A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Having worked for BT, Sky, TalkTalk (Carphone Warehouse) & HomeCall (Phones4u) whilst being a student, and now a full time position with NTL.Telewest I have the information to inform customers of all products and prices, and keep myself upto date with product information regularly.

First let me start off by saying, this offer everyone keeps talking about, with Sky giving free broadband, there is a 2Gibabyte monthly usage limit - as soon as this is exceeded, you will be charged accordingly - no company gives broadband away for free, and doesn't make a profit somewhere along the line, they have shareholders to please, not just their customers.

Secondly, BT's broadband, UPTO 8MB, only 7% of the UK are eligable to recieve this (you need to live close to the Local Exchange Data Centre), as BT use old 1870's copper wire network technology, when NTL.Telewest have fibre-optic cables which can support upto 100MB/s - To put this into perspective, South Korea only have fibre-optic cables, and their average broadband user is on a 90-100MB/s connection, and with Japan, they have the capability to give 1GB (1024MB) broadband to users - They have the fastest broadband connections in the world - so fibre-optics is the broadband of the future, where as BT would have to spend over £7billion to upgrade their networks, which I can't see them doing for at least the next 15/20years, and only because they will have to, to keep up with the rest of the world - and as TalkTalk, HomeCall, Sky, Toucan and any other major ISP all "piggy-back" on BT's network, they will be stuck in a loop too - why do you think AOL (America On-Line) have just signed a major contract with NTL.Telewest, so their customers can enjoy the benefits when the UK catches up with the rest of the world, especially the Far East.

As for the prices, NTL.Telewest give you free Line Rental (with CableTV packages), Free Weekend Calls to all Local & National UK home telephones - Our call package prices are dropping, we are the first company in Europe to offer "Quad-Play" - visit the websites, compare the prices, and you will see, NTL.Telewest works out cheaper, and you will be able to get it all on the one bill, so it's convenient too.

I know there will be questions and querys, so i'll drop by and answer them, untill then, Enjoy NTL.Telewest if you are with them, and if not, jump on the bandwagon quickly, or be stuck with the service a developing country would have.

Regards,

A Customer Care Advisor.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

So how much would it cost Ntl to upgrade all of the parts of their network that are currently CATV to Fibre? And are you aware of the maximum speed the UBRs can handle? certainly not 100meg.

And are you sure AOL have just signed a contract with NTL, not infact Carphone Warehouse?

http://www.cbronline.com/article_new...C-C596542DBB6A

Nice sales pitch though.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

What's the point in boasting about having cables capable of 100MB/s when my 4Meg service won't go above dial-up speed for 8 or 9 hours each day?

And BT's claim of 8MB being applicable to 7% of the UK... isn't ntl making similar false claims by advertising UPTO 4Meg when the network is obviously not capable of delivering. Might as well advertise a service upto 1 billion trillion gazillion MB/s and then when the complaints come in say "Ah, we didn't promise you would get that speed, we said upto..." which is the reason ntl complained about another service provider's adverts. Pot & kettle?

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Ntl lost the contract for AOL 2 years ago, unless they've signed a new one!!

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Do believe BT are spending it!!! Its called 21C (21st Century Network) MetNet to NTL bods (Owned by BT???? So I hear)
BT plan to run ethernet to the home, cheaper than Fibre, and safer! 100m BB, TV VoIP etc
NTL's network also has restrictions, not least the amount of maintenance the HFC network requires, saying that BT et all only offer "Narrow Band" with compression, NTL:Telewest offer true "Broadband"
To keep up with the "Jones's" NTL:TW have to make a decsion very soon, either upgrade the HFC network, or Upgrade the Telco Network and do Ethernet to the home. Either way we have to spend ££Ã ¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚£Ãƒâ€šÃ‚£Ã‚£ ££

Thats why BT are building 21C, so they can cut loose from the "copper" exchanges, and the LLU boys can fight over the bones!!!!

Top sales pitch!!!!

