[morkjt]

I had used this thread for much information gathering, before my complaint to NTL at the consistent 5-6mb speeds I was getting on my Terayon J210 Cable Modem (Cambridgeshire area).

Thought I owed putting something back...so I phoned NTL expecting and prepared for a bit of a scrap, and I did get a bit of a runaround.

Ended up handed back to Customer Services after the technical people agreed "The Terayon 210 cannot handle 10mb, and at most it delivers about 6.5mb sustained throughput: you need a modem upgrade - but I cannot arrange that for you". Customer Services defaulted to the "modem upgrades cost £50 argument", so I insisted I spoke to a Manager. It took some time, but I was persistent, and when faced with the manager the conversation went along the following lines:

Me: "Your technical people say my modem cannot handle 10mb"
NTL: "I'm sorry sir, its against our policy to upgrade modems unless a £50 fee is charged"
Me: "So I can't have a 10mb connection?"
NTL: "Not unless you pay £50 sir, or we can downgrade your line back to 2mb"
Me: "So if a new customer orders a 10mb service, you provide a modem that cannot actually deliver that kind of speed?"
NTL: "Er....no sir, a new customer would get a 10mb capable modem"
Me: "So what you are telling me is that I should cancel my service, and re-order to get the right modem for free"
NTL: <silence>
Me: "If thats the case, I wish to cancel my service please."
NTL: "Will you bear with me for a moment sir."
Me: "Sure"
NTL: "Sir, I'll be pleased to offer you a free upgrade as a measure of goodwill, when would be convenient for an engineer to visit?"
....

So anyone in a similar position, follow the above.