NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Hi,

Need some help with a decision if possible :)

I currently have Sky (£19 per month package).

Had a letter through the door from NTL offering half price family package for 6 months (£9.50) .

I have had a problem with my SKY digi box for a long time and have been told by SKY that I need to replace it at a call out cost of £65. I rang SKY earlier and told them I was pondering going to NTL for cable TV. They said they would send an engineer free of charge just to keep my custom etc.

Now the question is (and I just can't decide), what do I do? :shrug:

Do I stick with SKY, or move over to NTL? I haven't had any experience of NTL's cable TV at all, only the snippets I have read on these invaluable forums.

Any opinions greatly appreciated! ;)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

if you like the red button stick with sky ...... if you can sniff the future get cable

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Having had both NTL and Sky simultaneously for over two years I know what I would do. Actually I know what I did and that was to drop NTL and go all Sky.

My experiences with both companies though may not be typical of what others may find. You can only find out what NTL is like for you by actually trying it but then you may be stuck with them for a year if you decide you have made the wrong choice. Remember as well that if you have NTL TV then you will have to have a NTL telephone line. Look at what your normal usage will cost with a NTL telephone line compared with what BT would charge.

One factor to consider is what channels you wish to watch on TV. There may be one or two that you watch on Sky that may be unavailable on NTL. If you do decide to go with NTL you can still use your Sky box to receive all the channels that you can get when you remove the viewing card from your Sky box plus ITV, channel 4 and Five which require a viewing card but your existing card can still be used for these even when your subscription ends.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Having left NTL after 7 years as a technician & now working for Sky,my advice....Get Sky+!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
£49.00 for a brand new box capable of 'taping' 2 channels whle watching a 3rd already taped programme,one button timer record (highlight the programme in the tv guide & press the 'r' button!) 40 hours of taped programmes.pause & rewind LIVE tv......
To be honest,you'd be daft not to!!!!
Spike

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I already have 3mb BB and phone with NTL, this would be an addition.

I also just checked the SKY site out and saw that HDTV is out from them next year. HMMM...

I don't really want to "upgrade" to SKY+ (plus its costs), was just thinking of the cheapest form of what i have now kind of thing.

One thing that DID shock me earlier when contacting SKY, was that i got through to Indian tech support!!!! I thought it was bleedin Deja Vu (but thats another thread). :erm:

Many thanks for your experiences though, tis much appreciated! Still undecided and still thinking on it :)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

But you need an HDTV compatible set, and an HDTV broadcast, so at the moment it is not something you really need to be jumping on the bandwagon of as it is establishing a distribution platform with little to distribute.
HDTV will be great for sports, but I don't see the BBC upgrading the recording of 'enders to HDTV for a while, though I imagine this will be one of the easier to do as the sets are so permanent and fixed. HDTV is going to dramatically increase the cost of set build as cheap craftsmanship will be highlighed in the recorded picture, wheras now the detail is just not captured.
__________________

You can probably get the 3/30 deal or a derivative of it which should get you multichannel TV on the cheap if you don't want to go Sky+

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Simple.....Sky.

Fact.

End of. ;)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Having had both NTL and Sky, I'd go with NTL. I barely use the red button and this was NTL's only real achilles heel for me, so it's not an issue.

Going with NTL addresses your original problem, which is the status of the STB. With Sky, they give it to you but you own it, so if it breaks, you buy a new one. I notice they've said they'll send a tech out, well they may pay for his time, but I reckon he will still charge you for a new box if he needs to fit one. With NTL, the cabling and the STB always remains their property, so repairs are always free (unless you knacker them yourself somehow). That reminds me, the dish and cabling is yours with Sky also, so any problems with that, you pay.

Sky phoned us yesterday to remind us the 12-month warranty is almost up on the box and to try to sell us an extended warranty. :erm: Naturally, NTL never did any such thing to me in the three or four years I was their DTV customer.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

The £65 call out charge which Sky are waiving for the OP and many others includes checking the entire system, replacing any parts (LNB, cabling, etc.) that need replacing and provision of a replacement digibox if needed.

