gonna sack someone cos they are unpopular with a small percentage of it's users/ex-users. He is judged on results.

BTW...Dont even compare BY and NTL....they are soon to become one

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

That seems like something of an inane rant . How do the companies having different packages make a merger look like a takeover?
Dear me there will be much more significant problems in making a merger work before worrying about the bloody packages.

The two are very similar companies, get over it.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

NTL would have customers leaving on mass if they made Telewest customers move down to what they offer....

Also NTL customers would move over to ADSL if NTL keep them on the outdated slower speeds.

BT are about to run trials that will test ADSL upto 10km 70db they are going all out to see what they can get from ADSL. They are looking for ways to reach the members of puplic who cannot have BB.. Also the fact that if these trials do show waht ADSL can do there could be 1 and 2 mb going further than it does now..

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Hi

My little contribution.

A user turns up having made his first post. Says telewest are going to do this and that (might be true might not be). You all then shot NTL down even when there is no proof that this will happen or you all start having a go at each other. Can we not wait till Monday and then see if this happens. Then if you need to rant on about how bad NTL are you will have the reason to.

Just my feelings. :)


:Peaceman:

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Would NTL customers really move though? I am moving, due to the service and cost of NTL, but in the majority a lot of people will just soldier on for whatever reason. People on NTL seem to be more likely to downgrade their service than move. This works in NTLs favour when it comes down to it.

There is going to be a limit on ADSL though. At some point, the degradation of the signals gets so bad that data gets corrupted. They think that the might be able to go up to 10km, but this will depend a lot on the actual line to your house, but don't forget these people will probably only be able to get slower speeds. I doubt that 2Meg will go much further out than it is now. If you think practically you may get another km on 1 or 2meg, which isn't going to extend it that far.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Funny thing is though, a lot of these 'rumours' often tend to be quite near the truth, if not 100% accurate. The NTL price rises were only a rumour at the end of last month, then they became reality.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

A small percentage. If this board is anything to go by then I'd say its a large amount

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

True But i like to see proof before i rant about something :) :D

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Go on rant, it'll make you feel better! :D

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

There's a allot talking about this now. I think its because of some internal mail thats been sent out at Telewest. I'm going with it

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Ok I will reserve my rants till monday then :)

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

:wavey: Hi Kits :)

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Really makes £37.99 for 1meg with a cap, rigorously enforced or not, seem a little poor now. :(

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

your not wrong there :(

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Not with a 1Gb cap and planned metered Internet :rolleyes:

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

But this board is not anything to go by.

If you mean that most posters here have a problem with ntl, then you have to understand that this is an incredibly biased sample of people. This site is here for people to get help with problems or rant about problems (and, to a much lesser extent, discuss technical stuff). There is usually very little cause for people with a trouble free service to sign up and post. By excluding such people, a large bias is introduced into the sample. A fair survey of customer satisfaction would have to be made by random selection across all of ntl's user base.

Assuming ntl have about 1 million broadband customers, and assuming that 90% of posts here are nagative problems or rants, then can you honestly say that this implies ntl have 900,000 very dissatisfied customers?


If, on the other hand, you just meant that there seem to be a lot of unhappy customers on this board, then look at this thread - at the time of writing, 7 different people have responed to the original post with negative comments - that is approx. 0.000007% of ntl's broadband user base. I'd call that a small percentage.

I'm not having a go at anyone in particular here - more the culture of some to rant and post negativly regardless of the actual facts.


HOWEVER

Having seemed rather pro-ntl above, I do actually agree with most of the negative posts. Whether this telewest rumour turns out to be true or not, there is a definite sense that ntl have hit a brick wall in terms of technological expansion.

Telewest have brought out faster speeds than ntl with a network that seems to be able to cope (even ignoring this new rumour). They are also now cheeper than ntl.

Some ADSL companies now offer much faster speeds than ntl, and are in lots of cases cheaper. Again, there is a feeling that the ADSL market is moving forward.

ntl, however, have done nothing to their network recently, other than introduce "usage guidelines" and increase the price (I consider broadband plus to be a different product altogether to broadband).

It is this lack of progress that I feel is causing most frustration - it shows the company up to be unwilling or unable to advance forward. And remember, most cable customers are pro-active types of people who originally left BT in search of better deals and technology - they are now starting to be let down in these respects.


