Cable Forum - View Single Post - An end to my intermittent disconnection problems.

schadfield · 06-10-2005, 13:48

The ADSL connection on my BT line went live last night. As soon as my new ISP resolves a minor authentication problem I will be cancelling my remaining NTL accounts.

I first joined NTL as an unmetered dial-up customer. When broadband prices dropped I signed up for the full triple-play in 2001.

NTL have consistently remained cheaper than the Sky+ADSL option which has been the main reason I have remained with them. However, for the packages I want the difference has become small enough to encourage me to jump ship for a better quality of service.

Cable TV went about six months ago. I had long been irritated by slow, bug ridden STBs, unpopulated EPGs and a dismal interactive service. Following replacement of a faulty STB my ability to order Front Row movies was lost and NTL seemed unable to fix it.

Three times I sat with my daughter to watch a PPV movie and every time it failed to authenticate my order. These attempts were spread over two weeks punctuated by *long* phone sessions to CS with repeated promises that "it will be fixed in 24 hours."

When a good deal for Sky+ came to my attention I ordered and haven't looked back. The whole family regards Sky+ as the best thing since sliced bread.

As I don't rely on NTL for news or email I have been fairly happy with their broadband. This summer reliability has been awful. Frequent, intermittent loss of service for periods ranging from a few minutes to over five hours.

CS arranged for engineer to visit and as I suspected found nothing wrong at my end. Half an hour after he left my connection dropped again.

No doubt if I had persisted they would have eventually fixed the problem - but only after many hours on hold to CS and a few more fruitless engineer visits. I came to the conclusion I would resolve the problems with my connection more quickly and reliably by switching to ADSL.

The cable network is a wonderful thing and should be the basis of a great business. NTL, however, are rubbish. Every contact I have with them reinforces my belief that the systems and procedures they have in place are broken and don't look like getting fixed any time soon.

I will never buy products or services from NTL again. If another company takes over the cable network I might be interested...

06-10-2005, 13:48	#1
schadfield Inactive Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 2	An end to my intermittent disconnection problems. The ADSL connection on my BT line went live last night. As soon as my new ISP resolves a minor authentication problem I will be cancelling my remaining NTL accounts. I first joined NTL as an unmetered dial-up customer. When broadband prices dropped I signed up for the full triple-play in 2001. NTL have consistently remained cheaper than the Sky+ADSL option which has been the main reason I have remained with them. However, for the packages I want the difference has become small enough to encourage me to jump ship for a better quality of service. Cable TV went about six months ago. I had long been irritated by slow, bug ridden STBs, unpopulated EPGs and a dismal interactive service. Following replacement of a faulty STB my ability to order Front Row movies was lost and NTL seemed unable to fix it. Three times I sat with my daughter to watch a PPV movie and every time it failed to authenticate my order. These attempts were spread over two weeks punctuated by long phone sessions to CS with repeated promises that "it will be fixed in 24 hours." When a good deal for Sky+ came to my attention I ordered and haven't looked back. The whole family regards Sky+ as the best thing since sliced bread. As I don't rely on NTL for news or email I have been fairly happy with their broadband. This summer reliability has been awful. Frequent, intermittent loss of service for periods ranging from a few minutes to over five hours. CS arranged for engineer to visit and as I suspected found nothing wrong at my end. Half an hour after he left my connection dropped again. No doubt if I had persisted they would have eventually fixed the problem - but only after many hours on hold to CS and a few more fruitless engineer visits. I came to the conclusion I would resolve the problems with my connection more quickly and reliably by switching to ADSL. The cable network is a wonderful thing and should be the basis of a great business. NTL, however, are rubbish. Every contact I have with them reinforces my belief that the systems and procedures they have in place are broken and don't look like getting fixed any time soon. I will never buy products or services from NTL again. If another company takes over the cable network I might be interested...