Sky didn't call you yesterday to try to sell you an extended warranty. It would have been one of several third party warranty companies who go to great lengths to make you think that they are part of Sky and feed you a lot of untruths about what you may be charged by Sky if you have problems and don't have their warranty. If they call again which I am sure that they will either in the near future or this time next year then do a 1471 on the call. It is almost certain to be a Bognor Regis or Brighton area code neither of which have any Sky subsidiary working there.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

:Yikes:

Thanks m8, I will do that ...

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

You will also have to pay £10.50 a month for phone line rental on top of the £9.50 = £20 per month.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

NTL every time for me. Personally I will never have dealings with sky again. In 1996 when cable first became available where I live I ditched the old analogue Sky that I'd had more or less since they'd launched. I rang Sky, told them I was changing to cable and they were fine! At the time with all the new customers cable were signing up (including many who refused to have the old white 60" dishes on their houses) Sky were probably gaining vast amounts of extra revenue from the cable companys.
SIX years later (September 2002) I received a letter from a debt collection agency saying they had taken over an old debt from Sky and that I owed them £60. This was two months subscription to Sky, and was due because I originally cancelled with them (Sky) by phone and not in writing. If I didn't pay within 30 days I would be taken to court. I did not even know I owed Sky two months money and had not received one single letter from them in all that time to say that I did. I contacted Sky who said it was no longer anything to do with them! My next port of call was the Citizens Advice Bureau. After phone calls between them and the debt collection agency I agreed to pay one month (£30) and the matter would be settled. My late father told me at the time to pay them nothing, but I didn't want to risk court. The C.A.B advised me not to have any further dealings with Sky and I never will. If they had told me that the cancellation had to be in writing in 1996 and that I would have to pay two further months I would have delayed the installation of cable accordingly. Instead they said nothing for six years and I received (for the only time in my life) a letter from a debt collection agency. I know people will say I should have referred back to the original contract, but I'd had Sky for years and had moved house twice and doubt whether I still had it.
It's strange though how despite what happened Sky regularly send me advertising mail trying to entice me back!

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Many thanks for all of your replies :)

Having discussed everything with "err indoors", I think we are going to ditch SKY for the time being and give NTL a shot.

As I say we are already with ntl for BB and Phone, and the service has been the best I have had of any provider (die BT!!!) :p:

@ SMHarman - You are correct of course on the HDTV subject. It's going to be a few years yet before this technology takes a firm hold mainstream, not as if it is going to affect what I am doing here.

At the very least I can always go back to SKY if things don't pan out.

One thing I don't know, is if I am tied into a 12 month contract for cableTV, as I said I am already with NTL for BB and Phone and have been for over 3 years now. Think I'll give CS another ring tomorrow on that subject (unless anyone here knows for sure). :confused:

Many thanks once again! :D

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Have to agree spike, total no brainer, can even get a second sky box for £49, that correct spike?
Having had ntl tv services, sky's picture quality imo is far superior.
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I think your experience is not unique, having read other threads just replace the word " sky " with " ntl "
Personally, I would have waited for my day in court, but at the end of the day you do what you feel the right thing to do.
In the same circumstances ntl would send you advertising mail to try and lure you back.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

It is?? What are other peep's views on the picture quality front?

Don't want to make a mistake here - AARRgghh so many pros and cons its a case of :juggle:

:erm:

Now i don't know what to do again :erm:

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Likewise I had many similar issues with Sky,

Poor Install, appalling picture quality and pathetic customer service being some of the touch points. Thankfully I am now well away from that never had a problem with ntl, the tv has been off 2 times in 3 years, I remeber previously it was common to lose the picture during rain/wind/snow we though this was a normal feature!

Would never go back and dread the day I move outside a cable area. Still looks like Homechoice may soon be a viable alternative or BT Freeview/VOD Service.

Sky are definateley the biggest bunch of cowboys I have ever had the misfortune to deal with!
__________________

nonsense! its luck of the draw really, if you get poor picture quality on ntl its not been set up correctly.

There shouldnt really be any difference between the picture quality on different broadcast mediums.

The main factor with DTT and DSAT is weather, heavy rain/snow and very thick cloud can cause problems, with ntl its poor set up or a poor local network.

My picture quality is certainally equal or better to that which I had on Sky.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Yeh I currently have a lot of problems weather related also, loss of picture is a normality unfortunately.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

**Edit:

Having read other threads on this subject, it seems the expectancy is the same clarity as SKY.

