The 2nd connection I made also ran over the cut-off, only ending at 2hr 15mins because I disconnected it. Hmmmm, interesting - sounds like it is a problem at the NTL end (I hope).
BTW, I did download Spybot - Search and Destroy and found 11 previously uncovered (by Ad-Aware) browser hijackers and registry entries!! Just shows you can't be too careful eh?
STILL no response from NTL after a further 2 hours, who apparently are on until midnight!
Cheers.