[ian@huth]

I have had Sky since it was first introduced as BSB in 1990 switching to Digital in 1998 when it was launched. During that time I have lived in Nottinghamshire, Devon, Essex, Yorkshire and back to Nottinghamshire. In all those locations I have had very few problems with the service and never have had to have a digibox repaired or replaced, the same goes for the remotes which you claim to have gone through 18 in ten years. The most that I ever lost Sky service was ten minutes or so during very heavy snow that built up on the dish. I did use to get sparklies on Sky analogue in Essex when there was very heavy rain but not bad enough to affect viewing to any extent. I have only ever had to phone Sky for support once in twelve years.

In Essex I also had Telewest analogue cable which was acceptable but had a few problems with their telephone line when there was prolonged rain. I have had NTL digital cable for a couple of years here in Nottinghamshire and was not impressed with the quality of this service. I went through 5 or 6 different STBs and never received an acceptable quality of service for more than a few weeks. The biggest problem was the picture freezing and stuttering, particularly in hot weather. This combined with frequent blackouts of a second or two, frequent picture breakup and pixallation and loss of sound solved by changing channel and then going back to the channel I was watching were important factors in getting rid of NTL DTV completely. Change in Sky+ subscription charges was the final nail in NTLs coffin.

I am no lover or hater of either company but do want to get a decent service for my monthly payments. To be honest I would love NTL to get its act together and give a service at least equal to that of Sky as cable has much more potential in the long run.