I am going to cancel the engineer visit from SKY today and order up an NTL install, pending some fine tuned questions for NTL CS. :)

I'll repost once it's all done. Fact is, if I don't do it, I'll never know.

Many thanks for all help once again!


:D

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

has to be sky

Customer services and tech support is great and puts NThell to shame.

Had sky+ for over a year and had no problems @ all always fantastic, plus the fact the you can watch movies with 5.1.

NTL are no where near sky, and plus the fact that they have just bought a easynet i think things are gonna get a hell of a lot better.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

In my opinion it is, it seems simple to me, get them both installed, then use the 7 days to make your mind up, ditch the one that does'nt rock your boat!
__________________


Well my friend I am saying in my experience, and that is all I can go by, having had ntl television before ditching it for sky plus, so I am able to compare the two,sky blows it out the water picture quality wise, a point also picked up by my brother who has ntl tv services.
An ntl poorly installed system? what are you suggesting?

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I had sky tv for 3 years and never had any probs. with them even in bad weather my picture was good. But last feb. i decided to give ntl a go with there 3 for £30 as i was looking at the time for a new internet provider, and the 3 for £30 is much cheaper then the sky / bt /tiscali service i had.

My first impression was ive made a big misstake due to the engineer not turning up untill late pm even though i had an am booked. Then the next day engineer had to come back again am booked turned up pm.
But after 2 weeks of complaining and haveing a manager come to my home to sort out the many probs. i had, i havent looked back.
The internet is brilliant in fact the best ive had ,
The tv , well it serves me for what i need apart from not geting the tele text service
And the phone , not much different to bt apart from my bills being cheaper.
I did however get many more channels with sky but many of them were channels i never watched so that did not bother me.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Originally Posted by arcamalpha2004
Is this possible to do? I already have SKY and they are waiting on my decision now.


Originally Posted by iommi
I was quite shocked the other day to ring SKY and get through to.... Indian Tech Support - I thought i had dialled NTL by mistake... Not a lot of difference between the two now it seems. :erm:


I have now taken the plunge and ordered DTV from NTL. Only £11 per month (permanently) as I already have BB and Phone with them. Not a bad deal in my opinion. :)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Fraid not, they both use the exact same bitrate MPEG stream, ntl dont recompress the signal at any point or introduce any loss of picture quality.

...Should have gone to specsavers;) Im thinking... set top box set to composite in the settings menu, low quality budget scart lead, and possibly only set to 4:3 on a widescreen tele in the boxs settings menu.
-Chris

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Both having the same bitrate doesn't mean that they will both have the same picture quality. I got rid of NTL DTV because I could never get an acceptable pictue for more than a few days at a time. I was getting a lot of dithering and freezing on NTL, particularly in hot weather. Several engineer visits and box changes didn't cure the problems. Sky DTV which I had at the same time was always rock steady even during rain, snow and very windy conditions. Only ever lost the signal once in five years with Sky and that was a really heavy snow build up on the dish which waas quickly removed and normal service resumed. Bitrate is only one of the factors in picture quality.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I had NTL tv for 7 years, firstly analogue before moving to digital. I was constantly fed up with the box freezing and it took forever to change a channel and the channels were all over the place, not very well organised. Anyway i kept the NTL broadband and the phone line and ditched the DTV for Sky + about a year ago. I wonder why the heck i hadnt made the move sooner. The box is lightning fast, channels well organised, and i have had NO break up of signal or picture quality even in heavy rain and i have only had to reboot the box once in almost a year. With NTL rebooting the box was sometimes a daily job. My box i had with NTL was a Pace one, i hear the new Samsung boxes are very good and quicker but in my area they still seem to be using pace boxes. My m8 still has NTL tv and the other day i was round at his and wanted to see how the tv was now that VOD etc has been rolled out. After 5 minutes of messing about with the control the box produced an error code and froze. Ended up lobbing the remote to one side in frustration lol.

Im a BIG football fan as well and i wonder how the heck i managed without the interactive sky sports which isnt available on NTL.

At the end of the day i know people have problems with both Sky and NTL.

Its what suits you at the end of the day, but my advice would be dont move to NTL for tv. After experiencing Sky you'll wonder why the heck you moved to IMHO an inferior service.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I still have the option to cancel (install is on the 16th), and I am still digging for as much info as possible. I made it the 16th for this very reason - just to make sure I am really sure before commiting. ;)

I haven't given SKY a cancelation date either and was going to make the date slightly after the install (for comparison purposes more than anything).