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Owned by NTL.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I thought BT payed for it, although its "Owned" by us??


http://www.btplc.com/21cn/

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

so whats the timescale on this 21C? I knew this was on the cards but this is gonna take ages surely?

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

2011!!

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I understand the Architecture people in ntl have already made their decisions, but I also understand they have done this in isolation without realising what capabilities they actually have out at the sharp end. Now that solution is being exposed to the corporate engineering people who knows whats going on in the region, and they have said (to my knowledge) 'Sorry that will not work on our current infrastructure'

The solution that the ntl/TW people have come up with will require a huge amount of cash to spend, it will probably involve bringing Barclay knapp back to fool some investors out of their money to fund it.:D

ntl/TW are in a dire situation as far as making large upgrades to their network infrastructure, they are unable to keep the company afloat without making cost cuts in every area of the business, so they have no chance of self funding and to put it another way, would you lend them the money if you had it. (I know the answer to that)

ntl/TW are certainly up the creek without a paddle, not enough revenue to sufficiently support the business and I cant imagine too many investors coming forward to hand over cash. Although, as we all know statistics can be made to look great!

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I am under the impression we are on about Metnet here. ? The same metnet using alcatel switches in the head ends and hub sites.

I have been working on Metnet for the last year now.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Thats cool though time flies and it does need to be done.Its the preverbial light at the end of the tunnel

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Actually no you don`t, you (the company you work for) charge the Phone line price in with the TV if you want the phone line or not.

Call charges aren`t the best also and what about the pricing of the "Minimum Call Charge"?

And why the hell did NTL buy Virgin? There are so many Mobile phone deals out there, i`m on O2 Pay & Go, I top Up £10.00 a month for that I get 100 credits to spend on calls or texts (x net call is 1 credit text is also 1 credit), I get 10% off my Topups back, I also get O2 treats and top it all off the £10 I put on is still mine!!!

For NTL to get back the money they spent on Virgin Mobile is going to take ages if they are doing 4 for £40 (£10 of that is Virgin Mobile).

They should of put that money to better use and either upgraded the network and also extended their reach with more cable hence more paying customers for Broadband, Telephone and TV.

Just my 2 pence worth :td:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Don't count your eggs. Time Warner Cable have talked about NTL and a possible future european expansion.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds38109.html

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

There is a god :angel:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Yes the very same Bill. Reasons for my statements are, I have friend who was an SDH planner/manager for BT. He was privvy to meetings between NTL and BT about 21C. "We" are a BT partner in the 21c program, thats why I "believe" BT own/payed for it, plenty of their circuits running over it!!

---------- Post added at 09:32 ---------- Previous post was at 09:30 ----------

I was talking the other day and was led to believe there are two schools of thought, each has their own "Big Boy"
supporting it. The director that came from cable in the states whats HFC, the one that didn't whants Telco

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

So which town was your long career history in then? I am not aware of one town which has all those employers in one place - so how did you manage to commute between them all whilst being educated at, presumably, one single education location?

Whilst I applaud your loyalty to current employer I can see no reason for your post: your facts may be mostly accurate but you are missing a few vital points about your lord and masters - their customer service is diabolical, their management structure is a disgrace, their TV platform (despite years' of promises) has never performed according to specification, ditto the phones, ditto the call-centre 'integration'.

In fact the only thing that (as an ex-customer) I can say that ntl has going for it is the ISP, which (as you say) has the capability to vastly outperform DSL. Only...it's not is it?

But don't let me curb your enthusiasm for your employer - I'm happy that you're happy there - but please don't spout of such biased garb about them to people who actually have a lot more real-world experience of the companies you mention (as customers) than you give us credit for.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Fair enough, but then please extend the same courtesy - not everyones experience of ntl has been as bad as yours - fact. :rolleyes:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I thought Metnet & 21c are 2 entirely different things?
As for choosing HFC over Telco they are both obsolete technologies. Telco is moving towards IP base technologies.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Your comparing different OSI levels there. HFC and Telco are both at OSI model Layer 1(and some Layer 2), IP exists at Layer 3 and does not care what topology it''s running on at the lower layer.

