Chris

NTL Freedom is ADSL just the same as any other ADSL you might subscribe to in the UK, isn't it? (Or am I missing something? There isn't a peculiar NTL version of ADSL that only works with the modem they supply, surely?) We're talking about an off-net product here, it's not like you're connecting to NTL's own cables and they can dictate what you use.

Any ADSL modem you buy (make sure it has ethernet) should work fine. ISPs just love giving out USB modems, on the assumption that everyone has USB but not everyone has ethernet. This may be true in the shoddy world of the PC, but every Mac sold in the last five years (probably considerably longer than that) has an ethernet port too. It's a damn shame that most ISPs don't seem to offer an ethernet modem option.

To be honest, as a Mac owner myself, if I were looking for ADSL, I would be looking for an ISP that offered a stripped-down product that doesn't come bundled with any modem, as there's no point paying for a USB modem I can't use via an inflated monthly subscription. I wouldn't look at NTL as an option, purely for that reason (NTL cable BB, on the other hand, I have found excellent).

Your friend might, just possibly, have been mis-sold his Freedom package if he was not made aware of the technical limitations (i.e. if you have a Mac, you can't use the modem we supply you). If he has, then he has the right to cancel his service. Note that even if he weren't trying to use an Airport with it, Mac OSX and USB Broadband doesn't mix at all well. Good device driver software is basically impossible to come by. This is hardly surprising, as the Mac using community prefers to use Ethernet, which is designed for networking, rather than compromise with USB, which is not.