Biggest problem is the 12 month contract that I will be entering into with NTL for their DTV service. I thought this might have been waived considering I have already been with them for over 3 years but it isn't :erm:

Doesn't make sense to me... It's not like I have missed a payment as I never have and I said the same to CS.

Umm can anyone detect hesitancy from me on this decision?? :p:

Yep its still there! :juggle:

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

How can you say " fraid not "? as if you are the authoritive knowledge, I am saying " in my opinion " and above all your techy spiel that is all that matters, how do you know how much ntl compress the signal? they could do to accomodate more features.

As for the scart cable, how about qed? is that low budget ?
;)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

At this point in time if i was a new install I'd go sky+ without a shadow of a doubt.

If/when NTL get a PVR going, it would swing back to NTL.

But then there's HD.... so it could swing back to Sky again....

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

As I suggested, as far as I know, and someone may correct me, but take both for 7 days and make your mind up, cancel the one not to your taste, if sky are offering a free engineer visit give it a try.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I am telling you that the signal that reaches your NTL set top box is exactly the same as would be recived with a satalite reciver or freeview set top box, if you *could* dump the raw digital video to your hard drive and look at the ones and zeros there would be *no* inconsistancys. Therefore, if you are saying that one platform gives a "better picture" than another - you must have something incorrectly configured at your end.Im telling you how it works and you are dismissing it, possibly because your paying more for sky than you would be with NTL for an equivalant service and are still trying to find ways to justifiy it to your self - its a mind thing;)

-Chris

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

It is not a mind thing at all, it is a fact as I see it, regardless of the tech speak, if the end product does not do it for me then I do not take cost in to consideration, as far as I am aware the ntl stb was set up correctly, but it was extremely slow, which is a fault in ntl anyway, but as for picture quality, the end product regardless of the tech spiel, it is crap imo compared to sky+, and even picture quality issues aside, sky+ still blows anything ntl can offer right now out the water.
You dont need to look for reasons why I dont agree with what you say is the gospel truth, my eyes tell me the truth, not what is written down on a specification sheet.
Being a hifi enthusiast I know to pay some attention to the tech details, but at the end of the day its how I hear the results, for comparing visual differences you just do the reverse, use your own eyes, its amazing the senses we were given, and given that I had an eye test a few months ago, specsavers is one place I dont need to visit ;) use that time to take in a footy game on sky interactive with fantastic picture quality, did I mention interactive? oh yes I did :)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Except you can't it is already compressed to be digitised and transmitted (MP2), you cannot compress a M/JPEG

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Hmm one other thing to throw in the little mix from me...

I am having a 32" LCD High Definition compatible tv - delivered Wednesday. :erm:

Christmas soon init? :D

I think the old scales just tipped SKY's way again :erm:

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I HAVE JUST FOUR WORDS:

SEVEN DAY TV GUIDE

I just switched from NTL TV to Sky+ and to be honest, Sky+ For The Win !!!

As a Digital TV platform, Sky+ is currently light years ahead of the NTL product in terms of sound and picture quality (Mine allways looked blocky and over compressed). Sky+ Is awesome.

If your getting Sky, get Sky+.

Im still with NTL for my Broadband as their internet service is very good and reliable... but there TV service is not in the Same league as Sky+.

Having been in the camp of "Im staying with NTL as theye soon going to release something amazing" - Ive given up as they are taking forever.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

All in all broadband seems to be the saving grace for ntl, while out today I noticed two sales stands, one was ntl the other sky, both within a walk of one another.

Putting myself in the position of being a new customer, sky + box with working interactive against ntl would be a no brainer, no matter how snazzy the samsung box looks, its whats under the bonnet that counts.
With regard tv I think ntl will always be playing catch up.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

If NTL and Telewest don't get too distracted by the merger, get VOD and PVR rolled out, have more of a national footprint and put up an advertising spend to go with it then end of 2006 could be an interesting place. Sky may be the ones catching up with their LLU unbundling, inability to offer true VOD, speed limited and less consistency of speed on the BB offering, and the need for the BB offering to be of a certain level just to be able to offer homechoice type products.