BTW, love the Avatar!

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Yes, you are right of course, I'm a bit rusty on the OSI model. But even as transport layers, HFC & the Telco PCM/SDH networks are obsolete. :)

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

It is capable of delivering in certain areas, I know thats not much help to you, but i always get 10Meg 24/7 here in Herts.

So it does exactly what it says on the tin.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Ok here is what I know and think.

BT and all ADSL providers.
Currently ADSL is over copper on the local loop and whilst the figure for those who can get a 8mbit synch is below half I dont think it is as low as7%, 21cn network has recently been leaked to include fibre to the cabinet rollout meaning the % that can get high speed synchs will jump right up and of course includes adsl2+ rollout, the rollout is staggered between 2008 and 2011 depending on where you live and their is a checker for the voice side of upgrades here. http://switchedonuk.org/home/when/ Their is no checker for the broadband side yet.

Ntl.

Ntl for a while have had a big technological advatange over BT allowing them to offer triple play services as well as superior broadband services but have failed to capitilise on it and make the profits needed for expansion, without expansion ntl have a continously shrinking footprint, they also have the disadvantage that their services arent universal across their userbase so different billing systems and different services digital/analogue. The analogue services are typing up a lot of bandwidth and reducing the bandwidth to other services. In short they have a strangled potential with the low coverage and weak technology in some areas.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

the reason for aquiring virgin may not have been beacuse they were itching to provide their customers with an extra service, or the board may not have thought that the mobile market was a fantastic niche market that could be expanded into to make a little bit more money for the sharholders.

ever thought that the virgin brand is one of the most recognisable brands in the UK with an excellent reputation? that alone is probably worth what they paid for it without the extra benefits of being able to offer quad play?

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

This page gives you a good idea of the prospective progress.

http://www.btplc.com/21CN/Theroadto2.../UKrollout.htm


BTW the "BT have to spend £7bn" to upgrade their network is a red herring. 21CN is costing £10bn :)

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

According to ntl's website:-

"*Price excludes £11.00 phone line rental which you must take with your TV Pack"

...although they do give you a free digital TV package with a phone line rental.


.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Just to set the record straight ntl are working in partnership with AOL to provide a broadband service for the AOL customers and have been for a few years. In light of the recent sale to Car Phone Warehouse how long this will continue is anyones guess but for the time being it's business as usual.....

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

So basically NTL will be a wolf in sheeps clothing :tu:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I made a couple of calls today to see what I could find out, it seems the HFC plan is the way they are going to go because of the cost imlications and the fact that they have a large customer base on that technology allready.

I was interested to hear again that there appears to be money to spend on the core national network but nothing at regional level even for maintenance, they are saying the regional people will be having further budget cuts. It certainly sounds like figures are being massaged and what little they can afford is being spent on the national network. I cannot see any investors putting money in and take a risk on ntl/TW, but I can see the either selling off the whole thing or perhaps offloading the poorly maintained cash starved regional networks to some unsuspecting company with less commercial/technical intelligence than ntl. (If such a company exiscts)

Anyway, it looks like they are committing to HFC because of the cost implications, the current plan is to use 4 off 8MHz 256 QAM Docsis downstreams per laser from a Dual Docsis MC28, and 4 off 1.6MHz 16 QAM upstreams.

The injection and combining sounds like a nightmare, apparently they haven't yet sorted out how the modem aquires the correct downstream, and how they are going to technically implement the proposal. The proposal has apparently been put forward by one of my favourite 'good old red neck college boy' (That may give you a clue) Unfortunately this guy is one of the survivors, in the position because his other job became redundant. (Another clue is none of the trials he was involved with running were either successful or implemented)

I had a laugh because apparently the highly qualified degree level doctor types are still unable to know how to measure the power in a digital channel, and one of the highly qualified fools seems to think 4 digital channels running 10dB down on the analogue launch levels is comparable to one analogue channel. They have managed to get closer to the answer by visiting one of the TW labs, unfortunately the characteristics of both the amplitude modulated analogue TV signal and the QAM signal means they cannot be reliably measure with a power meter without a peak reading sensor as a peak signal averaged over x number of measurement points to gain an average peak reading.

