NTL or Sky in new house???

[tisdalj]

Hello all.

First post here. I've just exchanged contracts on my first house and I'm thinking of signing up to NTL or Sky and I'm looking for some opinions and advice.

With NTL I'm looking at the 3 for £30 option of TV, Phone and 2mb internet. With Sky I'm looking at similar, but you need to have a BT line. Monthly cost for Sky is £31 including BT.

With Sky they promise a wireless router, but many people have been complaining about the router and it's apparent problems with Xbox Live.

The main use for the internet connection will be XBox Live, with occasional web browsing from a PC. The TV will get used all the time, but the phoneline very little.

So here are a few questions:

What equipement will I get with NTL? Is the modem wireless? And if not can I buy a wireless one (Sky restrict you to their own modem)?

Is the NTL Modem compatible with XBox Live? What is connection speed like? Any lag?

Do I get a phone with the phone line?

NTL Is available in my area, but how do I determine where the cable comes into my house?

Does the Set-Top-Box need to be plugged into a phone line?

I plan to put my TV in a place where there is currently no TV aerial or phone sockets. Will the installer run cables to the correct position for me?

What are peoples general feelings about NTL and their service?

Sorry for the long post. I Look forward to your replies.

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

What equipement will I get with NTL? Is the modem wireless? And if not can I buy a wireless one (Sky restrict you to their own modem)?

No but you can buy a wireless router (Linksys WRT54GS for example)

Is the NTL Modem compatible with XBox Live? What is connection speed like? Any lag?

if your getting 3 for £30 you wont get a stand alone modem, you will get a set top box that contains the modem

Do I get a phone with the phone line?

no

NTL Is available in my area, but how do I determine where the cable comes into my house?

go to the NTL site and enter your post code

Does the Set-Top-Box need to be plugged into a phone line?

no

I plan to put my TV in a place where there is currently no TV aerial or phone sockets. Will the installer run cables to the correct position for me?

most likely if you ask the installer



personally ive had the odd problem with NTL in 10 or so years but nothing that hasnt been sorted either quickly or after a couple of attempts and financial compensation. Cant comment on Sky as ive never used them

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by tisdalj

Hello all.

First post here. I've just exchanged contracts on my first house and I'm thinking of signing up to NTL or Sky and I'm looking for some opinions and advice.

to the forum.

With NTL I'm looking at the 3 for £30 option of TV, Phone and 2mb internet. With Sky I'm looking at similar, but you need to have a BT line. Monthly cost for Sky is £31 including BT.

With Sky they promise a wireless router, but many people have been complaining about the router and it's apparent problems with Xbox Live.

The main use for the internet connection will be XBox Live, with occasional web browsing from a PC. The TV will get used all the time, but the phoneline very little.

So here are a few questions:

What equipement will I get with NTL? Is the modem wireless? And if not can I buy a wireless one (Sky restrict you to their own modem)?

You do have to use whatever modem NTL supply, and they don't currently supply a wireless one. However, you can buy (relatively cheaply) a wireless router or access point. You just need to make sure it is Cable compatible (generally, if it doesn't come with an ADSL modem built in, it is compatible). Many people on this site (myself included) use one of the Linksys WRT54G series routers..

Is the NTL Modem compatible with XBox Live? What is connection speed like? Any lag?

That seems to be a little variable. I've always had fine connections on XBox lLive, but a few people don't.

Do I get a phone with the phone line?

TBH, I don't know. You didn't when I joined, but then it was Cable and Wireless when I joined. Things may have changed.

NTL Is available in my area, but how do I determine where the cable comes into my house?

Usually, there is a little grey or brown box a couple of feet up from the ground.

Does the Set-Top-Box need to be plugged into a phone line?

No. Anything it needs to send back to NTL, it just sends back up the cable.

I plan to put my TV in a place where there is currently no TV aerial or phone sockets. Will the installer run cables to the correct position for me?

They should do.

What are peoples general feelings about NTL and their service?

Hard to say really. I personally have found NTL to be generally reliable, but sometimes a little reluctant to fix things if they go wrong.

Sorry for the long post. I Look forward to your replies.

No Problem.

[sav_c]

I've had Sky and NTL and BT services and my experiences have produced the conclusion that:

BB - NTL
TV - Sky
Phone - BT

are the best options IMO.