(apologies to anyone who read all that for it being so long winded - I think I made a point somewhere :) )

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I was waiting for that response Magpie. I think myself however it doe's give some indication as do other boards like this. I also go off friends and family who have or had NTL service's. I must admit mind I'm the only one in the family with NTL now and that's gone down to BB only. They would have had my phone and TV business still but there just not competitive enough. I said this last year and pointed out then it would happen again this. If its the same management then next year too!

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Remember this Aizad Hussain is the one who labled the 1mbit customers as leechers who drain the network, yet somehow kept his job, telewest and ntl get further apart every month that goes by, making this merger more and more remarkable, I think it would be safe to say a low proportion of ntl customers are probably not that disgruntled but the main reason for this is quite simply lack of knowledge of whats going on.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Its already common knowledge inside NTL that speeds will increase!

Its clear even from the original post on DigitalSPYs that the thread starter knew about the NTL changes and was catually posting about TW responding to NTL

Note the bits Strange that this Forum wasn't aware of this happening! :D

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Of course ntl's 600k has always been faster than TW's 512k and BT's 512k, however that doesn't often get a mention.

Also ntl do invest in the network, to sink that myth again. I don't think that cable customers are necessarily in search of better technology - better deals possibly, which is probably why 150k is so popular. No tech-freak would be seen dead with a slow connection like that, unless totally brassic, yet it is so popular that TW and the ADSL providers are only now cottoning on that there is a big market for low-speed broadband. Whether this is a good thing or not in the context of wiring the whole country is a different issue, you can hardly blame companies for going after the market, that's how things work.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

BBKing has some very valid points there. NTL are often criticised for having nothing faster than 1 Mb, but do the majority of customers want or need anything faster? Quite often you see Blueyonder 2 Mb customers say they are going to drop back to 1 Mb because there is nothing that warrants 2 Mb. I know that some members will be immediately responding to this giving many examples of why you need more than 1 Mb but in reality what percentage of an ISPs customers do these things? You have to market a product that is likely to be taken up by the average user, not the few users with a need for speed.

None of us know what NTL are doing to upgrade their networks or how much money they are spending on them (maybe a few higher up NTL bods may know). NTL are not the best in keeping their customers informed, but yet again, do the majority of their customers care?

If NTL and Telewest are to merge in the near future, as many are saying is very likely, would either party be stupid enough to increase the gap between the two on pricing? Logic seems to dictate that either the rumours are incorrect or that the two will not merge.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

There is always some who will use the 2mb + it would seem only Telewest and BT are addressing this. Regardless of how many customers want the 2mb+ if its offered then some will always take it.

As for the 150K speed this is sometimes due to customers not being able to afford more money also recently many have dropped down from 1MB to 600K due to the price increase which at the time looked like they was matching up the packages to merge. With this latest if it happens then the packages are further apart then ever. Another fact that showed Telewest still gave their customers a good deal is the price of their 1mb if you have the telephone or tv package with the internet you get 1mb for £34.99. . I would still be on 1mb now if that was the case with NTL.. How many other customers would still be paying NTL the extra £10 a month had they adopted the same deal.

Telewest also have all their call centers in the UK so keeping the money here.
In the end what customers are looking for in an ISP is the chance to change packages and to have the ability to take the faster packages. If the company fails to offer them when Telewest/BT do then it is going to look like the company is falling behind them.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Why is it when ever someone mentions NTL's 600 service is faster than the 512 they forget to mention we only have 128 upload

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

On TW 512k isn't the upload 128k as well :confused:

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Dunno, I just hunted all over thier site to find the upload speeds & I cannot find them mentioned anywhere ....

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

512/128 at my Mum's place last time I looked...

ADSL is 256k upload of course, but this thread is about TW reportedly increasing the *download* speed, with no mention of upload.

Quite. That's the same reason I don't drive an Aston Martin. Evidently a lot of people feel that 512k/600k is too expensive for what they need, hence a lot of companies coming out with 256k services and BT trying to persuade everyone that only they offer 'full speed broadband', another interesting marketing concept.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Well if it is there doing something different to NTL because my mate who's on there 2MB connection gets 1MB download and 515 upload. Didn't believe him at first till I went around and seen it for myself :Yikes:

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Telewest 2 Mb has a 256 kbps upload.

http://www.telewest.co.uk/html/inter...eyonder2mb.htm

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Just noticed the 1mb says "Surf super fast and get faster upload speeds of 256kbps" which would seem to imply the 512k service has a slower upload (of 128k).

