[Mauldor]

I think you maybe forgot something else to factor in (though maybe this has been said - dont know) - The initial cost of making any item is great at the start, thus why the latest CPU etc cost more but as the costs are made back over a period of time the costs drop.

The more people they sign up equals more money to pay for the backlink, equipment and so forth. Now ive had CM for easily 4 years i think and always been on either 600 or 1 meg - combine that with the fact that the cable in the street are also used to carry telephone and TV stuff - so not like they put a special cable purley for Broadband. Now on the other end of the line they need to buy equipment and pay for lines to various suppliers but this cost a certain amount for the year regardless if they have one person of 10,000 people using it.

The other factor is pay for the staff which in a company like NTL is wide and far reaching (call Centre etc). Now after a certain number have joined up and pay each month - over the years some costs will have gone as the equipment is paid for in full (unless they leased the equipment which would be madness). So you would expect to happen (as in ADSL for example) that for the price we pay now - we would have more features or greater speeds.

Take for example one service providor - they offer for £29 a month (and your not locking in for a year - if you want to get out you pay £59 - fair enough to me) a fixed IP, 1mbit / 256, 50mb webspace, on the said web space have PHP, Perl etc and so forth. There is even a mention that the connection has NO CAP at all - they offer a cheaper package with a cap but the price reflects this - so if your a light user - ideal you buy the very cheap indeed package and live with a lower level of service.

At the end of the day - as in everything in life - its about competetion - you either compete with a good price or a good package or you will soon find yourself out of the market. NTL at the moment are not in a doomed position as a lot of people cannot get ADSL but the number of exchanges that are enabled are growing by the day.

Im not saying ADSL is 10x better than cable but it would be daft to pay £37.99 for 1mbit with email not working etc when i can fork out £29 a month and have the same speeds and stuff that actually works.

When i went back to BT (phone) it was like a breath of fresh air - yes i never thought i would say that about BT but wait - my overall bill per month is cheaper and when i had downtime they gave me back £20 - this for 4 days when my line was out of action.

At the end of the day - my plan is rather simple - i will call up on monday and cancel my BB - unless they offer me a deal - then its definate that my line one month from now will cease to be - and remember - getting those customers back is HARD indeed - as i dont think i will ever come back to NTL as it seems to be getting worse and worse to me since i have been with them.

The Customer Reps on here who might chuck there 2p worth in - think about this - as more people leave might mean more jobs going - not your fault that ntl put the prices up but as always it is you guys and girls who will feel the backlash at the end of the day..