On topic London Broadband thread

[poleshift]

Here's some actual, real news for you all......

I live in the SE3 Lewisham / Greenwich area, and today received a marketing leaflet telling me: "The Wait Is Over (and it was worth it) - 150k Broadband now available for just £17.99 per month."

MAJOR EDIT: I previously wrote a long-winded rant about NTL just offering the Bronze, 150k service and not the others. It turns out that, in fact, the 600k and 1mb services are also available in SE3 now.

And installation is free.

And I don't need a modem (because my STB can route directly)

And they'll give me the first month free if I ask nicely.

It's been four years or so, NTL, but finally, finally, thank you.

[ntluser]

Originally posted by poleshift
Here's some actual, real news for you all......

I live in the SE3 Lewisham / Greenwich area, and today received a marketing leaflet telling me: "The Wait Is Over (and it was worth it) - 150k Broadband now available for just £17.99 per month."

Well, not quite. It definitely wasn't "worth it" as far as I am concerned and for me the wait goes agonisingly on.

Firstly, there is the obvious fact that the only package on offer is NTL's Bronze 150k service, which for me STILL means I can't get what I want - the 600k or 1mb service so I can get into Xbox Live or other PC based online games. Evidently the Lewisham / Greenwich network simply isn't up to scratch to offer the higher services.

Some of their wording in the leaflet is ambitious to say the least, and I suspect the ASA might be having another look. For instance, it claims "Only NTL: Home offers you 150k internet access..." Well, maybe NTL is the only ISP to offer precisely 150k, but plenty others can go a lot faster.

Secondly, NTL are, in my view, again in breach of the ASA ruling which went against them in terms of use of the phrase "high speed" by saying "so you can accelerate to high speed downloads without paying the high costs demanded by BT, AOL and other service providers."

Anyway. "Broadband" is now live in Lewisham and Greenwich. For which I and others in SE London should probably be grateful and arguably should stop moaning about. But it's just not the fast, 'proper' broadband required for online gaming, which is what I actually wanted it for all along.

Customers in South East London have had an unduly long wait for broadband and I suspect it's only being provided in those parts where there have been successful trials.

It's possible that as NTL start getting their act together they may be in a position to upgrade the networks to carry the 600k and the 1Mb services at some point but like a lot of things with NTL it tends to be a long process.

Having said that I suppose we should give them some credit for getting there at all. Though it does leave a bitter taste in your mouth finally getting only a 150k service after such a long wait but then half a loaf is better than none.

Enjoy your broadband and use it to keep nagging for the higher speed services. Hopefully, they wont be too long arriving.

Just hope that RippedOff, Inkblot and all the other London broadband campaigners are among the lucky ones to get broadband.

[poleshift]

I've edited my post. Please ignore my long, earlier rant, which is largely incorrect and somewhat unfair on NTL.

Although I will say this - given that the Silver and Gold services are actually available in my area, and I want them, and have said so to NTL on many, many occasions, you would think they'd have put something, even in small print, saying the faster services are available. Or called me.

The NTL lady I spoke to said the drive is to get customers acclimatised to 150k services first. Maybe so, but it's been like a four year broadband drought where I live. I don't want a sip of water, I want sodding great gulps of it now.

[BBKing]

NTL are the only company to offer permanent cable internet connections for £17.99 a month, though.

Looking at a Lewisham UBR, the first box I find is a 1Mb STB, the second is 600k. I'd doubt we'd only launch 150k tbh, even though it sells well. Does the wording explicitly say 'only 150k available'?

EDIT: oh, he's edited it

[poleshift]

While I'm at it, am I actually correct in assuming that you need the 600kb service for Xbox live? It won't run on 150k, surely?

[ntluser]

Originally posted by BBKing
NTL are the only company to offer permanent cable internet connections for £17.99 a month, though.

Looking at a Lewisham UBR, the first box I find is a 1Mb STB, the second is 600k. I'd doubt we'd only launch 150k tbh, even though it sells well. Does the wording explicitly say 'only 150k available'?

EDIT: oh, he's edited it

Thanks for that, BBKing.