I've had BT Broadband and it was dire. NTL BB is a million times better. I had to constantly restart my modem every couple of days. You can't stay connected 24/7 as they lead you to believe. NTL BB is great, it works and the only time I've been knocked off the system is when an upgrade took place - a quick restart later I had double the speed. It is more expensive to pay for NTL than 'free' Sky BB but it also doesn't have the same grindingly slow access when everyone gets home from school/work. Sky BB is heavily shaped so watch out. Free doesn't mean worth it.

NTL TV was dire, the box kept freezing and would need a reboot every couple of days. The programme guide was sooooo slow and using one of the menus guaranteed to crash the box too. In short, as long as you never need to change channel it was great! The channels are all over the place and a pain to remember - I know they are supposed to be doing a reorganisation but they've been talking about if for 3 years! I moved to Sky+ after 1 year with NTL and have not looked back. Sky and Sky+ work, the channels are well ordered and the boxes don't crash every day.

My BT phone line has been far superior to my NTL. The NTL line seems to suffer from many more failures than the BT line.

Q. What equipement will I get with NTL? Is the modem wireless? And if not can I buy a wireless one (Sky restrict you to their own modem)?

A. You get a cable modem. You can buy a wireless router for £25+ depending on make. The router plugs into the modem and you have wireless access.

Q. Is the NTL Modem compatible with XBox Live? What is connection speed like? Any lag?

A. Don't know, never done it.

Q. Do I get a phone with the phone line?

A. No.

Q. NTL Is available in my area, but how do I determine where the cable comes into my house?

A. Talk to the installer. In my experience they are usually accomodating as long as you don't want anything that will cause them too much extra work. They get paid by the job so they don't want to be there too long.

Q. Does the Set-Top-Box need to be plugged into a phone line?

A. Not the NTL one. SKy and Sky+ do.

Q. I plan to put my TV in a place where there is currently no TV aerial or phone sockets. Will the installer run cables to the correct position for me?

A. If you have no NTL in your house they'll run the cable to where you want it, but be aware that they won't lift carpets etc. If you want the cable to be hidden you need to be prepared do the lifting and moving yourself.

Q. What are peoples general feelings about NTL and their service?

A. In my opinion, NTL BB is great, phone is OK, TV is crap, customer service is appalling.

[LixeL]

Originally Posted by sav_c

Q. What are peoples general feelings about NTL and their service?

A. In my opinion, NTL BB is great, phone is OK, TV is crap, customer service is appalling.

Absoutely spot on (apart from the customer service=appalling bit, I would use "fine when asking for new services but any other time totally and utterly appalling")

[Graham M]

Originally Posted by Wicked_and_Crazy

if your getting 3 for £30 you wont get a stand alone modem, you will get a set top box that contains the modem

Wrong. In some areas they don't use the Modem in the STB regardless, it's dependant on the platform I think.

Bromley - STB or SACM
Langley - SACM Only

I think that's it anyway, I think they're trying to get everyone on Modems now anyway due to the fact that the Samsung STB can't support over 2MBit reliably.

[tisdalj]

Thanks for the replies. NTL Sounds promising.

Is the TV really that bad? Can't I re-order the channels manually?

As for the broadband stuff. Am I right in assuming that the modem is actually built into the NTL Set-Top-Box that also shows the TV stuff?

The Wireless router is then plugged into the back of the STB?

So apart from power cables I, the only other cable I need is the one for the NTL?

I've attached a rather crude drawing to illustrate what I mean? Is the diagram correct?

[tisdalj]

Originally Posted by Zeph

Wrong. In some areas they don't use the Modem in the STB regardless, it's dependant on the platform I think.

Bromley - STB or SACM
Langley - SACM Only

I think that's it anyway, I think they're trying to get everyone on Modems now anyway due to the fact that the Samsung STB can't support over 2MBit reliably.

So how does the modem connect up if not into the STB? Does it still plug into the same cable that the STB Uses?

I'm in Bracknell if it makes any difference.

[sav_c]

[QUOTE=tisdalj;

Is the TV really that bad? Can't I re-order the channels manually?

[/QUOTE]

You can do that (you could when I was a customer). However the channel numbers stay the same, so you'll get 101, 102, 701, 999 etc if that's the way you've ordered the channels.

