NTL or Sky in new house???
 

Hello all.

First post here. I've just exchanged contracts on my first house and I'm thinking of signing up to NTL or Sky and I'm looking for some opinions and advice.

With NTL I'm looking at the 3 for £30 option of TV, Phone and 2mb internet. With Sky I'm looking at similar, but you need to have a BT line. Monthly cost for Sky is £31 including BT.

With Sky they promise a wireless router, but many people have been complaining about the router and it's apparent problems with Xbox Live.

The main use for the internet connection will be XBox Live, with occasional web browsing from a PC. The TV will get used all the time, but the phoneline very little.

So here are a few questions:

What equipement will I get with NTL? Is the modem wireless? And if not can I buy a wireless one (Sky restrict you to their own modem)?

Is the NTL Modem compatible with XBox Live? What is connection speed like? Any lag?

Do I get a phone with the phone line?

NTL Is available in my area, but how do I determine where the cable comes into my house?

Does the Set-Top-Box need to be plugged into a phone line?

I plan to put my TV in a place where there is currently no TV aerial or phone sockets. Will the installer run cables to the correct position for me?

What are peoples general feelings about NTL and their service?

Sorry for the long post. I Look forward to your replies.

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

No but you can buy a wireless router (Linksys WRT54GS for example)

if your getting 3 for £30 you wont get a stand alone modem, you will get a set top box that contains the modem

no

go to the NTL site and enter your post code

no

most likely if you ask the installer



personally ive had the odd problem with NTL in 10 or so years but nothing that hasnt been sorted either quickly or after a couple of attempts and financial compensation. Cant comment on Sky as ive never used them

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

:welcome: to the forum.
You do have to use whatever modem NTL supply, and they don't currently supply a wireless one. However, you can buy (relatively cheaply) a wireless router or access point. You just need to make sure it is Cable compatible (generally, if it doesn't come with an ADSL modem built in, it is compatible). Many people on this site (myself included) use one of the Linksys WRT54G series routers..

That seems to be a little variable. I've always had fine connections on XBox lLive, but a few people don't.

TBH, I don't know. You didn't when I joined, but then it was Cable and Wireless when I joined. Things may have changed.
Usually, there is a little grey or brown box a couple of feet up from the ground.
No. Anything it needs to send back to NTL, it just sends back up the cable.
They should do.

Hard to say really. I personally have found NTL to be generally reliable, but sometimes a little reluctant to fix things if they go wrong.

No Problem.

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

I've had Sky and NTL and BT services and my experiences have produced the conclusion that:

BB - NTL
TV - Sky
Phone - BT

are the best options IMO.

I've had BT Broadband and it was dire. NTL BB is a million times better. I had to constantly restart my modem every couple of days. You can't stay connected 24/7 as they lead you to believe. NTL BB is great, it works and the only time I've been knocked off the system is when an upgrade took place - a quick restart later I had double the speed. It is more expensive to pay for NTL than 'free' Sky BB but it also doesn't have the same grindingly slow access when everyone gets home from school/work. Sky BB is heavily shaped so watch out. Free doesn't mean worth it.

NTL TV was dire, the box kept freezing and would need a reboot every couple of days. The programme guide was sooooo slow and using one of the menus guaranteed to crash the box too. In short, as long as you never need to change channel it was great! The channels are all over the place and a pain to remember - I know they are supposed to be doing a reorganisation but they've been talking about if for 3 years! I moved to Sky+ after 1 year with NTL and have not looked back. Sky and Sky+ work, the channels are well ordered and the boxes don't crash every day.

My BT phone line has been far superior to my NTL. The NTL line seems to suffer from many more failures than the BT line.

Q. What equipement will I get with NTL? Is the modem wireless? And if not can I buy a wireless one (Sky restrict you to their own modem)?

A. You get a cable modem. You can buy a wireless router for £25+ depending on make. The router plugs into the modem and you have wireless access.

Q. Is the NTL Modem compatible with XBox Live? What is connection speed like? Any lag?

A. Don't know, never done it.

Q. Do I get a phone with the phone line?

A. No.

Q. NTL Is available in my area, but how do I determine where the cable comes into my house?

A. Talk to the installer. In my experience they are usually accomodating as long as you don't want anything that will cause them too much extra work. They get paid by the job so they don't want to be there too long.

Q. Does the Set-Top-Box need to be plugged into a phone line?

A. Not the NTL one. SKy and Sky+ do.

Q. I plan to put my TV in a place where there is currently no TV aerial or phone sockets. Will the installer run cables to the correct position for me?

A. If you have no NTL in your house they'll run the cable to where you want it, but be aware that they won't lift carpets etc. If you want the cable to be hidden you need to be prepared do the lifting and moving yourself.

