The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

Right, I'm finally moving out of the village I'm currently in and have purchased a house in grimsby/cleethorpes. Now atm I'm on 2MB adsl with the normal and rubbish 256kb up. Now the house i bought is only 120 metres from the exchange (BT) so i can get 6.5mb to the full 8MB on BT's ADSLMAX.

The question is should i get NTL on the 10mb line? After reading all the bad on here it's off putting but surely someone on NTL must love it? I know cable has advantages over adsl - quicker routes to websites etc.. and lower pings but is it worth the extra money?

So what should I do? Get 8MB from BT or 10MB from NTL.. :)

Thanks for your time.

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

Amazingly large proportion of people on forums that are 100 or so metres from telephone exchanges :) out of couriousity you picked that deliberate or just lucky?

I was going to say ask for feedback from ntl peeps in your area since ntl is a area dependent some areas are good others not so good, and your distance from exchange which you just confirmed is very good.

If you can get LLU I would go with adsl, if not probably cable.

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

NTL charge £35 a month for the upto 10meg service which in my experience is upto 7meg. So I'd go for ADSL as you can get a similar speed for less.

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

I dont like ADSL.

Cable modems are ALWAYS connected, unlike ADSL modems.
ADSL still seems like dialup to me (apart from the speeds)
ADSL still uses the same old copper wires as 56k does!

but its a matter of opinion

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

Yep Most Adsl uses the same crap network of BT so it doesnt matter who you buy from. BT controlls the speed due to it being thier WIRE.

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

ntl in Grimsby is pretty good really. Whilst I'd recommend you to go for 10mb as I get 1200kb/s..........I don't want you taking my bandwidth :p:

Nah though, I'd go for it personally.

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

Well you either want BT which is:

40gig/month for £29.99
20gig/month for £24.99
and 'up to' 8mb which you may get close to!

Or you have unlimited NTL:
£24.99 for 'up to' 4mb
£34.99 for 'up to' 10mb!
which you may/may not get full speed on depending on how many pr0n leechers/warez kiddies are in your area now it's an 'unlimited' service :)

So it's really a question of what's more appealing to YOU!?

As for the always on bit, just get an ADSL router that redials dropped connections and let that maintain an 'always on' connection for you.

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

I stopped dialling up to access the internet when I threw away my 56k modem :D

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

Never heard of ADSL routers then :)

I don't know many people at all who have an ADSL modem that dials on demand now, ISPs tend to give out routers for free. Attach to phone line, enter the username and password, it connects and stays connected barring a fault.

Ah wires. So you've no problem with using the same coax that transmits analogue TV and is 20 years old in some areas, but it's bad to have phone service and internet sharing the same cable. I'm sure people on 100Mbit VDSL2+ over twisted copper pairs are most upset.

Cable has no better pings than I do on my DSL to be honest. I don't see anyone on cable here who pings the Beeb in 6 - 7ms. My DSL is however unbundled so is not representative of BT Wholesale DSL. BT Wholesale DSL will indeed ping slightly higher than some ntl areas.

I get the feeling you've never used DSL. I have used both DSL and cable, and worked for DSL and cable companies over the past 6 years and would like to think I can supply a balanced view of the two technologies.

OP go to http://www.samknows.com and enter your details there, see what's available to you in terms of DSL services. Some offer much better value for money than the standard price ntl, and if you are close to the exchange and Be or UKOnline / Easynet is available you could get over 20Mbit for less than £30 / month.

If you don't mind giving them your phoneline and Bulldog is available to you you could get a similar speed from them for a similar price.

Just to address another point I'm guessing as you referred to ADSLMax that you were talking about just general DSL using a BT line, however if you weren't and were referring to using BT Broadband it probably isn't the best plan there are far better DSL deals available so I wouldn't really bother with that one.

Research your options with Samknows, there are DSL options that give more bang for the buck than ntl's cable packages, it's just a case of if they are available to you, in addition to this if customer service and technical support quality are an 'issue' it's a reason to be hesitant about taking ntl and some DSL ISPs. Browsing forums such as http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk will give you an idea of CS quality.

The quality of service available on both sets of services can vary from region to region and exchange to exchange. On cable someone down the road could have an impeccable service while yours is dire, likewise on DSL from area to area the quality of service offered varies. LLU services tend to have a better quality of service than BT ones.

---------- Post added at 12:09 ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 ----------

That's incorrect BT only have control over speeds on their wholesale DSL, unbundled lines are only limited by line quality and line length. As OP is pretty close to the exchange those shouldn't be a problem.

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

what about LLU and other ADSL suppliers. Only a mug would look only at BT and not also check out the others!

---------- Post added at 12:16 ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 ----------

also remember with NTL you dont need a phone line. so if you only need your mobile and dont want a landline, go with NTL.

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

Well every street has there own bandwidth (According to NTL 20 people at max will ever use the same fiber) thats how Cable works and I;m not a big downloader.. the most i have every downloaded in 1 month is 128gb and that was because i formatted and lost all programs, game mods and addons etc.. So don't worry.

I'm ADSL now always on with a router.. i hear the D-Link gamelounge DGL-4300 is a good one for NTL and telewest cable.. Anyone have this on NTL?

Thanks for all of this BT does have a 882kb up on its Max but its £40.00 a month and still 8mb and with NTL getting 24 - 30mb end of the year (accoring to an "insider" they will to compete with LLUs) i think the right choice would be NTL... Seen as it's all fiber and not just fiber over BT's big fat pipes.

And no - the exchange was very lucky! I'm right near the beach (3 minute walk at tops) very nice house :)

Just out of question - as I will be getting 10MB, TV Family pack and Telephone from NTL can i get a deal via the phone? Also will i get a NTL 250 modem for 10mb?

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

128GB/ will be considered canning your bb be any bb provider regradless of cap or not.

Ntl:

Fibre to the hub
Fibre to the type 3 cab
Coax to the Dist Cab
Coax to the home.

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

Yep no crap copper..

What do you mean?

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

Well, the original poster did state 'BT' twice in his post so that's why I gave him those BT options for comparison to NTL, not because it's the only one to consider.

Re: The big question.. NTL or ADSL?
 

LLU from bulldog and be is not on my exchange so LLU is out of the question.