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I know that I'm trying to point out that they dont seem to control it that well :rolleyes:

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

If I were paying for a 2MB connection and got an 1MB download, I would complain regardless of my upload speed.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

sounds very far fetched but then bizarre things can happen - who would have thought NTL would raise the 1mb price! and speaking of the 1mb price increase - if the telewest speeds are going up then perhaps the 1mb price increase is a premerger preparation?

I smell bullshoot though - I recon this is a hoax.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Read the original post on DS and then read my earlier post here http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...8&postcount=35

I thought you had more idea of what was going on Etc!

This isn't about Telewest - its about NTL !

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Er no you dont get it do you. He got the FULL MAX 1MB download speed ;)

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Yeah, but he's paying for a 2Mb connection. You said

So, if I were paying for a 2Mb connection, I would expect (sites permitting) a full 2Mb download speed.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Okay lets put it another way for you. If NTL had a 2MB line do you think you would be getting a FULL 1MB download speed ?

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

First, do you mean 1 Megabit or 1 Megabyte? If he were getting 1 Megabyte, I would be impressed as 1 Megabyte = 8 Megabits.

Second, if you mean 1 Megabit, I already get that from my 1 Megabit NTL connection. I would expect 2 Megabits from a 2 Megabit connection.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I have been told they often download quicker than they should....

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Okay I'll make it easier again for you. He was getting over 500kb/sec when I went around

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

That would be a 4Mbit connection. Somehow I have my doubts about that.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I can confirm that Telewest customers do get more than they pay for I konw of one who has 1mb and often downloads at 2mb..

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

caugh caugh,

Thank you Kits

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I'd be surprised if he was.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

:banghead:

Okay I give up I made the whole thing up for the sake of it:rolleyes:

Believe what you want I'm moving on

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

So, either TW have Cable Modems with such poor control that they allow customers to download at 4Mb (and 1Mb customers at 2Mb), or these people are in error - possibly the software they are using to measure the speed is inaccurate.

I know which I think is more likely. Get them to try rdhw's speedtest and post the result.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

MRTG of a telewest customer on 1mb look at the speeds he has in places.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Or maybe they were relying on the speed estimate given by IE, which can be wildly inaccurate (I have been told by IE that I am downloading stuff at nearly 700K a second before).

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I think i am missing your point, but the highest download speed i can see on there is 129.9 kB/s which is only 1039kbps, only just over the 1mb limit. Highest upload is admittedly 44.7 kB/s which is 357kbps, but i don't see any evidence of him getting 500kB/s download speeds...

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

You are mixing the posts I didn't say he got 500K that was for the 2mb connection that Defiant posted.If you read the link it said 1mb connection he hasn't downloaded much for a while but I kow he was last night, so I would keep looking.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Those stats don't really mean that much - they are on the cable modem's ethernet port for a start, before the proper throttling takes place, also the burst speed noted is nothing unusual due to the cable methodology.

Sorry but any perceived looseness in the way TW police traffic is just that - perceived. Both companies throttle in exactly the same way and where ntl users are using the surfboard modem they are using exactly the same equipment. Get Dan to do some MRTG graphs based on his cable modem's RF port and DOCSIS up and downstreams and you'll probably see a slightly different story on upstream once it's been through the leaky bucket and rate capping engine.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

oh in that case - can someone at NTL confirm this?

<edit: size of quote reduced>

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Ntl are surely going to follow this move arent they?

Although this company is run by crazy mindless tarts, they gotta have a little bit of sense?

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Er nope

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Its been confirmed!!

http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyond...age=bbs_faster

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I feel sick. Why of why wont this bloody government open up the networks for some fair competition.

I mean come on look at this. What do we get. I'll tell ya. We get price increase's and cap's. They'll be giving us Mugs soon to rub it in

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Whoah, so it has. :shocked:


Telewest's prices stay the same, & the speeds go up.

NTL's prices go up, & the speeds stay the same.

:rolleyes:


I wish I was in a TW area instead of NTL

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

** Dreams of the "merger" turning out to be TW taking over NTL - and providing the same speeds :erm:

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Right complaint email time, whos high up and needs abuse? :)

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Best prey for that coz if the NTL boffins have it we are all lost and might aswell move over to ADSL.....

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Oh my look at these T&C

http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyond...ge=bbs_tsandcs

whats up with that?

