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Originally Posted by Charlie_Bubble
The solution to the problem is clear. No more 1Meg cable. Limit everyone to 512k or 150k packages, or raise the prices charged for the packages. Then hopefully NTLs network would be able to cope again. The total amount of data that could be downloaded would be almost halved or they get more money in to help with upgrading. The problem with this of course is NTL will lose money, about £10 for the x thousand of people they downgrade to 512k from 1Meg (If they all chose to stay). Then they risk looking like a second rate broadband provider when compared with Telewest offering 2meg cable and ADSL companies offering 2Meg ADSL for almost the price of NTLs 1Meg service. This is the crux of the matter. To stop people downloading so much you have to either physically limit them by cutting bandwidth or charging more to discourage it. NTL won't do this though. NTL want as much of people's money as they can. Their problem is that if you cut peopleââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s bandwidth and they have a choice to go with ADSL, they probably will and you lose money. If they raise prices on premium packages, they stop being competitive when compared to most other ISPs. Itââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s already looking a little too much when you can get cheaper 1Meg ADSL with prices likely to fall a wee bit further as BT tries to encourage more people to take the leap
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I thought ntl were already competing for the third rate broadband supplier market
Serioulsy though I think you hit the nail on the head here, ntl have got themselves into a hole they cannot see a way out of. They are in danger of loosing significant market share as they cannot afford to be competitive with the ADSL market. Ntl once could have been the market leaders in broadband and accordingly set the price structure. At the time when the 1Meg speed price was cut, 1meg ADSL was a rarity. As players entered the 1Meg ADSL market they followed ntls pricing levels. Nw ntl might regret the price cut but cannot increase simply because customers would leave in droves to their competitors. A similar danger is emerging at the 150k and 512/600k levels where ADSL is becoming cheaper.
About the only real hope ntl have of getting out of this hole is to plead for tolerance and understanding from their existing customers, give us clear and specific plans as to when upgrades will be in place (only a month or two at most), and place an embargoe on signing up new customers whilst this occurs. If virgin.net could take that attitude late last year (and they are I understand effectively an ADSL based ISP largely controlled as a franchise by ntl) why not ntl? Oh I forgot ntl management have their set closed ways of dealing with things on the we know whats best for you dictation principle.