[ian@huth]

Just think about things for a moment. How long has it taken NTL to upgrade to the current speeds and have all customers been upgraded yet? The longest wait for the upgrade is for 1Mb customers with STBs waiting to go to 1.5Mb. I would imagine that there is a considerable number of middle tier STB customers with Pace STBs that will have to be supplied with either an exchange Samsung box or SACM in order to achieve the forthcoming 2Mb service. This will take some time to do. As I have said a couple of times before, the £25 admin fee for the change may just be to jump the queue and have your new config file sent down to only you, together with a box swap or CM if needed. I would imagine that if NTL were to wait for all customers to have the right equipment needed to take advantage of the higher speeds then it would be a very long wait.

Even if the £25 is applied to all existing customers in order to upgrade then it is a small price to pay for what you will be getting. It is not that long ago that lower tier customers were paying £17.99 for 150k so effectively they are getting nearly 7 times the speed for a one off payment of £25. Middle tier will have increased from 600k to 2Mb, more than 3 times the speed for a one off £25. Upper tier will have tripled in speed for the £25.

If a year ago 1Mb customers had been offered a 3Mb service for a one off £25 payment I think they would all have said "bluddy great, I'll have that please".

Honestly, what do some people want? Will anything ever satisfy them?