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Didn't think that they would do it, but they have.

Well done Telewest.

I suppose though that the majority of their customers will still use the same bandwidth even though they have 50% more to play with. Makes great PR though.

What will NTL do? Probably nothing as most NTL customers won't even know anything about it. Maybe we should start a "hell" site to try to pressurize NTL into following suit. ;)

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

You really think Telewest wont advertise this:D Yea there going to try and get those ADSL/Sky customers and make NTL look the complete bunch of idiots they are in the process. I feel a little better now :pp

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Of course they are going to advertise this and get as much mileage as possible out of it.

Makes you wonder about a Telewest / NTL merger now as the two are getting further apart with their offerings.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Well am on a downer again now. Just been speaking to a mate in Belgium about this. Some may already know that .NL and .BE are far ahead of us with Broadband anyway his response

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Well done Telewest.

Delivering the abundance is possible. An expectation of more bandwidth for the same cost (as the costs of provision falls) is not just a desire but also an actuality for TW customers at least (and to a degree at least).

So where does this announcment leave those that argued that NTL's recent price increase (and the introduction of the CAP) were reasonable and to be expected?

Well done TW for finally fulfilling your role (as a cable company) to drive competetion and not just to look at a reactive formula of BT - 5%

Great news for UK internet access.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Remember-it was TW that offerered 1 meg BB for £35.00, ntl's 1 meg was £50.00 at the time & it was only after pressure from .com that it was lowered.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Foo Fighter I think you will find the STB cannot handle the speeds without impairing the TV so not suitable those on STB will have to have a SACM for the BB..

Well put Erol :tu:

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

well this bloke appears to be convinced NTL are following suit. perhaps NTL will... by reducing speeds by 50%! :pp

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

So is the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3646825.stm

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

GULP

even the BBC are jumping on this massive hoax band waggon!

I tell you IT'S ALL LIES - SPEEDS CAN NOT INCREASE - THE NETWORK CANT COPE WITH IT!

:)


(pat yourself on the back for finding that article paul)

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Unforetunately, we (as a country) seem to be generally slightly behind the times regarding Internet access. I believe Sweden has 10Meg Internet access for about what we pay for one (although I cannot find the figures I had), and Japan and South Korea both have or are going to have 100Meg Internet access.

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Well it looks like the BB speeds are increasing for sure as per email just received

Re: Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

The Telewest press release is quite good, but they've done a real lot of work on their website information. This has been planned for a little while:

www.blueyonder.co.uk/faster.

Telewest to change tiers, announces 3mbit service, NTL to raise the bar......
 

apologies to the mods if this has been previously posted.

telewest are to increase the speed of its tiers on thier broadband service.

the upgrades are due to happen in may are as follows:

ofcourse a 3mbit service will be priced at £50 on telewest broadband.

NTL is also increasing speeds to counter blueyonder, but the speed increase will not be as big as telewest's

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3646825.stm

Re: [Merged] Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Interesting article in The Register..

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04...est_broadband/

Re: [Merged] Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Telewest's speed increases now complete - two weeks ahead of schedule...

http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyond...aster_schedule

Re: [Merged] Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

Not available in West Wales, Id be with them like a shot if they were.
They say to try NTL, been there got the tee shirt, doesnt fit, LOL.

John S.

Re: [Merged] Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

What a company. I wish we had service,price & choice like they offer.

Off topic now but I've been winding up a mate who's with Telewest and keep reminding him about the merger. He keeps getting upset by it LOL

Re: [Merged] Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

ntl and telewest are 2 opposite ends of the spectrum

ntl = 1 gig/day telewest = unlimited
ntl = price rise telewest = price held
ntl = no 2mbit telewest = 2mbit
ntl = transperent proxies telewest = direct connection, proxy available for those who want
ntl = forced into upgrading speeds, months waiting time telewest = increased speeds without any real incentive to do so and 2 weeks later its done

no wonder telewest users are worried with merger.

Re: [Merged] Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

then lets hope telewest take ntl over ;)

Re: [Merged] Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

I may have missed something, but has anyone actually announced a merger. All I have seen so far is that people have speculated on the possibility of it happening.

Re: [Merged] Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...051958,00.html

Okay it may not be an official annoucement but the cards are on the table for a merger...

Re: [Merged] Telewest Broadband to increase speeds
 

i cant see it not happening , i just hope telewest take over ntl and we get poor ntl customers get the telewest benefits :tu: