[Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds Late Summer 2004
 

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

"Rival cable net provider NTL is also doubling the speed of its broadband services at no extra cost"

erm doubling speeds at NTL - is this true or a misprint?


ok later in the article it quotes Simon Duffy as saying the speeds will be 300 to 1.5 mbps - still not bad though!

NTL Doubling the speed?
 

According to the BBC website http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3646825.stm Dated Today (Mon 26th Apr)

"Rival cable net provider NTL is also doubling the speed of its broadband services at no extra cost."

Free upgrade ??
 

According to a report on the BBC site NTL are to upgrade all customers speeds by 50% for free :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3646825.stm
Whether the speed upgrade will go smoothly is another question but the last one did for me. Here's hoping that the competition continues to heat up ;)

Re: NTL Doubling the speed?
 

So does this mean that we (NTL BB'ers) will get an increase of speed for not a penny more???
If so.........About time too.

ik

Re: Free upgrade ??
 

and will they be upping the usage cap by 50% as well ?

Re: Free upgrade ??
 

Interestingly enough the BBC article states the following about the Telewest service:

Re: Free upgrade ??
 

Always the optimist Erol ;) Who knows? We will have to await an official statement from NTL on that but I would expect not. More likely is a 50% increase in email problems :D

Re: NTL is also increasing speed of its broadband services
 

1.5 Mbps - oh well, I was hoping for 2M but it's a start. :D

Re: NTL Doubling the speed?
 

free upgrade dont be silly 1mbit service is going up to 37.99 but you get extra.5mbit speed increase so you'll hit the 1GB cap that bit quicker :D

150k service up to 300 k and 600k to 750 to match BY upgrade of their 512k service

tw posting price at 25 for 750k so ntl would be mad not to match it. (NTL MAD bot to what am I saying>>>) :D

Re: NTL is also increasing speed of its broadband services
 

1st I've heard of it.

Doubt the BBC would get it wrong and attribute a quote to Simon Duffy.

Hopefully it'll be true. It will make the £3.00 hike for the 1Meg a bit easier to take.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I'd like to see higher upload sppeds as well... 256 up would be nice!

NTL to up speed for free?
 

BBC Tech News

worth a look, seems NTL is a bit behind in the top line speed! But we will have to see what NTL offers, however the *free update of speed seems nice.

*although they are bumping up price I don't mind paying that little extra for 1/2 meg more. However of course it all depends on NTL's infrastructure will it be stable enough... :rolleyes:

Re: NTL to up speed for free?
 

ok so I am late posting, and should have scanned the forums.

I am ****, forgive me

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

It's certainly an interesting and welcome development...is there any official line on this anyone? (Apart from the BBC of course who don't seem to be to work out that 50% increases are not double..LOL)

Re: NTL to up speed for free?
 

Ok so maybe I will stick with the 1MB line, what will the upload be on this. Still 256k or a bit more. And why is uplaod so far behind, is this where the bandwidth goes?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Yep is all true :tu: just had email

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Well, from my point of view this is a positive move. Of course we all have reservations, but for now - WELL DONE NTL (even if you were beaten to it by Blueyonder).


Found the official release here: http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/040426/183/erzi8.html

Oh and one other thing - sort out the cap!

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

More info here...

http://www.ntl.com/mediacentre/press/display.asp?id=702

The bit about the flexible bandwidth sounds a little ominous - but on the whole good news!

EDIT: Oh, sorry same as above.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

[cynic mode]
Of course, by announcing a price increase on their 1mb tier this month, and then later announcing an increase in speed to 1.5mb (but without the price rising further), they will be able legitimately to claim that they are increasing the speed of the service without increasing the price. :dozey:
[/cynic mode]

That said, at £34.99, 1mb was costing 3.4p per kbit - at £37.99, 1.5mb would cost 2.5p per kbit, which is considerably better value.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

ARE they increasing speeds by 50% though? The official press release does not seem to specifically state how much the increase is going to be - it may be only 1%!!!!

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

When someone "in the know" gets the detail of this I would be interested to know if the same speed increases will apply to their business broadband customers too whom pay approx X2 the cost in price anyway with little extra benefit in provision or service.

APS

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

150 to 300
600 to 750
1mg to 1.5 mg

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Do you know if people on NTL STB 1meg will get the upgrade? It seems those on Telewest will not!

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

not read the mail properly yet lol, hang on

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Press release says:

ntl is boosting its three broadband services to higher speeds, at no extra cost to customers. This will provide a significant competitive advantage, offering the highest speeds in the high volume entry-level and mid-tier sectors, while at the high end, ntl will offer 50% more speed than the main providers of ADSL.

