Well,
I stand corrected on nearly every statement i've made regarding NTL.
Turns out the first guy was indeed correct - there is an active service outage which is only affecting a relative minority of users. Kinda leaves me with egg on my face!
Ive been in contact with NTL this evening in a no-nonsense technical chatter about the connection and whats ocourring. I was very satisfied with the explanation and I'm confident they are doing all they can to resolve the fault.
The service was outstanding and based upon it I would gladly say NTL have done their best for me support wise and I would continue to reccomend them.
Well played, NTL!

Thanks so much!!