[brianlb]

[QUOTE=monkeybreath]
[snip] There are a number of things that you can do yourself to combat spam; i only receive about 1-2 spam messages per week so i don't think the problem lies entirely with ntl.
The first thing that i suggest is to download a programme such as mailwasher, which will filter the spam on your pc, so you won't have to go through all of it to find the genuine messages.
The other thing is that if i a piece of spam contains an 'unsubscribe' link DO NOT use this! it just validates your address for the spammer, and will lead to just more spam! [snip]

Thanks. I never reply to spam messages, never click on the 'unsubscribe' link, and try not to give any indication that my e-mail address functions. I have investigated a number of spam filter programs but most of them either require you to compile your own list of Reply To addresses from spams received (not a practical proposition considering that I'm receiving several hundred a day) or else have their own criteria for identifying spam which are usually so broadly drawn that they are liable to eliminate genuine messages too. I appreciate the difficulty of spotting definite spam in an automated program, but Yahoo (and nowadays Hotmail, I suspect) manage it, and I don't see why NTL shouldn't manage it too.

And for minimal expense NTL could certainly filter out virus-infected messages instead of blithely passing them on. How many ntlworld.com customers take the trouble to update their virus definition files every day (I do, and a great bore it is)? Again, others do (and send you a message telling you that such-and-such a message has been detected with a virus and has been deleted): why shouldn't NTL?

As for broadband, why does NTL give evidence to parliamentary committees boasting of their commitment to bring broadband to all their customers in the UK, and then do nothing whatsoever to supply it to their customers in the nation's capital? NTL boasted of its experiment with WHAM (Wireless High-speed Access Modem) which was a triumphant success -- I had broadband via WHAM for a year or so, and it was almost faultless -- so NTL wound it up without a word of explanation and never offered it on a commercial basis. Get the political credit for it, then close it down. Yuk.

Brian