So, if you're on 1mb, (high-end) you get a 50% increase to 1.5mb; if you are on 150k (entry-level) or 600k (mid-tier) you will get an unspecified increase. However they do say that their 150k and 600k services will become the 'highest speeds in the high-volume entry-level and mid tier sectors'. If they are comparing themselves with Telewest here, then it would appear they must be upping 150k to at least 256 and 600 to at least 750.

What concerns me a little is this sudden use of the phrase 'high-volume'. As we know, at the moment ntl does not currently offer different options for high- or low-volume users. This might signal a move towards such services. Alternatively, the phrase might be used simply because there are certain rival low-volume mid-tier services that will still be faster than ntl after the speed increase.

EDIT - aha, thanks Debs, got there first :)

Re: NTL to up speed for free?
 

:Yikes: Hey mods! Somebody merge this thread before the board gets over-run with ntl speed increase threads! :Yikes:

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

at last, something to stop me cancelling my 1meg, wonder if 'someone' is taking note of the comments posted both here and elsewhere about downgrading/cancelling. ? Any comment Azaid ?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Now that would be interesting. Was it Mr Hussein who suggested that most people on his precious 1mb service are leechers and warez monkeys? (a paraphrase, of course :D ) If so, giving them an extra 512k with which to engage in their antisocial and possibly illegal activities is an odd step to take. :rolleyes: :rofl:

Not that I'm complaining of course. Ntl might just have prevented me moving to ADSL after our house move.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Doesn't seem like a particularly good deal for 600k customers - 150k gets a 100% boost, 1meg gets 50% and 600k gets a relatively measly 25% increase!

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

This is Azaid we re talking about :rolleyes: , stranger thing have been known to happen to a persons 'outlook' when the threat of a merger/job loss looms even closer and a possible P45 landing in his in tray.;)

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Get's my calculator out. 1meg service cap threshold reached after around 2.5 hours flat out downloading (rarely achievable on ntl I know), 1.5 meg service you can use it for what 1.45 hours?

And everyone is jumping for joy at faster downloads, but I don't think the upload is changing (it isn't for Telewest), so the service gets more disproportionately assymetric.

Re: NTL to up speed for free?
 

OK, OK, OK please remember it's Monday morning :D

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

It's still free..... :rolleyes:

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

As a 600k customer I should be the first to agree with you, however: 150k was a little slow even as an entry-level product, so needed a big boost to remain competitive; 1mb was looking positively awful after that big price hike, so needed a big shot in the arm to make it attractive again (I still think ntl have pulled a fast one on this by incresing price and then speed, in order to be able to claim it is a 'free' upgrade); whereas 600k was already faster than the most common mid-tier speed which has always been 512k. At 750k, ntl's mid-tier is now quite significantly faster than the comparably-priced packages you get on ADSL, which is their potential competitor.

edit ... OB, it's 'sort-of' free. As I said above, I think ntl has effectively increased the cost of 1mb by £3 a month to pay for this and has used dishonourable (but sadly quite legal) means to hide the fact.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I don't actually disagree with anything you've said (I'm on 600k too). But given the choice I would have opted to remain on 600k and have a 25% price reduction :)

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I hadn't thought of that ... actually, I would probably do the same!

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Towny - you're assuming that this speed increase was planned by NTL. I suspect it may have been forced upon them by the need to be seen to be keeping pace with Telewest.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I wasn't consciously thinking one way or the other, really. However if Telewest is their concern, it would likely be streamlining of services in the event of a takeover that would be the order of the day, rather than 'keeping pace' with them, as they are not a competitor.

That said, if they truly want to keep pace, they will have to introduce a new top tier offering at the very least a 2mb download.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

still no news for STB owners?,

will they get the free upgrade or are they gonna be let down.....and just out of interest will they be paying same price as those who get the free speed increase,cos if they have to pay the same i think there is gonna be alot of disgruntled ntl STB owners!

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Yep I'm convince Telewest are very much the cable market leader brand, and ntl are just desperately trying to hang on in there. After all this forum had rumours last week of the Telewest increases, but ntl absolutely zip.

I dunno with the cap in place, the 1.5meg offering doesnt seem that useful to me. Ntl need now to review that policy and at least apply some realistic guidance tiers related to the service speed. If the cap remains then ntl would have been better off cutting prices, yet I suspect the flicking of the switch option for faster speeds is in fact cheaper for them in the short to medium term.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Telewest' top tier is now 3meg as that went up from 2 meg @ £50.00.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Agreed that TW are not a competitor but the "NTL are increasing prices whilst TW are increasing speeds" scenario was not going to get them any good publicity, and was likely to put Aizad under some pressure!