Clue ntl university boys with fancy degrees.... The 'A' in QAM stands for Amplitide, and the 'M' stands for Modulation. (No I dont know all the answers Mr 'B' but I dont ever claim to be clever)

There is of course concern from people who do have some practical experience and in depth knowledge of the HFC network, like are they going to re-align the return path to cope with all these extra signals that are now 16QAM instead of QPSK, or perhaps they are just going to let the lasers clip and run into distortion? If they are going to re-align is there enough headroom for the increased demand on signal to nopise required by 16QAM over the existing QPSK?

Also what about the 256QAM downstream signal to noise, this will require extra headroom to maintain the signal to noise performance, or perhaps you are saying the levels will be running higher than a 10dB delta on the analogues, and thats why the figure of 4 QAM256's per Analogue crept in.

I wonder what the cost will be for this lot, it sounds like a practical nightmare in many hubsites. I wonder if they have really thought about all the cabling and combining for the forward and return path this will require.

Chatting today about the plans and some of the people involved made it sound very much like a Heath Robinson set-up, run by a guy with a reputation for dropping a project and setting someone else up to take the blame just as it all goes wrong.

call me cynical, go on I'm asking for it!

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Using the ARRIS' FlexPath 100Mb technology, mega quick broadband services "can be delivered over existing cable networks using readily available home networking devices"

Need conformation on it? http://www.hdtvuk.tv/2006/02/ntl_to_trial_10.html

ARRIS and ntl, last week, announced field trials of a 100 Megabits per second (Mb/s) ultra speed data service using the ARRIS FlexPath channel bonded solution incorporated in its Cadant C4 CMTS and Touchstone Wideband Modem. Following successful Lab trials, field trials are to commence in March. The announcement was closely followed by news that ntl and BitTorrent are to team up, to test a service that will legally let users buy movies and music video downloads. Getting back to the main news here about 100Mb speed trials. A press release states that, FlexPath uses the same bonding technique as that selected by CableLabs for its DOCSIS 3.0 standard.

(source:http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/...d-speed-trials)


As for this 21C BT are planning on launching (which supposidly will offer 100MB/s, but i'll believe it when I see it, because there is no information on their page about it), are you aware is is basically going to be one big WAN, which is essentially a national network before you even think about the internet, because it will be connected at BT's end - this would make it very easy for BT to control the information we can get from the internet, and also allow them to monitor the information we do get - This reminds me of China, who do the exact same, and I for one sure wouldn't appreciate that, would you?

As for the sales pitch, I wasn't trying to sell the products, it's not money in my pocket, I am just getting tired of people phoning up, saying they can get a better deal here, and a better deal there, when I know for a fact they are special offers which run out, which NTL.Telewest can offer you as well - I do believe people in the past have had bad Customer Services experince, but this is an issue that will be resolved before we re-brand to Virgin, and as we have just recently implemented a Quality Control system, so now no-one can get away with giving "bad" Customer Care to the people who make the business run - Without customers, there is no business, and this is currently NTL.Telewest's main priority at the moment.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

pharrell rubbish about BT 21cn you sound like a ntl salesmen.

21cn is to move bts network from atm over to ip, it also is a adsl2+ rollout offering upto 24mbit (realistically 16mbit) and possibly but unconfirmed fibre to the cabinet rollout.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Read the bit in Escapees post where he talks about how much ntl are spending on maintaining the local networks. Its no where near enough, and only a matter of time before theres more patching to be done to keep it working than house calls. A sh1tty network will not carry the modulation schemes needed for higher speed BB as they won't have the required SNR. A noisy network is a slow network.
Spend as much as you like on the backbone, if the local pipes won't work due to noise then its third world ntl.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I think the other ntl plan that I heard a few months ago also included moving ntl's digital TV platform over from atm to IP, I'm not sure if that is still on the cards?

