[Atticus Finch]

I am not trying to be cynical here but adopt a healthy analysis here

I used to work for ntl - I was there in the days of Nynex and that was a good company to be with - The upside was that it gave you a sense of purpose working there and when I joined in 1997 I had been out of work for a few years - so it gave a sense of purpose and direction.

I do grant that with Nynex and also with CWC that the waiting time to get through to customer services was awful -

I went through the first takeover to CWC Cable and Wirelss or clueless and worthless as we came to call them - They took over Nynex BellcableMedia and Videotron as well as Mercury and basically made a pigs ear of the company - They made their 15 percent proft and sold to whoever would have us -

I remember the cynical way in which they did it - I remember the vans comming to the door and them leaving us to our fate

I remember ntl taking over and with it a great sense of expectancy was in the camp

But it seems that thing have not improved

I have a lot of respect for Richard Branson - I respect his way of doing things - the companies that he owns - I use a virgin mobile and I will not use anyihing else. I have used virgin cola, virgin trains and have had excellent experience of their customer service and going the extra mile

Branson has a reputation for getting things done and improveming no end - He has said that he will not put his name to rubbish and I dont belive that he will - If anyone can sort out ntl Branson can -

I will not be the first to suddenly rush up and get cable with virgin media - even though I do respect virgin

I have seen the faults that go wrong with the set top boxes - I have seen the broadban faults and the outages that happen with the infrastruture - I have seen the days when they have an outage on the same day as a mayjor football match that people want to order and they canot do this - I have seen the same on a boxing night when the world and his wife want to watch a main boxer - I have seen the fire fighting management and the poor management decisions that have been made - and the lies that we have told customers or have been told to tell customers

I suggest that whilst one may want to rush into getting virgin cable tv - that one waits until say September and then madke a choce - Give it 6-7 months and then see if things have improved -

Remember with the trains it took a few years for Branson and his team to get it right and they are certainly on the way in that respect

So I will hold judgement and wait and see