Can the NTL infrastructure provide 3 meg?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Whats the difference for STB owners?, ive read a few posts on here, people asking if the speed increase is going to be implemented for STB owners.

I would of thought so, I cant see any difference for us STB peeps..

Can anyone confirm this?.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

a.f.a.i.k. the Telewest speed increases specifically exclude STB customers on the 1 Mb service (something to do with the STB being unable to cope with higher speeds) I, like you, would like to know if similar issues apply to NTL.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

What difference does it make whether you take your broadband via SACM or STB?

Surely these new speeds will be applied across the board and there will be no
discrimination!

I cant understand where you are coming from here?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

i ask cos with telewest there not increasing it for STB owners,so i would guess that NTL would follow suit,if thats the case their should be a reduction in price because you cannot have STB owners on 1 meg and cable users on 1.5 at the same price surely,after all its not the STB owners fault

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

IMU its all down to the config file sent to the 'modem', be it SACM or the STB, so if and when the 'magic happens' all NTL will do is send out a new bronze/silver/gold config file at the next DHCP renew request with all the needed info to allow for the 'new' and [sarcasm] FREE [/sarcasm] speed update

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Am I the only one to think this is actually good news?

Everyone whinges when the price of 1 out of 3 service levels got a modest increase for the first time in ages - and complain ntl do nothing to justify it. When ntl DO do something positive everyone still manages to concentrate on percieved negatives!

I accepted the £3 rise on 1MB as being reasonably in line with general price rises - so to get a 50% speed hike FREE sounds good to me!

If beer went up from £3.50 a litre to £3.80, and then suddenly you got a 1.5 litre glass for the same price would you moan?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Due to technical limitations, upgrade will not apply to 1Mb customers receiving service via TV set-top box

thats on the telewest site,so i presume NTL will be the same techical limitations.....i hope not,otherwise NTL are just forgetting us mere mortal STB owners

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I'm a STB user - if I get it i'll be happy, however if SACM users get it and I don't and we all end-up paying the same I shall be seriously pi$$ed off!

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Cable broadband can provide speeds well in excess of 3 meg. However, without knowing the technical details of all this, I would imagine they would have to lower the contention ratio so that fewer subscribers are sharing the same chunk of bandwidth. If they did not, 3 meg users would fairly quickly notice they were not getting the bandwidth they have paid for.

I know that there are costs for ntl if they lower contention ratios, but someone else will have to explain how that works.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

AFAIK stb's are a bit flakey when you get up to 1 meg, so if you want the top speed go for a sacm.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

NTL selling beer, the mind boggles at the thought,

"Sorry Sir, we don't know when the dray will appear, but it will be coming shortly"

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

When will this upgrd happen? am in CS and not heard of this till just now!!!

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Front page of intranet has all the details you need.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

It is good news, but don't kid yourself that you are getting a free upgrade on the 1mb service.

For a start, the price increase was about 8.6%. Inflation in the UK is currently below 2%. The increase was nothing short of huge. Secondly, is it a coincidence that they increase the price one month, then trumpet a 'free' speed increase the next? I think not. You are not being given anything for free, you are being forced to accept an upgrade for which you are paying.

The reasons they have done this are entirely for PR, I concede, because 1.5mb for £37.99 is still better value than 1mb for £34.99. But it's not as good as 1.5mb for £34.99.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

The new speeds are being rolled out across the ntl cable network to existing and new customers. Customers will receive communication in advance of the speed increase.

from http://www.ntl.com/mediacentre/press/display.asp?id=702

so from the wording it would appear that the upgrade is already undeway. My bold

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

ok,if STB are flakey and your in a ex C&W area where they don't give you a cable modem UNLESS you have a problem via STB with your 1 meg service (like i did and now have a cable modem),will NTL send out cable modems to these people or will they be forced to pay the same as those on 1.5 meg if no-one is any wiser and don't mention it,do you see my point?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

well if that's the case I can see a whole host of subscribers wanting SACM's for the increaded BB speeds in addition to their STB's which they will retain for digi tv use only.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Indeed...it is 'coming soon' ;)

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I've e-mailed ntl's director of internet this morning asking if ntl is now going to review the current 1GB cap limit that is in place with the announcement of the speed increases. I will post back any response I get.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

IIRC didn't 1MB used to cost £49.99?