We will also start to find more customers with ally or fibre in their path to the exchange so suddenly unable to get the latest Sky offering, hardware failiures in local exchanges meaning sky customers lose phone, tv, vod, internet. The next step for sky will be as challenging as the roll out of VOD and PVR for NTL and TW, perhaps more, as NTL/TW are rolling out hardware that in a previous varient has a multimillion person user base in the US.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

NTL and telewest dont seem able to organise a party in a brewery, so at the moment I dont see sky looking over their shoulders, I think its a handicap thats just not fair in a nice way, a bit like a sunday morning footy team facing chelsea.
Why would I want VOD? somebody with ntl who is happy where they're may be, I can record all the films I want, box office included, then dump them to my panasonic dvd recorder to later burn to dvd if I so wish.
comparing ntl to sky could be compared to the school report, " Lots of promise, but could do better "

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

From reading a lot of posts on this subject over the last week or so, I get the following impression....

Right now, SKY is well ahead of NTL in terms of their television service.

But I never realised the BB / phone/ tv deals meant so much to either company... Seems like the "jewel in the crown" as it were... I think in the long run, NTL will wipe the floor with SKY, it's only a matter of time (and frustration for some). NTL's BB and phone services are long established and at the forefront of speed and quality. They only need to sort their TV delivery and SKY will be the ones playing catchup in terms of an ageing BT service.

Come on NTL, make me switch from SKY for TV. In a perfect world, paying just one provider for all 3 services is a nice option, of course enabling discounts. This is where peeps with NTL BB and phone lose out by renting SKY.

Tis a shame. I would like the discount from NTL but above all else, quality > cost unfortunately.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

No one can make you switch, you take a look at what is on offer from all options and go for the one for you.
I have suggested the 7 day trial idea, you have nothing to lose.
By having sky you dont have to lose out, you can move your telephone provider if you can find a cheaper call plan, the line rental still needs paying, whoever youre with.
Unless things get really aggresive and either ntl or bt offer free line rental for life, a bit like the gas and utility no standing charge idea.
If you need a phone and you want tv I would say get your tv from sky and telephone from another provider, I just dont see the sense in paying for the tv from ntl when you also have to pay a line rental for a none existing item, sorry to say it but its a con, and one they're getting away with until joe and joanne public wake up to the scam.
Let us know what you decide, but I know what way I'd go, I'd give the 7 day trial a go.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I'll phone NTL CS about this tomorrow. As it stands I still have an install date, but can cancel at any time.

A 7 day trial of both systems is a nice idea though :)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Well everyone else has given their 2 pence worth so I figure I will to!

I for one have never been happier with my ntl services. The introduction of VOD in my area, something I doubt sky will have the capabilites for a long time! My sister, who lives a couple of doors away chose sky when she moved in. In my view, ntl offer the better picture quality by far. Less pixellation, faster channel changes, EPG etc (with the samsung which you will get being a new customer) Sky's only selling point (for the standard service) is the interactve features for the footy. Which I agree, knocks the socks off ntls interactive. But I am yet to meet anyone who mentions they love the interactive features, on both sy or ntl.

I have been with cable TV since it was first installed in Teesside, back in the day it was Comcast. Never had any problems, then went over to digital about 3 years back and still never a problem. and the boradband is the best around without a doubt.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

The only think we use the red button for is CBEEBIES for the lil lad :p:

We don't watch sport and don't currently have movies with SKY either. Just the basic £19 p/m package.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Then in that case i would say you have nothing at all to lose, just gain! imo. VOD (kids programmes whenever you want etc) Also sky only mention HDTV "next year" no stating when. NTL's new PVR is in nextyear also and comes PVR ready. There are lots of pros and cons on both sides. People here are mentioning sky + for the sport etc. but as yuo have said, you're not a sports fan. so why go for a service that you wont use.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Had phone service from NTL for years no problem so i tried the TV service
never again it was removed within three weeks,the Pace convertors are total crap they crash and lock up,what ever you do don't use the RED button that caused my stupid box to freeze and lock.
Oh and first bill was £80+ this was normal i was told they bill you two months
on the first bill.:mad:

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Why would i want ntl's vod when I have sky+ ? my experience of picture quality is the reverse, all I can say is that ntl must have done one botch up of a job on the install, because all i hear from some people is that there is no difference in what is put out by both broadcasters, but even my brother who has ntl tv has said our pic knocks the socks off what he has with ntl, so a matter of opinion i guess, imo i wouldnt go back, the ability to record to a hd, then transfer to dvd if i so wish is a no brainer.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Just something to think about if you get both installed for the 7 day trial. I had sky and when i had ntl installed the ntl engineer without asking me cut off my sky cable so he could use that hole in the wall to feed through the ntl cable saveing him a bit off time. I did not notice this untill he had gone, so be carefull as if this happens to you and you want to keep sky you may end up paying for the destruction caused. I did complain to ntl as if after my contract is up and i wanted to go back to sky i would have had to pay for new cable and they did come back to rectify the problem.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Yeh I have thought about this... The natural thing for the engineer to do is use the same hole as SKY is currently. The way it is laid out is a VERY easy install for the engineer. My first thought (if going to NTL and ditching SKY) was to use this hole, basically just to keep the destruction to the wall to a minimum.

But as I said above in the "running 2 systems" scenario, it would be the only way. :(

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

arcamalpha2004 Star Man :tu:

Just rang NTL CS and I am indeed entitled to a 7 day trial (he had to check to see exactly what the trial time is).

So I will run this trial from the 16th. I will keep SKY at least up until the end of that 7 day period and make my decision.

As ever this forum rocks!! :D

I'll post my results here asap, many thanks once again all ;)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Just posting my results after having NTL CATV fitted 3 days ago in place of SKY :Yikes:


Installation: Excellent!! Ntl installers did everything i asked and more. Spot on job :D Even gave me a seperate longer cable should i want to move the TV.

Box Supplied: Samsung :D I asked them what box they would be fitting and they told me "i don't want a Pace box". Was made up with this after reading posts here!

Quality: On a par with SKY. Pleased with it. NTL lacks some of the functionality of SKY, but overall it isn't too dissimilar. Responses from the dreaded "Red Button" are also on a par with SKY :)


Overall, i am happy with the descision we have made. We are getting a mirror service from NTL for half the price of SKY. I think we'll give this 12 months (as per the contract), and see where both companies are at that point. If NTL do actually release HD PVR next year in response to SKY, i may well be sticking with the NTL product!

On a final note - Sky.

When i told them i was cancelling my contract they couldn't do enough, offering me this that and the other..... This was a few days after telling me that i would have to pay them £60 per month for a SKY+ service. Reminded me of those robbers at BT shortly before i ditched 'em.... ;)

Many thanks to all who have helped, invaluable info as ever :angel:

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

£60 a month for Sky+?? :confused:

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Sky don't offer a Sky + package that costs £60.00 per month. :confused:

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

What price is that then? NTL charge £15 pm for a mirror sub and Sky charge £10 pm. I know the NTL box is rented and the Sky box has to be bought but the £49 for a Sky+ box is recouped in 10 months.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Sorry mistyped!!

It would cost me approximately £40 ;)

But in order for me to get SKY+ (if i wanted it), i would *have* to do the following....

Order SKY Plus. Have my present box "moved to another room" and pay for it. (We don't have a TV in another room).

So, i would have to firstly pay for the box.
Then i would have to either get movies or sports (we watch neither), just to get SKY+ or pay £10 per month. Then pay for the box in the other room (connected to fresh air).

Sounded like a good deal to me (NOT).

Tha is what i got told in a phone call to SKY (before the phone call to terminate).

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

If you don't have another TV what is the "We are getting a mirror service from NTL for half the price of SKY" referring to?

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

That is how it started. When i asked SKY about possible upgrades they wanted top dollar. Didn't really give me any leeway until i told them i was leaving. A bit too late.

:)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I think it is refering to the TV package offered by NTL "mirroring" that of Sky.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

They would have been referring to multiroom if you wanted the Sky+ for £49 but you dont need to take that. Granted you would pay £99 for the box if you didnt want multiroom.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

the NTL engineer did the same with my areal cable didnt find out till a few weeks ago CS said i couldnt prove he did it so there was nothing they could do

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

No, he quite clearly stated what i said above. I was gobsmacked to be honest. I said to him that in order for me to get SKY+ (if i wanted it), it would cost me an arm and a leg. He said i would have to have the above setup in order to get SKY+, other customers have to do it. It felt like he didn't want me to have it if anything :erm:

It tipped me in NTL's direction after that convo.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Im not saying he didnt tell you that, what i was meaning was that what he told you was wrong. I work for the Turnaround team at Sky and what u were told was misleading information.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Personally I would go with sky for the channels, service, ease of use, for less crashing of the set top box (freeze needing a restart, if your old or infirm or just got a bad back!! AS IN MY CASE!!).