It sounds a bit strange and extravagent though as the existing equipment is not really that old, and there is not exactly a problem with spare capacity as far as I'm aware.

Perhaps I'm wrong on that one, perhaps Womble can confirm if the digital platform is moving over or that is shelved as well.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

ATM is long ago full Kev. The second supplier they used, used a system over SDH on the same layer as the ATM. But the Layer dedicated to cable is full or very close.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Glasgow - and all of them were for 1yr+ thank-you very much, enough to grasp the concept, prices, how the business is actually run, and most importantly how the staff and customers are treated.

As for my education, yes, it was in one location, Strathclyde University a BSc(HONS) for your information - and I plan on going back next year, whilst working part-time for NTL.Telewest.

One thing I would like to know, how can my opinions be "biased" when I have worked for all the major companies I listed?

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

You're optomistic mate - personally I'd not trust Ntl with my communications needs again after last time, even if they have bought a new name off Dicky. :)

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

No. Many people's experiences have been even worse. Fact.:rolleyes:

Just to clarify... you are saying that you have spent over five years in Glasgow working for all of the aforementioned communications companies, whilst studying a BSc.

Becuase you work for the one that you're claiming to be so fantastic. If, when you've served your year+ at ntl and move on to one of the other 27 phone company call centres in Glasgow and still claim that ntl is brilliant, then your point becomes more valid.

Would you believe the used car dealer who said the cars he was selling were better than the dealer next door?

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

And this is *exactly* how ALL ISPs operate. Unless you are seriously suggesting that NTL gives each and every one of us our own personal bandwidth on their uplinks to the net?

---------- Post added at 09:05 ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 ----------


And many people (remember, this forum is too small to be a representative sample of NTL's customers) have had better experiences. Fact. :rolleyes:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Pharrel, while I am heartened by your enthusiasm & faith in your new employer there are a quite a few on this forum who work or have previously worked for Ntl (myself included, in an engineering capacity, I left of my own accord, not through redundancy) who might not share your enthusiasm based on a legacy of missed opportunities, broken promises, mis-management, bad decisions, constant reorganisations and lack of investment. Don't get me wrong, there is a wealth of talent in Ntl but often it's not backed up by the finances or the management. I sincerely hope Ntl DO get it right this time for their customers and employees (sorry, associates) sake. But I, for one, am a bit sceptical. I've seen it all before, again & again ................ :rolleyes:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

It was just a facetious comment in reply to another facetious comment! Although, actually to get a reasonably accurate sample in reseacrh terms, you only need about 5,000 responses. And there are about 20,000 members, so... perhaps not.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

5,000 out of one million plus customers? That's (at most) 0.5%. I don't think that is a resonable sample (in fact, I am pretty sure most surveys have a margin of error considerably larger than that).

But, I don't want to go off topic.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Actually, election opinion polls are conducted on a far smaller sample of the electorate than that. A decent general election exit poll would query about 20,000 of the 25 million or so people who vote on the day and expect a margin of error of perhaps +/- 3%.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

indeed. but great care is taken to ensure the sample is representative otherwise your margin of error widens considerably.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I just heard some news yesterday that throws doubt on that job being there :(

I had an interview for a different cable company and they are migrating their digital tv platform to IPTV.
Funnily enough they are doing an anti ntl, setting up local based customer service with a focus on quality of service.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

And taking your 'sample' from a site that was set up originally 'I hate ntl' site, is not particularly representative, is it?

