Things may of changed, but I was assigned a PIN before the installation, an NTL guy called at the house with a Customer Service Agreement to sign - and he wrote the PIN on that. Then when the installation was done, I was able to get straight online, after completing the registration process.
So if you have a similar document, or welcome letter, it may be worth checking to see if a PIN is written on it?
- it was 2 years ago, though, so, as I say, things may have changed.
<edit> sorry, didn't see Mick's post before I hit submit
