[d0pey]

Originally Posted by James Henry

There we have to disagree.

I'd describe neither cableco as market leader as their premium packages are both slower and more expensive than their ADSL equivalents.

Bulldog's 16Mbit uncapped deal is as available as cable broaband and cheaper.

UKOnline's coverage isn't as high but again faster and cheaper.

Telewest's upstream on their 10Mbit deal is pathetic and needs increasing.

---------- Post added at 21:14 ---------- Previous post was at 21:11 ----------


Actually a more appropriate point would have been that ntl had just bought out Telewest with how much cash...

Therein lies the problem. They paid 4 billion USD in cash, over a billion in shares and took on a fair whack of assumed debt.

The combined company is now worth 7 billion USD.

Most of the above wasn't cash from the bank, it was debt. Again rather than invest in infrastructure, etc, ntl ****ed away their cash on acquisition.

They need to get the cost reductions going as ntl still aren't a profitable business and they need to get profitable and get investing fairly rapidly.

Of more concern is that some of the things that made Telewest more profitable are being chopped in the name of attracting customers. One particular thing of note being that while Telewest do actually credit check customers and will refuse to install to those who present a risk ntl will quite happily install to anyone regardless. Telewest employees are getting the same targets as ntl ones now, even though they have different criteria. ntl have been known to let people off of arrears on their bills to retain them as customers. Again the figures are everything, apart from the profit column.

---------- Post added at 21:19 ---------- Previous post was at 21:14 ----------


Indeed. For now. BT's 'autumn trial' this year is probably going to be VDSL. Then you have the FTTH trials. As I stated above BT will as part of 21CN be trialling deeper fibre into their network.

Worth remembering that while rollouts are 'on the road map' we don't know how the trials are going yet.

Im sorry but UKOnline's service is very very poor and unreliable. It took 3 months to get installed in the first place. Then when I finally got connected it randomly goes down a few times a day with no explaination from them.

I have not heard great things about bulldog either. Just because something is "cheaper and faster" does not mean it is better. I get far better connection speeds from my ntl 10meg connection.

When you convert over to ADSL2+ it also increases your latency. My latency on the cable connection is around 10-20ms all the time.

LLU is possibly the worst thing to happen in terms of UK customer satisfaction. I do not know anyone who is 100% happy with their LLU connection.

As soon as my contract with UKOnline is up im going to shut down the line and just get a 2nd NTL SACM.

---------- Post added at 09:53 ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 ----------

Originally Posted by Locky

chrysalis if i lose my job or fall ill i will be ok for a few month at home i have money put aside i will NEVER go onto the dole if that is what you are suggesting i am no scrounger thanks, i duno why you all gota critisize me all the time :/

What about people who dont have the chance to work and dont have money put aside. Many people loose their jobs through no fault of their own. Look at what is going on at Vauxhalls at the moment. When these people go onto the dole, are they scroungers because they cant find work? Many of them have gone into taxi driving, which is not as well paid! It causes massive problems with local economies.