Q. What are peoples general feelings about NTL and their service?

A. In my opinion, NTL BB is great, phone is OK, TV is crap, customer service is appalling.

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

Absoutely spot on (apart from the customer service=appalling bit, I would use "fine when asking for new services but any other time totally and utterly appalling")

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

Wrong. In some areas they don't use the Modem in the STB regardless, it's dependant on the platform I think.

Bromley - STB or SACM
Langley - SACM Only

I think that's it anyway, I think they're trying to get everyone on Modems now anyway due to the fact that the Samsung STB can't support over 2MBit reliably.

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

Thanks for the replies. NTL Sounds promising.

Is the TV really that bad? Can't I re-order the channels manually?

As for the broadband stuff. Am I right in assuming that the modem is actually built into the NTL Set-Top-Box that also shows the TV stuff?

The Wireless router is then plugged into the back of the STB?

So apart from power cables I, the only other cable I need is the one for the NTL?

I've attached a rather crude drawing to illustrate what I mean? Is the diagram correct?

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

So how does the modem connect up if not into the STB? Does it still plug into the same cable that the STB Uses?

I'm in Bracknell if it makes any difference.

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

[QUOTE=tisdalj;

Is the TV really that bad? Can't I re-order the channels manually?

[/QUOTE]

You can do that (you could when I was a customer). However the channel numbers stay the same, so you'll get 101, 102, 701, 999 etc if that's the way you've ordered the channels.

Sometimes they have a problem thinking at NTL. I seem to remember some of the kids channels were next to porn channels! FFS. I know they are not running at the same time but for crying out loud, have some sense as to what channels you are placing next each other!

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

You're just about right with your sketch. Don't forget that you would have a phone line too with ntl.

I'm not aware that you have to have a BT phone line for a Sky box, I just thought it was you have to have a land line, and even that can be avoided if you pay a premium and don't want multiroom.

Broadband from ntl:telewest is supplied either from a cable modem, or in some cases via a TV STB (which has a modem built in). Both of these allow you to connect a computer direct, or alternatively your choice of router (wired or wireless). Cable based broadband usually has more consitent speeds as it is not affected by distance from an exchange. ADSL boradband will be slower the further you are from the exchange. The claimed 8meg service speeds on ADSL are rarely achieved, especially if you are more than 2km from the exhange.

As a basic digital TV service ntl does quite well when compared to SKY or freeview. The NTL STB just plugs directly to the cable feed, there is no additional phone line connection. Some people have complained of "blocky" pictures or pixellation, especially with larger plasma type TV screens but I've not seen this personally. However if you want a PVR, then currently ntl cannot offer this and Sky+ is your only choice.

Ntl has recently renumbered the TV channels, to make it more logical. You can't change the channel numbers but you can set up your own favourites list so you can move up / down your own list.

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

I'd add that Sky's customer service is almost as bad as ntl's - but thankfully their system is more reliable (in my experience) so you never need to phone them.

BT's customer service, whilst a lot of people slag it off, I have found to be excellent by comparison.

All ISP are rubbish!

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

with regards to the set top box and cable modem, as far as im aware you can no longer have broadband fitted through the set top box on a new installation on any platform.
even if you move house you will be installed with a cable modem even if you had it through the stb before.

im not sure but i think its got something to do with the speeds being upgraded over time and the limits of the set top boxes (even the samsungs)

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

Basically what I said, only in more words :) :tu:

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

Sorry for another long post. There is a question at the bottom if you can't be bothered to read the rest.

I went to the house (it's actually a maisonette) last night to measure up. All the furniture has been removed, so I got to have a good look at what connections are in the living room. There's hundreds of them!

What I found was a cable coming into the house direct from a satellite dish. The vendor is taking the dish, so if I was to get Sky I would need a new dish and to run a cable around 3 walls - something I don't really want to do as it is quite a thick cable, but as I'm not that bothered about watching TV the vendor mentioned that I could pay Sky a one-off fee and have a dish and box, but just get the free-view channels. This would save me some money per month and allow me to pay for BT internet/phone.

I also found a standard Aerial point, but again this was on the wrong wall and I would need to run another thick cable around. Plus, as it is a communal aerial the vendor says freeview is not receivable. (They actually seemed to think that NTL scamble the signal so you have to use NTL.)

Most interesting find was 2 NTL boxes. The first was just a phone line, located next to the standard phone outlet. Why don't NTL use the standard one?

The second was an NTL box with 2 aerial-like sockets on. It was located on the wrong wall for my TV, but following the cable back to it's source, it comes into the living room quite close to where I intend to put my TV, but the wrong side of a door. I did notice, however that the cable from this box is quite thin, so running this up and over the door frame into the correct position shouldn't be a problem and won't be very visible. So I think in light of this, NTL could be the winner.

My only remaining question is: Am I correct in assuming that as the NTL box has 2 sockets on it, one will be used to connect the STB, whilst the other is used to connect the modem? Or does the Modem connect into the NTL phone-line box?