I'm beginning to wonder if andygrif and Neil are related.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

True, which increases the accuracy somewhat. However, we have little control over who joins this site. The site's membership may or may not be an accurate representation of NTL's customer base. Therefore, it cannot be considered accurate.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

There speaks sense :clap:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

and out of the thousands of members only a small portion are posing regularly? which would suggest a much smaller 'active' membership?

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I'm not an ntl customer or employee (ex on both though) yet I'm here, I'm sure there is a large user base of this site that found it because they where having trouble setting up xbox live or a router and stayed.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

absolutely

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

The bod I was talking to said, if the "IP" man wins everything, voice DTV and BB will run over it, as wuld happen if the "HFC" bod wins.
As I said, nothing has been decided yet, but my gut instinct tells me they will go ethernet/ip, due to the lower levels of maintenance needed

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

:tu: :tu: :tu:

Looks like the NTL propaganda machine is in top gear :erm:
Their customer services are diabolical, forget all this talk of fibre cables, if the staff cant treat people with respect and actually get something right at the first time of asking now and again then I think I will stay with my crap poor BT broadband when that comes about.
Nice to see optimism from a young person, although the way NTL are shovelling the **** at the moment with their cheep pops at BT I think at the end of the day the common joe ( es ) will see through the crap.
10/10 for your homework, but how do we know you are who you say you are?;)

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I think Escapee was talking about the distribution between the central headends and the regions.
It will be IP. They picked a provider, but then the merger came along and its all been delayed again.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

That crossed my mind too :).:angel:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

What happened to Neil or did i miss something?

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I was refering to the "last mile"

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Yes I know, but you were replying to Escapee's post about the DTV distribution platform.
The distribution platform will be IP, when they make a single platform.
An IP distribution to the home would be interesting. No need for stat muxing, as I think a Constant Bitrate would be prefferred for the multicast streams.
Its going to be interesting how they progress.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I obviously had the info wrong about the reason for DTV upgrade, the guy telling me gave the impression the change was due to technology and not capacity, the capacity issue you mention would make some sense.

I was led to believe the last mile is very much now agreed on though, and the bottom line is cost. I am led to believe that HFC has come out the winner in the argument, and the technology I mentioned in the previous post looks almost certain to be implemented.

I was certainly told exactly the opposite a month or so ago from the same source, so it appears things have swung in favour of HFC technology recently.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

mmm me thinks ex-Comcast Corp bods may have a hand in that. Gonna keep me busy tho:tu:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

He has resigned from the team, no idea why maybe he was just too busy

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Neil... Neil... orange peel, when will we see you again!? :(

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Well the successful US cable franchises all do fine with HFC on the last mile running 15Mb BB and HD and VOD and VoIP succesfully. And the HFC is in place.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Yeah, but they maintain theirs, proactivley, we just firefight, but who knows?.. From what I've seen so far, TW seem to be more customer orientated, instead of the ntl way where they are treat subs like a hinderance!! So things may get better, we'll see

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

What a load of old cr@p. It's not a gnome, it's a hippy he's just killed. He killed a hippy everybody!!! (smash)

:D

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Yes, we're live-in lovers! But then you'd know that OB, as you're our live-in gimp:Yikes:

Now get back in the cupboard under the stairs:p: :p: :p:

I think that's one of the most sensible posts on the thread...certainly a lot more sensible than what I've just written above!

You can have the best network in the world, but if you ain't got then kit, service or ability to deliver - it's all pretty useless. Maybe it will change this time...maybe it won't. There's over years' of history that suggests it won't.

Nature planted me.... etc etc etc :LOL:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Well, I did notice... he was hopping when he left.




I know, I know!... Sorry :dozey:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Are you referring to us "our avatars are movie stars" bunch?

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Thats the thing see, it is like the first time as a kid you ignore your mum and put your hand on the electric ring, it burns and leaves a mark in your memory that tells you not to do it again!
I associate the above scenario with all the promises being peddled by NTL, they sound great! but past experience has taught me it can be a pipe dream too ;)
So a lot of work has to be done by them, and I am not just talking about technology, thats great to have IF IT WORKS!
No good sitting on the hard shoulder of the m6 in your audi tt when a skoda shoots past you! :D

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

See http://www.switchedonuk.org/home/when/

Q4 2011 for me!