Whichever way you look at percentages, I see the overall speed/price as a good move. I am not looking to argue, Towny - just stating my viewpoint. I am certainly not 'forced' to accept it - but accept it I do, happily. I still see it as a 50% speed increase for an 8.6% price increase.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I would have liked to have seen this too....

You won't see this simply because NTL is a local monopoly. There are rarely cable companies that compete locally (like there are in the USA) in this country.

If there were then NTL would be forced into a price war, just like Tescos, ASDA etc...are.

I bet Singapore and US etc are "aving a larf" at us getting dizzy on such a piffling speed increase (welcome as it is). They surf on much higher speeds and would view our broadband as baby-broadband.....

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

What I want to know is: can I get a better upload rate? I'm currently on the 600K (750k) package with 128k upstream. Will NTL upgrade this inline with the upgrade with downstream, or is there an option to pay a little extra a month for a better upstream, even 256k would be better.

Have fun.

Rgds.

G

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

By the end of the summer, This will happen.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I am happy with the change :D

I am not at all surprised that the 600k is only going to 750k - after all - if it got any higher (like 900k) then a lot of current 1M customers would probably think "I don't really need 1.5M, a slight drop to 900k will do me" and downgrade - with the resulting drop in revenue for NTL.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Do we know when the increases are going live?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Good point. Nothing has been mentioned. of the upload speed yet. Any more info?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Look forward to seeing the reply, but the cynic in me says that reply will be "coming soon" so I'm not holding my breath.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Late summer is all we've been told :shrug:

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

As I said earlier, you are now paying 2.5p per k, compared to 3.4p previously. You won't get any argument from me, it is definitely a good deal. My only grumble is with the way ntl has managed its announcements to better its chances of a positive headline. You can't blame them for trying, but it still niggles - must be the ex-hack in me. :) :Peaceman:

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

What will? The upstream? Do you know this for sure or are you guessing?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

As far as I know, and Telewest certainly are not changing, uploads stay the same as before and so get even more disproportionately out of sync with the download speeds.

As for criticism over ntl raising the 1meg price to £37.99 last month and now throwing the "free" speed increase into the hat, anyone recall they did a similar stunt with their base 128k service @ £14.99 went up to £17.99 and then they upped the speed to 150k "for free"?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

They all use the same cable, bit like ADSL in the UK. You have different resellers of CM product over the CM network.

AOL/NTL is an example of this starting in the UK.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

The speed changes will happen in the summer. The d/s speed will change no word on wether the u/s speed will go up accordingly.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Ah so this is "coming soon" then :rolleyes:

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Dosent matter how fast they say the service is, or will be, if the infrastructure supporting the network is a shambles as it was in my area when i was with NTL's 600/1mbit service.

I had NTL broadband for 14mths in total and had no more than 2mths trouble free usage. UBR's constantly oversubscribed making online gameing a complete waste of time, unless between the hours of 2am-7am, and download speeds of between 20-30k on a 1mbit line.

Contrast that sorry tale with my current ADSL service with Pipex (1mbit) and i havent had a single outage or an online gaming ping of over 50ms in nearly 11mths and with the 256k upstream i can even host limited, but reliable games.

i would like to come back to NTL, i really would, simply in order to have an intergrated Digital TV/Broadband service, but my faith in the companys network has been shattered and simply cant face the thought of spending countless hours on the phone to tech support just to get nowhere.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Just reading the mail now and yeah late summer so take your pick when that is :D

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

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

Quote:

A spokesman for NTL said the announcement to double the speed of broadband services - on the same day that Telewest announced the same plan - was "pure coincidence".

Of course it was. They must think were as stupid as there board.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Welcome to the site ... Sorry to hear about the problems you have had, but also pleased that you have found us here.

If you were to consider moving back to NTL, there is a wealth of knowledge on here, with many who are quite willing to help out where they can. We have a number of NTL techs on here, so we can only try and sort out any problems that you might have.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Strange how we had heard the rumours from TW, but not a squeak from NTL ...

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Any info in the email about us STB users, dont think its looking good for us, as Telewest who cant upgrade 1meg STB customers, basically use the same ST boxes!.

How difficult is it to change over to a modem, a friend of mine has a spare NTL modem lying around after he moved house.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I've had a chat with my marketing dept.


In answer to a few questions.

This will be releases "late summer" which is expected to be around July.

This should, unlike telewest, work on STB customers. If not, customers have the option to switch to SACM, although this would tie them into the broadband contract for 12 months.