Sometimes they have a problem thinking at NTL. I seem to remember some of the kids channels were next to porn channels! FFS. I know they are not running at the same time but for crying out loud, have some sense as to what channels you are placing next each other!

[MovedGoalPosts]

You're just about right with your sketch. Don't forget that you would have a phone line too with ntl.

I'm not aware that you have to have a BT phone line for a Sky box, I just thought it was you have to have a land line, and even that can be avoided if you pay a premium and don't want multiroom.

Broadband from ntl:telewest is supplied either from a cable modem, or in some cases via a TV STB (which has a modem built in). Both of these allow you to connect a computer direct, or alternatively your choice of router (wired or wireless). Cable based broadband usually has more consitent speeds as it is not affected by distance from an exchange. ADSL boradband will be slower the further you are from the exchange. The claimed 8meg service speeds on ADSL are rarely achieved, especially if you are more than 2km from the exhange.

As a basic digital TV service ntl does quite well when compared to SKY or freeview. The NTL STB just plugs directly to the cable feed, there is no additional phone line connection. Some people have complained of "blocky" pictures or pixellation, especially with larger plasma type TV screens but I've not seen this personally. However if you want a PVR, then currently ntl cannot offer this and Sky+ is your only choice.

Ntl has recently renumbered the TV channels, to make it more logical. You can't change the channel numbers but you can set up your own favourites list so you can move up / down your own list.

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by LixeL

Absoutely spot on (apart from the customer service=appalling bit, I would use "fine when asking for new services but any other time totally and utterly appalling")

I'd add that Sky's customer service is almost as bad as ntl's - but thankfully their system is more reliable (in my experience) so you never need to phone them.

BT's customer service, whilst a lot of people slag it off, I have found to be excellent by comparison.

All ISP are rubbish!

[lostandconfused]

with regards to the set top box and cable modem, as far as im aware you can no longer have broadband fitted through the set top box on a new installation on any platform.
even if you move house you will be installed with a cable modem even if you had it through the stb before.

im not sure but i think its got something to do with the speeds being upgraded over time and the limits of the set top boxes (even the samsungs)

[Graham M]

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

with regards to the set top box and cable modem, as far as im aware you can no longer have broadband fitted through the set top box on a new installation on any platform.
even if you move house you will be installed with a cable modem even if you had it through the stb before.

im not sure but i think its got something to do with the speeds being upgraded over time and the limits of the set top boxes (even the samsungs)

Basically what I said, only in more words

[tisdalj]

Sorry for another long post. There is a question at the bottom if you can't be bothered to read the rest.

I went to the house (it's actually a maisonette) last night to measure up. All the furniture has been removed, so I got to have a good look at what connections are in the living room. There's hundreds of them!

What I found was a cable coming into the house direct from a satellite dish. The vendor is taking the dish, so if I was to get Sky I would need a new dish and to run a cable around 3 walls - something I don't really want to do as it is quite a thick cable, but as I'm not that bothered about watching TV the vendor mentioned that I could pay Sky a one-off fee and have a dish and box, but just get the free-view channels. This would save me some money per month and allow me to pay for BT internet/phone.

I also found a standard Aerial point, but again this was on the wrong wall and I would need to run another thick cable around. Plus, as it is a communal aerial the vendor says freeview is not receivable. (They actually seemed to think that NTL scamble the signal so you have to use NTL.)

Most interesting find was 2 NTL boxes. The first was just a phone line, located next to the standard phone outlet. Why don't NTL use the standard one?

The second was an NTL box with 2 aerial-like sockets on. It was located on the wrong wall for my TV, but following the cable back to it's source, it comes into the living room quite close to where I intend to put my TV, but the wrong side of a door. I did notice, however that the cable from this box is quite thin, so running this up and over the door frame into the correct position shouldn't be a problem and won't be very visible. So I think in light of this, NTL could be the winner.

My only remaining question is: Am I correct in assuming that as the NTL box has 2 sockets on it, one will be used to connect the STB, whilst the other is used to connect the modem? Or does the Modem connect into the NTL phone-line box?

[lostandconfused]

Originally Posted by Zeph

Basically what I said, only in more words

sorry missed the last bit thats what you get for reading at stupid o'clock

back to the thread... mine has two outlets aswell although only one is used and it has a spliter on it, the broadband would go through one of those