[andygrif]

Hmmm...a bit of cross posting going on. I'll post what I replied over at DS:

I see your point, but I don't feel this is the answer - on a number of levels:

1. Added value services that cost very little money per subscriber to provide (like the ones you mentioned) improve the chances of getting more customers and retaining those you already have. Although there is a strong case for a 'no-frills' tier of service, removing three very valuable services won't help get the customers that require these.

2. The newsgroups and the webspace maybe, but removing email for be a crazy move for ntl - surely this is one of the most used resources for most internet users.

3. I would think (although I'm willing to be proved wrong) that the actual bandwidth is the most expensive part of providing broadband to customers. So suddenly doubling capacity for everyone would not be cost efficient at the price you suggest, and I would not think that many current 600k or below customers would pay more. On top of this you'll find those that want to use web based email actually use up far more bandwidth reading their mails than those that just download it into Outlook.

4. The 150k service serves two very important roles - first and most important it boosts ntl's 'broadband' subscriber figures. Second, it provides a viable alternative for light users to the dial-up method. This also frees up a phone line allowing ntl to make even more money becuase you can make calls at the same time as surfing.

The answer is not to downgrade services becuase they are having trouble providing some of them. This is a bit like saying that we should shut the M1 at rush hour becuase of the traffic jams!

The answer is to fix what they have, make it better than anyone else's service - this will mean that more people will stick with them, and they can get new customers on-board too.