Now that SE London is getting sorted you'll have a flood of requests asking when they will do West London, North London etc.

It is good news that broadband has finally arrived. Must admit that London , the nation's capital is getting it later than the provincial cities. It's usually the other way round.

Hopefully, the other areas of London will get broadband services soon. Perhaps we'll get some trials in West London to get the ball rolling and to find out how good or bad the network is in that area.

[Tristan]

Originally posted by poleshift
While I'm at it, am I actually correct in assuming that you need the 600kb service for Xbox live? It won't run on 150k, surely?

Just one thing you might not know.

If you're getting broadband through your STB, then the '150k' service is actually capped at 256k, which is a nice bonus.

I have heard of people running XBL connections from this, but I don't know what their games are like. I would think though that it would be okay, as the ping times to the servers would be identical, and I can't see a game filling up the bandwidth totally (especially if you don't use the headset).

[BBKing]

The 'official' two IP ntl Xbox service is (still) SACM only, but there's nothing to stop STB users signing up for Xbox separately. Pay a bit of attention to the Xbox threads on this site to get round the browser specific bits of the registration, you should have no problem. Or use a uPnP compliant router and have your PC on at the same time.

[rippedoff]

Originally posted by ntluser

Just hope that RippedOff, Inkblot and all the other London broadband campaigners are among the lucky ones to get broadband.

Just back from holiday!

Thanks for the thought ntluser. I am in SW London (Streatham) and no sign yet of BB. I still wait in anticipation.
What progress (if any) is taking place in SE/SW London - can anyone out there let us know if they have BB / CR3 yet? It would be good to know where the progress is happening (if at all) and where and when the service arrived.
Cheers

[bigitup_j]

ntl are upgrading the south of london, and it happens to be streatham is the next to get the upgrade. maybe a few weeks...or months! who knows. only ntl can tell us (hint hint)

[rippedoff]

Originally posted by bigitup_j
ntl are upgrading the south of london, and it happens to be streatham is the next to get the upgrade. maybe a few weeks...or months! who knows. only ntl can tell us (hint hint)

Oh well... I'll shall wait and see.... meanwhile.... this has gone by email to Chris Slattery at ntl....

Dear Chris Slattery,
I am aware that ntl are currently upgrading and developing Broadband in South London. I have heard on ntlhellworld.co.uk that Streatham (where I live) is the next area due to be upgraded. Can you confirm / deny this please? If this is indeed the case, do you have any idea of the timescales involved?
Thank you,
*************
I shall keep you posted, although I do not expect a reply!(as usual)

[bigitup_j]

when ever i email ntl, they tell me to call the sales team. and they haven't got the foggiest, and guess what they tell me to email ntl. it is a vicious circle!

[Undisputedtruth]

Originally posted by bigitup_j
when ever i email ntl, they tell me to call the sales team. and they haven't got the foggiest, and guess what they tell me to email ntl. it is a vicious circle!

I second that, sales haven't got a clue. Anyway, even if NTL was offering free broadband to my face I still would not take it.

[rippedoff]

Originally posted by bigitup_j
when ever i email ntl, they tell me to call the sales team. and they haven't got the foggiest, and guess what they tell me to email ntl. it is a vicious circle!

Yeah... exactly the same with me!

[rippedoff]

WELL, WELL, WELL ! A quick reply from ntl all be it not a favourable one!


Dear Mr.************
Chris Slattery has asked me to deal with you query relating to Broadband. At
the present time we have no confirmed authority to build any further area's.
However, we are at present putting a business case together to enable
broadband connectivity to further homes in the London area. We hope to have
this approval by mid to late October. If all goes to plan, there will be a
two year build probably starting in January 2004.
If you are able to confirm your full address I will find out if it is likely
to be in build plan and also the proposed time that it should be made
serviceable.

Best Regards

Julian Paddock
Build Manager ntl Home

So.... BB maybe in 2006?

So, where does this leave all of you who were saying that London had to have BB by the end of this year. What about all these overheard conversations about SW London getting BB, and what about Streatham being next?????? BOLL*CKS AS USUAL!


Hello SKY !