UK's Biggest?

[Derek]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/05/ntl_broadband/

Seemingly 200k more than number 2. Quite an achievement for a company so badly mired in debt a few years back.

[th'engineer]

Remember the NTL circle

Gain customers, lose customers to poor service, worry what shall we do , offer discounts, Gain Customers, lose customers to poor service, worry what shall we do, offer discounts etc

It all goes round less investment in people to keep network going ( Job cuts recently)

Less investment in equipment to support new subcribers (to give shareholders more divi)

[Toto]

Originally Posted by dezzo

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/05/ntl_broadband/

Seemingly 200k more than number 2. Quite an achievement for a company so badly mired in debt a few years back.

Hmm, not bad, Th'engineers comments notwithstanding.

[Chrysalis]

been the biggest doesnt mean you are the best

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

been the biggest doesnt mean you are the best

It does mean that you are doing something right though seeing 9/10 of the customers could go elsewhere if they felt it was necessary.

[th'engineer]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

been the biggest doesnt mean you are the best

The actual fact being the biggest is a bad thing in business because all it takes is the competition to offer something different and you need more investment to keep up.

Say for instance BT offered all customers un capped unlimited broadband the whole NTL investment plan would be in tatters .

The city would look at NTL plans and put investment in BT not NTL

What Bill Goodland is gambling on is selling bandwidth not a BB service

Also the dividends would go down and more staff would be made redundant .

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by dezzo

It does mean that you are doing something right though seeing 9/10 of the customers could go elsewhere if they felt it was necessary.

I think NTL have high turnover which explains why they are having to constantly have a special offer on to recover customers at a greater rate they are losing them.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

I think NTL have high turnover which explains why they are having to constantly have a special offer on to recover customers at a greater rate they are losing them.

It's not that high. And they are still gaining customers quarter on quarter.

[BBKing]

This is actually fairly true - I monitored the roll out of Ambit 250 modems (purely out of interest) and was astounded at how many went in in the first month - not all would be replacements for dodgy modems by a long chalk.

What we're seeing, of course, is a huge increase in the market for broadband, BT and ntl are chasing an ever increasing pot so it's not surprising that both manage to sign up great wodges of new punters* every week.

*Sorry 'highly valued revenue generation units'**

** Gremlins again I'm afraid - meant to say 'customers'

[th'engineer]

Originally Posted by BBKing

What we're seeing, of course, is a huge increase in the market for broadband, BT and ntl are chasing an ever increasing pot so it's not surprising that both manage to sign up great wodges of new punters* every week.

*Sorry 'highly valued revenue generation units'**

** Gremlins again I'm afraid - meant to say 'customers'

Nice one you been on a course at the NTL Bill Goodland School of Customer Service

[BBKing]

I went to the 'who the f*** do you think you are' school of customer service, which is why they don't let me talk to customers, and I have to wear this muzzle.

[th'engineer]

Originally Posted by BBKing

I went to the 'who the f*** do you think you are' school of customer service, which is why they don't let me talk to customers, and I have to wear this muzzle.

[Charlie_Bubble]

But is the claim a load of balls anyway? According to the news item on www.adslguide.org.uk, it probably is. If you go to BT 3rd Quarter results & highlights, under the Retail section you find this paragraph:
"The growth of broadband continues with 1,491,000 BT Retail connections at December 31, 2004, an increase of 16 per cent in the quarter. Net additions of 208,000 were a 26 per cent share of the DSL market additions. Broadband turnover grew by 79 per cent to £145 million. "

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by El Reg

However, a spokesman for BT rubbished NTL's number crunching. At the end of December BT Retail had 1.491m broadband punter, he told us, more than NTL.

Originally Posted by dezzo

It does mean that you are doing something right though seeing 9/10 of the customers could go elsewhere if they felt it was necessary.

And they do:

Yesterday, BT announced it is on the verge of hooking up its five millionth wholesale broadband connection - a major milestone a year ahead of schedule.

As a network Ntl are miles behind, they shouldn't be after all they have all the best technology on their side (allegedly!!).

[BBKing]

As a network Ntl are miles behind, they shouldn't be after all they have all the best technology on their side (allegedly!!).

Go away and find out the relative % of the area of the UK served by BT exchanges and ntl cable. Then ask yourself why BT might have a few more connections...