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

sorry missed the last bit thats what you get for reading at stupid o'clock:D

back to the thread... mine has two outlets aswell although only one is used and it has a spliter on it, the broadband would go through one of those

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

Get Sky as its Cheaper and you get more Channels and they definately supply broadband. Where as NTL Do Not Supply There " Award Winning Broad Band" To all Areas

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

well i think u will be happy if u take the 3 for thirty quid, NTL tv has improved a lot, on screen mini menu improved, channels re-numbered, NTL on demand, and better boxes(samsung). insist on a samsung box.

telephone well what can u say about a phone , it rings,and u speak, never had a problem, but i think power cuts knock out the ntl line.

Broadband the Jewel, excellent, fast, reliable, no download limits, always truely on.

customer service not to bad, but sky is not much better, i only cancelled a sky subscribtion the other day 5th october one month notice, told my last payment will go out as usual on the 28th october, for the full amount, the cheekie T*&ts, they are going to take 21.00 pound for only about 5 days service, absoultely disgusted with them, they said the balance will just be credited to my account for when i return,(like f*&k thats going to happen) robbing sky.

Daggman.

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

sorry to say this daggman but ntl will do the same when you cancel with them too.
you pay your last months bill in full as you normally would then whe you call the next month they will send a cheque for what you've paid but havent used,
i suspect sky would be the same as im sure they cant hold your money until you decide to go back to them, id call them and make sure they return it to you

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

Well I've decided to sign up to NTL, but I haven't had a good start so far...

I couldn't see from the NTL website whether there was an installation charge, so I called the 0845 number at the top of their site. The call was answered quite quickly, but after giving my address, the Customer Service guy said I had come to the wrong place and he would transfer me.

The next person I spoke to said the same thing and she would transfer me. Finally I get through to the right call centre and give tell them my details. The lady on the end of the phone then informs me that my flat cannot have cable because there is no feed to it.

I tell her there must be a feed to it as there is an NTL aerial box and telephone point in the living room. She says something about it being analogue and then puts me on hold. When she comes back, she says that it could be a mistake and they would sign me up anyway. She puts me through to another operator.

This person takes all of my details and signs me up. Installation taking place first week of November. I asked him if he could guarantee that I would get the latest Samsung box, but he said it is whatever the installer has in the van, but I can ask the installer if he has one and if not then can I temporarily have the pace one until he can get me a replacement.

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

Had NTL fitted over the weekend. The "Cable Guy" turned up on time and seemed a nice enough chap.

He worked pretty quickly and neatly laid a coax cable around my room and then split it into 2 for the STB and Modem.

I got one of the Samsung boxes, which had the optical out on it.

At first the picture quality was really bad, but I switched the STB to output RGB and that solved the problem. It's now just as good as freeview. For some reason the box only seems to output stereo via the optical out. I was at least hoping for Pro-Logic. I don't think it's my amplifier.

The box changes channel quickly and the remote is easy to use. It's a little frustrating that I cannot remove the unsubscribed channels, but I have moved them all to the end of the list.

I set the modem up using my PC, but had difficulty during set-up entering my username and password. Called NTL's customer service and they "Activated" the modem for me.

Set up a linksys wireless network - wireless for the PC and Xbox 360 plugged into the router. Connection seems stable and just a quick, if not quicker than the BT line I was on before. Haven't played any online games yet, so don't know if there is any lag, but voice communication via XBox live is fine.

Phone line is a phone line and works OK. Had a couple of those calls where you either get nothing or an automated voice when you pick up. As it's a new number I wouldn't expect anyone to have the number yet, so those calls are either from NTL, or a lucky guess. Are NTL allowed to sell or give out my number?

So far then I'm very happy.

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

I would never go with Sky again for TV unless I moved to a none cable area which is not likely round here. I had a year of problems with the customer service dept and my STB broke about 16 months after I got the service and they said I would need to purchase a new box at full price so I left.

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

You are lucky to get a samsung box after a problem with 3 pace boxes phoned ntl up they made an appointment for monday 6/11/06 guess what they didn`t show up. back on the phone they made an appointment for the next day also promising me a samsung box. Engineer turns up says yep box is faulty brings in another pace box explains to him i was told on the phone that i will be recieving a samsung he said you got no chance only got pace boxes on the van so i phoned ntl yet again after a long conversation basicly was told i would have to buy a samsung box myself then they put the phone down on me nice customer service ntl.Anymore probs with ntl i`ll be back on the phone and tell them where they can shove thier services saving me over £62 a month

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

i actually jacked in with NTL a month or two ago after a few ongoing issues, but in a way it may have been a bit hasty on some reasons but not on others

Broadband - as much as this was the main part of my issues, Tiscali are worse, and there has been loads of issues with disconnections, and now they killed my d/l speed at peek times

TV - Didnt have many issues with this, but the best thing i did was change to Sky+....be lost without it now

Phone - BT...dont use phone that much anyway

Re: NTL or Sky in new house???
 

If you can afford Sky, go for them! Better on the whole (based on my experience)