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Q2 2009 for Warrington

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

The 1.8T Audi TT and the Skoda Octavia VRS have the same engine. :D

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

What about the last Mile for 21st Century Network?

I still have my 100 year old piece of speaker wire dangling (very loosely I might add) from a telephone pole. It along with many others round here is aniquated anddoesnt look to have been maintainined since the days of the ark. Are BT going to replace this and the rest of the antiquated equipment in the final mile?

I can't honestly see them laying/hanging ethernet to the home, or even a new twisted pair to every house in the UK.

Closest 21st CN Will come to the home is the exchange or maybe the street cabinets, but thats going to need 1980/90 Cable company road digging powers! Which is unlikley

All I hope is that the new technology is not as reliant on distance from the exchange and quality of cabling in the last mile, as I cant see how it will make much difference.

The BT Line in my old house was crap, BT refused to replace it unless I paid for it, so what has changed?

BT already have perfectly good equipment in the exchanges at present, Its the final mile that lets it down, and I can not see how this is going to change. Only houses in new build developments will have the full effect.

BT have yet to get ADSL right if you live more than 1 mile from the exchange, BT Said they would release VOD this summer, I am yet to see it working. BT Said they would install 4 ISDN Lines at my work 33 days ago and promised it within 10 but can not deliver due to technical issues.

BT persists in talking complete and utter B/S as always, I would be very pleasantly surprised to see any of the current suggestions working by 2010 let alon 21st CN

BT (Its good to talk (utter ****e that is)

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

As for the prices, NTL.Telewest give you free Line Rental (with CableTV packages), Free Weekend Calls to all Local & National UK home telephones - Our call package prices are dropping, we are the first company in Europe to offer "Quad-Play" - visit the websites, compare the prices, and you will see, NTL.Telewest works out cheaper, and you will be able to get it all on the one bill, so it's convenient too.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm well my line rental aint free i pays £11 for it a month with my 4mb £24.99 cable tv 19.99 or so / ur fone prices are going up not down the 321 plan is going to be 333 so hows that going down is 3p less than 1p bt prices have came down for they talk unlimited 24 u pay £9.99 i thinks and ntl is mmmmmmmmmmmm let me guess £15.50 or so take your head out off ur butt and stop talkin a lot of bull plz :dunce::dunce::dunce::dunce:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

seems I was wrong about 21cn the docs rlsed by BT have no mention of fibre in the local loops meaning less then half will see anything above 8mbit on adsl2+. Its a possibility for sure now in 2011 when bt are still finishing of 21cn they still relying on copper local loops. My area isnt getting 21cn until Q2 2010.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

i think its reasonable to assume that by 2010 WiMax will be widespread if the industry has anything to do with it and hence that last mile will be covered, thats one of the reasons why i advocate wireless as standard in future stb's etc.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I'm jumping on the bandwagon too!!! Jul-Sep 08 here. Not that I care anyway.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I think WiMax would need to come on quite considerably in the next 4 years for it to be used effectiveley for Broadband and Television, assuming they still use copper pairs for the telco side of things due to Bandwidth Limitations.

WiMax can currently be used for the ol' classic (up to) 100Mbs over 100 Miles, however again it is subject to distance limitations so if you actually live 100 Miles from the WiMax point you may only get 1mbs. And the WiMax Bandwidth is shared amonst a radio sector, so if there a lot of users in a paricular radio sector each will end up with a reduced bandwidth, so if there are 10 users each will only get 10Mb.

It needs to come a long quite a bit so it will be interesting to see how things go.