If you want a crap customer service, no replies to your email queries, repeats after repeats after repeats. We are talking Mind Boggling Repeats, like last nights film run three times in a week! or Police Camera Action that's 22 years old, the number of channels means naff all as they repeat programs across the channels so when you actually work out how many new programs you have viewed in a week it works out at about 3 or 4 compared with 40 on terrestrial.!! (family package)

Despair!, utter despair when you visit your broke mate who bought a £19.99 free-to-air box and gets most of the interesting channels for free anyway. Your left wondering why you pay em ANY money at all!! esspecially when you see just how long you have to wait for the adverts to finish as they BLAST the sound into your house waking your deaf grandma in her bedroom. You have no choice but to scramble to find the remote about every 15 mins, it litterally drives you mad!!!!!!!!, forget any sort of sly plans like the one I hatched once where by I worked out I could hop between two channels in a bid to avoid their once every fifteen minutes brainwashing. This fails as they try to schedual the programmes so the adverts all come on together. However I have had limited success in choice of program as if you include 1 BBC program then you can miss them altogether but I do worry about the whole effect this is having on me, lol. It is possible thou to watch two programs AND get most of the actual plots THAT IS HOW LONG THEY ARE!.

And if, IF! your not driven mad by their 'Catch Up Tv' a feature whereby they store 'SELECTION' of the best programmes from the previous week, now this is a real red herring trust me, I have very nearly come close to kicking in my screen relying on this pile of *****. Why I hear you ask, well you try finding out what THEY intend to record for example, like last weeks IMMIGRATION: The inconvienient truth for example, this was a three part documentary over three weeks! about the title so they put the first one, then the second and then not the third. An isolated incident, think again this has happened to me so often I really am setting myself up for it if I don't remember to ignore the feature, you have no choice if there are two programmes on, which one do you watch? It aint on the web buddy! oh no, unless they have since I last looked there is no listings anywhere making the whole thing USELESS! And how about the programs they don't want you to watch! Obviously the top best program of the week but insensitive to the government and that aint going on! (Despatches last week),

Having rattled on about all of that, personally I could not live with myself handing one penny to that Australian ******* Murdoch, so for now if I want anything extra I think free view will have to do, trust me unless you can put up with all of what I have wrote above I wouldn't touch Virgin with a sterilised barge pole!

As a POST SCRIPT to this I have just learnt VIRGIN is in talks over implementing some new spyware which tracks online privacy and well I think my relationship with VIRGIN has ended, I was truly happy when Mr Branson took over Telewest, you couldn't get any more arrogant than Telewest but now I can see many qualities in him that I so dislike about Murdoch, Virgin leaves a bad taste in your mouth!

---------- Post added at 01:49 ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 ----------

watch that get deleted

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Sky defo iv had both & Sky is better. the only reason that i dont have a Sky subscription is cuz i dont & cant have a land lane.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

http://bestuff.com/images/images_of_...jpg?1173466042
"We'd better get back, 'cause it'll be dark soon, and they mostly come at night... mostly" :D

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Freeview is the way to go but if you get crap reception and many areas do then, for the reasons nicely outlined by bugmenot, for the moment Sky is undoubtably the next best.

However don't forget about FreeSat. Hopefully this should give a better reception for most than Freeview. Both Sky and VM may suffer huge defections when this comes onstream

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

i would say go for both

i have bb phone and free tv from virgin and sky +

kids and i like sky 12and3 ;)

the best way to decide really though is what do you and yours want to watch

if none of you like Simpson's etc that shy provides they why pay for it on the other hand as you are paying and you do like those things why limit your self to virgin

virgin really havnt got anything you cant get with sky and again on the other hand sky hasnt got that much more if you can live with out the Simpson's etc

so ask your self what do you want to watch

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I would say go with Virgin, you get so much more HD content, the price is cheaper, the customer service is better AND because its cable its far better than satellite could ever be, FACT, not to mention at least with virgin, because its cable you always get the broadband speed you pay for unlike Sky where you only get a small percentage of the speed because they're crap - HA (its true tho, my mate has it and he says it STINKS)!