Cap limit to be reviewed in line with the issue that the cap will be reached more easily with the increased speeds, more notablly with the 1.5mb and the 750k lines.

Upload to stay the same for now although switch upgrades are being looked into to allow ntl to increase upload speeds.

Hope this helps!!!

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

That price hike happened when the speed was increased. you didnt go to 17.99 at 128 it was 17.99 and 150. So not quite so similar they just did the price rise and speed increase together.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I'm pleased to be corrected :dunce:

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Here is another link businesswire.com
(with regards to NTL Increasing BB Speeds)

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

this is great news :)

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I think this is excelent news for NTL customers and for internet users in general in the UK. Well done NTL (even if does still look like a reactive strategy and not a proactive one)

Now where's the announcment from BT Wholesale? :)

Actually the higher the bandwidth for end users the more contended they can be without any noticable effects. This is because in general people tend to do pretty much the same with more bandwidth as they did before with less (at least for an intial period of time). When the file/email/etc takes 100minutes to download that is 100minutes you are using your slice of the shared resource and thus blocking others. When that same download takes only 10 minutes your are blocking the shared resource for 1/10 of the time and thus more people can be 'loaded' onto that shared resource. That is why in dial up terms contention ratios of 10-15:1 were considered 'high' but with BB contetnion ratios of 20:1 and 50:1 are feasable.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Not really there is still a restriction in place :(
plus .5 of a meg extra is it really worth £3???

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Exactly, and I'm quite annoyed at this.

Firstly because of the price hike anyway (have they written to me?... have they heck :( )
Secondly because of their "claim" that it's "free" :rolleyes:
Thirdly because Telewest are offering 1.5mbps for £35 but NTL have seen fit to use it as an excuse to bump the top tier up by £3.


I'll be downgrading to 750kbps as the 1.5mbps is now too expensive (I only want it for 256kbp upstream anyway, which is a high cost to pay)... that's if I don't get 512/256 ADSL instead.

Come on NTL... offer a full 2 or 3Mbps package (24/7), and increase the upstream! :banghead:

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I can't believe you've asked that!!!! :Yikes:

1meg = 34.99
1.5= 37.99...... :dunce: :rolleyes:

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

You think another £3 a month for an extra 500k isn't reasonable??? ...... :erm:

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

These were interesting too in that doc

Upgraded Newsgroup platform now being rolled out. Live from May. Customers will experience a faster more reliable service.

Upgraded email service to be rolled out in May. Customers will experience more reliable service.

ntl has successfully completed a trial of new technology that will allow new Broadband services to be developed in the future e.g with features such as †˜turbo buttonââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ which will allow customers to increase their speed on demand (no date for launch).

A new content provider has been added to Broadband Plus. The †˜Photoboxâà ƒÆ’¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€ žÂ¢ service allows Broadband Plus customers to manage and print digital photos online (date to be confirmed).

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

I think being forced to pay an extra £3 a month is unreasonable.

I'd rather stick with 1Mbps at £35 or drop to a lower tier (which I will be doing). The extra 500Kbps doesn't make a huge difference anyway as most the net stuggles to even give you a decent 1Mbps delivery. All it will do is shave a few minutes off downloads if you manage to get one at max speed.

During the trials I monitored my usage and discovered that 99% of the time I'm barely using even half the 1Mbps capacity. I can live with a slightly longer download time for a fraction of the price rather than being made to pay more.

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Just out of curiosity why "if" I can't get the upgrade on the STB, why would I have to go on another 12 month contract for switching to a SACM? I have had BB over 3 years, no way I would go back on a 12 month contract again - surely they can't expect customers to be tied up again for something that is not their fault?

Not moaning just asking!

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

Actually there is a massive difference between the reselling of internet service (like AOL does here with NTL) and competitors being given access to cables cos infrastructure (what happens generally in the US).

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

they say all this stuff about highing the speed but the thing is they have already or will be going to higher the pricing of broadband so it all makes sence. Another thing is whats the point in highering if it they are still going to have that 1GB cap?

Re: [Merged] NTL Increasing BB Speeds
 

as usual let us "wait and see"

!perhaps! this speed increase will work without the whole network suffering a meltdown.

!perhaps! the "Upgraded Newsgroup platform now being rolled out" will enable those of us who suffer from resticted NG access to use a 'proper' service.

!perhaps! the "Upgraded email service to be rolled out in May" will not suffer from the usual complaints regarding the NTL email service

!perhaps! those pigs I have in the hangar will at last be able to fly ;)