NTL or Sky in new house???

[Gopher]

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.

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.

Get Sky as its Cheaper and you get more Channels and they definately supply broadband. Where as NTL Do Not Supply There " Award Winning Broad Band" To all Areas

[daggman]

well i think u will be happy if u take the 3 for thirty quid, NTL tv has improved a lot, on screen mini menu improved, channels re-numbered, NTL on demand, and better boxes(samsung). insist on a samsung box.

telephone well what can u say about a phone , it rings,and u speak, never had a problem, but i think power cuts knock out the ntl line.

Broadband the Jewel, excellent, fast, reliable, no download limits, always truely on.

customer service not to bad, but sky is not much better, i only cancelled a sky subscribtion the other day 5th october one month notice, told my last payment will go out as usual on the 28th october, for the full amount, the cheekie T*&ts, they are going to take 21.00 pound for only about 5 days service, absoultely disgusted with them, they said the balance will just be credited to my account for when i return,(like f*&k thats going to happen) robbing sky.

Daggman.

[lostandconfused]

sorry to say this daggman but ntl will do the same when you cancel with them too.
you pay your last months bill in full as you normally would then whe you call the next month they will send a cheque for what you've paid but havent used,
i suspect sky would be the same as im sure they cant hold your money until you decide to go back to them, id call them and make sure they return it to you

[tisdalj]

Well I've decided to sign up to NTL, but I haven't had a good start so far...

I couldn't see from the NTL website whether there was an installation charge, so I called the 0845 number at the top of their site. The call was answered quite quickly, but after giving my address, the Customer Service guy said I had come to the wrong place and he would transfer me.

The next person I spoke to said the same thing and she would transfer me. Finally I get through to the right call centre and give tell them my details. The lady on the end of the phone then informs me that my flat cannot have cable because there is no feed to it.

I tell her there must be a feed to it as there is an NTL aerial box and telephone point in the living room. She says something about it being analogue and then puts me on hold. When she comes back, she says that it could be a mistake and they would sign me up anyway. She puts me through to another operator.

This person takes all of my details and signs me up. Installation taking place first week of November. I asked him if he could guarantee that I would get the latest Samsung box, but he said it is whatever the installer has in the van, but I can ask the installer if he has one and if not then can I temporarily have the pace one until he can get me a replacement.

[tisdalj]

Had NTL fitted over the weekend. The "Cable Guy" turned up on time and seemed a nice enough chap.

He worked pretty quickly and neatly laid a coax cable around my room and then split it into 2 for the STB and Modem.

I got one of the Samsung boxes, which had the optical out on it.

At first the picture quality was really bad, but I switched the STB to output RGB and that solved the problem. It's now just as good as freeview. For some reason the box only seems to output stereo via the optical out. I was at least hoping for Pro-Logic. I don't think it's my amplifier.

The box changes channel quickly and the remote is easy to use. It's a little frustrating that I cannot remove the unsubscribed channels, but I have moved them all to the end of the list.

I set the modem up using my PC, but had difficulty during set-up entering my username and password. Called NTL's customer service and they "Activated" the modem for me.

Set up a linksys wireless network - wireless for the PC and Xbox 360 plugged into the router. Connection seems stable and just a quick, if not quicker than the BT line I was on before. Haven't played any online games yet, so don't know if there is any lag, but voice communication via XBox live is fine.

Phone line is a phone line and works OK. Had a couple of those calls where you either get nothing or an automated voice when you pick up. As it's a new number I wouldn't expect anyone to have the number yet, so those calls are either from NTL, or a lucky guess. Are NTL allowed to sell or give out my number?

So far then I'm very happy.

[d0pey]

I would never go with Sky again for TV unless I moved to a none cable area which is not likely round here. I had a year of problems with the customer service dept and my STB broke about 16 months after I got the service and they said I would need to purchase a new box at full price so I left.

[die5el]

You are lucky to get a samsung box after a problem with 3 pace boxes phoned ntl up they made an appointment for monday 6/11/06 guess what they didn`t show up. back on the phone they made an appointment for the next day also promising me a samsung box. Engineer turns up says yep box is faulty brings in another pace box explains to him i was told on the phone that i will be recieving a samsung he said you got no chance only got pace boxes on the van so i phoned ntl yet again after a long conversation basicly was told i would have to buy a samsung box myself then they put the phone down on me nice customer service ntl.Anymore probs with ntl i`ll be back on the phone and tell them where they can shove thier services saving me over £62 a month

[claret]

i actually jacked in with NTL a month or two ago after a few ongoing issues, but in a way it may have been a bit hasty on some reasons but not on others

Broadband - as much as this was the main part of my issues, Tiscali are worse, and there has been loads of issues with disconnections, and now they killed my d/l speed at peek times

TV - Didnt have many issues with this, but the best thing i did was change to Sky+....be lost without it now

Phone - BT...dont use phone that much anyway

[wes_the_archer]

If you can afford Sky, go for them! Better on the whole (based on my experience)