Ntl is possibly in a better position to offer this as they trialled Wireless Broadband a few years back, apparently it was pretty good but they decided not to take it forward.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

You only have to read the posts i made about BT to see that they are the same bunch of incompetent idiots that they where 8 years ago when i had my last run in with them. Nothing as changed including the Noah's Ark technology and "i like this " Speaker wire connection :). BT have to totaly change the way they connect to the customer before they will get any better speeds.

I am willing to place a bet here. Cable will out perform BT for a very long time when it comes to Broadband. There i have said it.

Where cable falls over and is at the moment is the reliance on proxy servers :( which is making them look crap at the moment.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Oversubscribed ubrs? congested network?

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Indeed they do too. However my main concern at the moment is the Proxy servers. They are the spawn of the devil as far as i am concerned.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

wireless isnt really a future proof technology, maybe useful for low populated areas but doesnt have the capacity for high speed applications and would it be subject to interfence?

---------- Post added at 01:47 ---------- Previous post was at 01:46 ----------

would like to argue with you but I cant :(

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I've been doing a lot of proxy dancing over the last few months and agree it's a joke.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Thanks for that creative :) its saved me some money then with prior knowledge ;)

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

i have to use proxys no problem at all useing ntl's also use em to beat the rapidshare download limit (80 min between file)

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Maybe, but you loook at the outside of where I live, splitters just dangling in midair and you wonder. I'll post a picture if I am there in daylight to take it.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Ummm and my victorian speaker wire, very loose!!

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

ok, so a point has been proved - ntl.telewest will the market leader for a long times when it comes to bb. :)

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I guess that depends on where you live. Here I couldn't keep a connection for more than a few min before it was dropped. Hardy market leader. :erm:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

21CN is all about the backbone rather then the outlying reaches of the network. The idea AFAIK is to have a big network that you will then plug into to make calls. The big differences are that once in, you will send your calls via whatever route is most efficent at the time rather than you dialling the number and making a dedicated connection (probably following the same route each time) It should also allow quicker time to market for new products and services.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Todays access all areas didn't make good reading with regards to the BB network and stability and other faults :erm:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

My dad is bigger than your dad, and if you continue to steal my dinner money, my dad will beat your dad up. :rolleyes:

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

I was led to believe thats "just for starters", eventually, all of BT's subs will run of it, and the "copper" switches (system X Switches) will be "handed over" to the LLU peeps to do with what they wish

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

hi to all from a new member. interesting and informative forum. if as it seems ntl are short of cash why do the sales team seem not to interested in my purchase of phone/ tv/ broadband/notts-m1-juct 25 area. have four ntl manholes/two green boxes within fifty foot of my house & small conn box end of drive.yet it takes up to ten days to check out if i can get the service. both adjacent neighbours have the service. house numbers may be the problem as there are two houses on three plots, & established property.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Thanks for the information.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

This is an example of how pathetic BT are in this area:

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk...=sidebarsearch

What exactly is the 'safety reason' for cutting the wire. ntl are certainally no worse than these clowns!

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Maybe something as trivial as a vehicle catching it, or perhaps it was dangerously close to an overhead mains cable.

Whatever the reason peoples safety comes before the internet.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

it was a safety reason, a vehicle catching on it etc.

also BT will compensate those customers greatly unlike ntl.

21CN will be to the home as well, they will be getting rid of system x switches, everything will be cabled up in the exchanges, frames engineers will be a thing of the past.

customers will dial a number or log onto a website to order a product and by the time they finish the call to an automated system or browse to a different page the product will be active on the customers account and delivered via 21CN.

i've worked for NTL, BT and Homechoice, i've never seen a network as impressive as 21CN albeit they were just the plans.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

Makes you wonder why the guy, who was presumably a line technician didn't simply shorten the cable or re-tie it on the pole to lift it somewhat. doesn't take much to apply a couple of zip ties to a loop of cable really.

Would have been better than snipping it really.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

read a lot of this - original poster is crazy.

thats all i have to say.

Re: A little inside information by an Employee.
 

AFAIK, BT usually do just zip tie the cable to the post. At least they seem to in this area.