Oh and did i mention 3, YES THREE, ariels. That means you can watch Virgin 1 on one channel (my favourite channel), while having BBC recording and well, eh, im sure you could find something else to record too given the cracking selection of channels.

To be fair though, Sky Anytime is a better product than Virgin VOD (videos over digital for those who dont know, dont you know - chortle!) only because it has all the latest programs from Sky One which Sky wouldnt give to Virgin because Murdoch hates everyone - its true.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Another truly perceptive post... :rolleyes:

I appreciate the sarcasm... Oh, and it's not aerials, it's tuners... :p:

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Really!

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I have been quite surprised at how good an upscaled picture a V+ box will provide using HDMI to an 'HD ready' TV :)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

You're very easily conned aren't you... ;)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

TheBlueRaja, do you work for them?

How can you say their service is better? all they say when you call them is "you will need to upgrade your service", translated in to "give us more money".

I have never said the technology is not better, of cause it is. In theory you could set up your own TV station eventually, the only restriction is upload times but that will change and is something they should be working on but as I can see reading some of the posts THEY don't listen to anyone!

I have programmed computers from the age of 11 I'm 43 now and from a programming point of view Virgin is terrible, absolutely terrible. They have no idea how to utilise the technology to its maximum effect. Lets take the set-top software and program finder, its awful. he load up times are C*AP (depending on which box they give you) When you think that we are talking about THE only two way service out there, this really brings it in to perspective. Then look at the opposition, please don't raz if this is wrong but didn't Pace win awards for their software running the Sky system. A CHILD can tell you which one is faster, smoother and more reliable.

When I think of the possibilities with the cable system I cannot believe the clunky, slow and bug prone system we have to put up with now, it reminds me of the old analogue boxes, nay they were better!

To cap it off this reminds me of a situation whereby a Manager is in charge of purchasing not a technology specialist and the Manager ONLY looks at price so you always end up with cr*p and a frustrated software engineer who has to do the best with what he has got! Mirror that with Pace who had a FREE REIGN to design a system, THEN it was made to suit which is why it is far far superior.

As for ADSL, well what can you expect. It will never ever have the same potential as cable because the technology is dated from the start rather like Virgin set-top boxes that are purchased then designed rather than designed then purchased, ADSL is a spin off from the telephone industry, something they thought up afterwards, an add-on or a FUDGE!
ADSL has a physical limit of 256 upload period. There is ADSL2 but my gut instinct, fibre optics vs copper wire, well you decide I know where I sit from a technology point of view.

As per usual it's not the technology thats at fault, it's the people running that technology.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

No, he just takes kickbacks... :D

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Freeview is shyte

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

This is another case of what you want, what you wana pay and were you are. I have been with VM/NTL for almost 8 years now. I have had a brilliant service with no problems until NTL/Telewest rebranded to VM and since I have had no end of problems.

My farther is currently with SKY and has also had no end of problems. He was promised BB, TV, Phone for a price. Later after taking money from him they told him BB was not avalible anymore Due to no space on Exchange but if he paid £17 more a month they could fit him in !
Was also spoken rudley to by CS agents.

Its really luck of the draw with these companys.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

As Cobbydaler pointed out, i was being exceedingly sarcastic, its probably because your new to the forum (welcome by the way) and didnt know my previous on this but, i think, most people here know that i think Sky kicks Virgins buttocks and Virgin has a lot of catching up to do.

A lot of your points i've made in previous posts too.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

when my mam had Sky she had no problems. a faulty Digibox was replaced within a day.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

I'm just glad I have found somewhere I can blow a bit of steam off instead of hurling my small enough objects. I have moved em and my remote is looking rather distressed! so I suppose expect some further rants! ;) I can't believe I have found a forum about Cable where I can rant! I suppose I should join eh!

I'll sign up as MrPhil or something close.

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

lol

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

Ha Ha!;)

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

hehe

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

if i were you i would go to sky. virgin are probally the worst company i have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. Im sure there are alot of people that are very happy with vm but from my experience i would say go to sky. Thats what i will be doing as soon as my contract runs out

Re: NTL or SKY - Help please!
 

yep VM's customer service & service in general sucks big time.