1Mbit price reduction

[Neil]

So are ntl finally are waking up to the fact that the product was overpriced?

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by Neil

So are ntl finally are waking up to the fact that the product was overpriced?

It was not overpriced.

It potentially could be seen as that after the BT 1mb change, but even then remember that ntl's will be 1.5mb.

BT dropped the price, ntl upped the speed.

[seaneeboy]

I wouldn't say "Woken up to the fact" - more like "Realised they can't get away with it anymore"

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

so if the price does come down to £30 a month - will there be a mass take up of the 1mb service now?

Then Ntl better get a batch of Samsung boxes sorted!!!

[seaneeboy]

I imagine if they run out of samsungs it will work out easier for them to install SACMs

[scrotnig]

I always put new 1mb customers that already have TV, onto a SACM anyway. It's less hassle.

[IanGuy]

If the 1mb service dropped back to £34.99 I think they will have a great product, though this may happen it's not likely to soon as they have only just put the price up to £37.99. I really can't see the price being reduced again until well after the 1mb service has been upgraded to 1.5mb and most customers with broadband through their STB being upgraded to a Samsung box.
Has anyone actually thought about how much the new samsung boxes are costing NTL? Maybe the £3 increase per month is to help pay for all of the box replacements, once they have gained profit again maybe then they will think of reducing price?
Thats my 2p anyway.

[Neil]

Hmmm-I still don't see the point in paying £38.00 for a 1MB/1.5MB 'service' that is capped......

Just my opinion, but whatever the price is, isn't worth a bandwidth cap IMO.

It can only be a matter of time before ntl start enforcing the cap, & start penalising people-how chuffed will those peeps be then with their 1.5MB service?

The other thing is that the (Offnet) DSL package they now offer, does not appear to come with any caps at all (unless they have hidden them again )

[IanGuy]

I think the 'cap' on NTL's services aren't really a problem, it's 1gb a day which never gets enforced anyway. Whereas with BT, downloading 30gb in a month will cause you to get your speed reduced for the following month or extra bandwidth charged to your account.

[BIGZIPZ]

Originally Posted by Mark B

It potentially could be seen as that after the BT 1mb change, but even then remember that ntl's will be 1.5mb

Even after the 1Mb to 1.5Mb update, its worth remembering that this was a FREE upgrade, so essentially you should still only be paying for 1Mb worth, not 1.5Mb. And when you value its worth, it should still be considered a 1Mb package in that respect.

[Edit] (Neil)-Quote fixed.

[IanGuy]

Sadly I think only the 150k and 600k customers will be really getting a 'free' upgrade. It costs NTL to upgrade the 1mb service as the new samsung boxes have to be installed, it really would be much cheaper and easier to move everyone to a SACM and keep the pace boxes, unless later in business they will need the samsung boxes for some high speed activity on their tv service which I really can't see happening until about 2010 when all analogue services are stopped.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

<snip>It can only be a matter of time before ntl start enforcing the cap, & start penalising people-how chuffed will those peeps be then with their 1.5MB service?<snip>

They haven't bothered in 18 months - why do think it's only a matter of time?

[scrotnig]

Notification of the price rise was issued well in advance. At this point no mention was made of any speed increase. This then allowed customers the opportunity to cancel their service. Even those inside the minimum 12 months would have been allowed to cancel without penalty as long as they told us in writing within 30 days.

Since then the speed increase has been announced. So those customers who elected to stay on the 1mb service are now going to get a 1.5mb service for the same money. Yet *still* all I am hearing is how ntl are ripping people off.

I hate to say this, since it goes against everything I stand for, but if people really think it's THAT much of a rip off, then they should consider migrating to ADSL and giving that a try.

I'm sorry to have to say that, but as has been pointed out above, some people seem to want the moon on a stick!

Just because a service is one price from one company and a different price from another, that doesn't mean that one of those companies is ripping people off. ntl do not seek to be the cheapest on the market, they seek to be the best value. I genuinely believe in most areas they achieve that.

Also, we don't know whether ntl will respond to these changes in the market. All this sort of activity is reviewed and monitored daily, some on here give the impression that ntl are stupid and don't notice, of course they do, their own position is then reviewed, the result of that review can be that no change is deemed necessary. Give them chance to review this and see what transpires, remember ages ago 1mb suddenly dropped from £49.99 to £34.99 due to changes in the market, people forget that.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by orangebird

They haven't bothered in 18 months - why do think it's only a matter of time?

Because BT (for example) have openly stated that they will penalise/charge those that go over, & I think ntl would be silly not to do the same, now that they have a lead to follow ("BT do it, so do we now Sir" type of thing)

Whereas before, they were the only UK ISP in the UK with a cap (I believe), they can now fairly comfortably cap their users stringently.

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by Neil

It can only be a matter of time before ntl start enforcing the cap, & start penalising people

If you mean in the sense of routinely cutting people off for hitting a 1gb daily limit, no chance. Absolutely NO chance. You'd need to look at the refinacing deal and the emphasis the bondholders now place on growing customer numbers and revenues by RETAINING existing customers, then you'd need to understand the impact on 'churn rates' that would have, to realise it's not going to happen in the current climate.

Yes there are legitimate residential users who hit the 'cap', some get letters asking them to moderate their useage, NOBODY to my knowledge has had service terminated.